Exploring Twins; towards a Social Analysis of Twinship.

STEWART, Elizabeth A.. EXPLORING TWINS; Towards a Social Analysis of Twinship. New York, NY: Global Publishing at St. Martin's Press, 2003, 221 pp., $26.95 softcover.

This extremely dense and turgid book, written by a sociologist who gave birth to twins herself, is rich with metaphor and literary and biblical allusion. The author exams myths and explanations of twinning throughout time and across world cultures. She also looks at why there are so many persistent myths around twins and sees these myths as a way of explaining twinning. While some cultures see twinning in positive terms [divinity, fertility], many see the phenomenon in negative terms [infanticide of one or both twins, death of the mother, banishment of the family, exposure of the twins, starvation of one or both twins, death to girls and life to boy twins]. Stewart also discusses the importance of support groups, such as MELD, to help parents strategize and cope with raising multiples. Interestingly, the Yoruba of Nigeria have the highest twinning rates in the world.

Stewart spends a lot of time noting the occurrence of twins in literature, from Shakespeare, Rogers and Hart, Mark Twain, and Alice in Wonderland. They also appear prominently in films such as The Dark Mirror, The Parent Trap, Dead Ringers and Twins. She points out that twins research is often used to deduce the impact of nature vs. nurture, the extent to which the environment plays a role in our lives. The medical research model or the twin clinical model is divided into four cases: both twins affected in the same environment, only one twin affected in the same environment, both twins affected in a different environment, and only one twin affected in a different environment [p. 41].

The most interesting chapter to me dealt with measuring twinship or the psychology of twins, where scientists study temperament, personality, temper, attention span, smiling, vocalization, cognition, and IQ. Other chapter dealt with the impact of twins on each other, and on family, parents and siblings. It is clear from the research that giving birth to twins is more dangerous and complicated for the mother and that the financial impact on the family of raising twins is huge. Not surprisingly, twin status contributes significantly to subsequent child abuse, as parents deal with all kinds of stressors, including difficult if not broken marriages following the birth of twins. One of the most difficult things for twins occurs with the death of a twin, either pre- or peri-natally or on into adulthood and old age.

Stewart also reports the result of a massive British survey on public attitudes toward twins. The survey, in two parts, looks at attitudes of parents of twins and also general British attitudes toward twins. Parents report that the comments they get, once someone knows they have twins, ranged from the positive ["I always wanted twins myself] to the negative ["How do you cope?"]. Common questions to parents focus on how alike the twins are, when did the parents find they were to have twins, which twin was born first, which twin is the dominant, what gender are they and whether or not they are identical. Stewart points out that in many ways, we can think of twins as a minority group.

Twins are different because there are biological factors [intrauterine and perinatal risks] that affect both twins; because there is a triadic relationship between mother and twins; there are psychoanalytic implications of the twin relationship and the twin bond; and because of the unique social nature of twinship in which two people affect each other throughout life and face the world together in a relationally linked fashion.

The book includes an appendix on analyzing myths as well as information on the general public questionnaire. Each chapter includes explanatory notes and there is a selected bibliography on the topic of twinning as well. Stewart's book examines the social identity of twins and attempts to understand how twins are different from or similar to singletons. Stewart is actively involved in the Twins and Multiple Births Association, the Multiple Births British Foundation and the International Society for Twin Studies.

While this book is not easy romp through twinship [the formatting is cramped and the approach profoundly sociological], it delivers what it promises: a thorough sociological overview of the issues throughout history and across world cultures.