Depictions of pregnancy and parenthood in parentcraft literature in the United Kingdom and Japan are examined as evidence of the beliefs and values of the two societies. Following a review of the texts produced in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with their common authoritarian tone and emphasis on women's responsibilities towards the nation, there is a brief discussion of the concepts used to guide the analysis of contemporary visual material. The `official' versions of parenthood produced by government agencies are set alongside `commercial' and `alternative' models produced by mass-market publishers and radical groups. The UK manuals are seen to present parenthood as the joint responsibility of choice-making adults, while the Japanese marginalize women and emphasize their subordination to medical authority. The Westernized tone of the commercial publications is essentially superficial and a reflection of a prevailing consumer style which overlays a traditional culture. Contemporary UK texts show a drift towards utilitarian populism, which may be a significant marker of cultural change.
Child-training literature is as much expressive of the moral climate of the time and place in which it is written as the state of scientific knowledge about children (Mead and Wolfenstein 1955:44).
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