The Politics of Birth

Front Cover
Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, 2005 - Health & Fitness - 235 pages
One way of looking at birth is to see it entirely in terms of biology - how the reproductive process works in the human body. Another is to assess risk - examine what might go wrong in physiological mechanisms, and describe methods of preventing and treating malfunction. But to understand how women experience birth it has to be seen in its social context: the way in which people interact, the meanings that events have for them, and the relationships between all those involved - the social construction of reality.

The Politics of Birth explores ways in which we learn about birth, how we talk and feel about it, assumptions that professional caregivers may make, and the roles and skills of midwives. Topics include home birth and water birth; the use of drugs in childbirth; obstetric and nursing interventions which are often used routinely; Caesarean sections; pressures that care-givers are under, and the choices presented to women that are more apparent than real. Throughout, the author draws on research-based evidence to present both an holistic yet grounded examination of topical issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.

This is not a "how to" book. The aim of The Politics of Birth is to help the reader develop deeper insight and understanding of how a technocratic birth culture shapes our ideas about birth and obstetric practice.

This book is for everybody who wants to understand and improve the technocratic culture

  • Examines the social context of childbirth and midwifery in European and American birth cultures, the challenges facing caregivers and childbearing women and an evaluation of practices and belief systems.
  • Aims to facilitate constructive dialogue between healthcare professionals and women having babies.
  • Helps develop deeper insight and understanding of how a technocratic birth culture shapes our ideas about birth and obstetric practice.
  • An accessible yet reader-friendly text that draws on research-based evidence in a thoughtful and analytical manner to present both an holistic yet grounded examination of topical issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.

From inside the book

Contents

Giving birth
1
The birth place
9
The clock the bed and the chair
15
Copyright

22 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

References to this book

About the author (2005)

Sheila Kitzinger was born Sheila Helena Elizabeth Webster in Taunton, Somerset, England on March 29, 1929. She studied social anthropology at Ruskin and St Hugh's Colleges at Oxford. As an anthropologist, she encouraged women around the world to reclaim from doctors their natural prerogative over pregnancy and childbirth. Her first book, The Experience of Childbirth, was published in 1962. Her other works included Birth over Thirty, Woman's Experience of Sex, Breastfeeding Your Baby, Ourselves as Mothers, Becoming a Grandmother, Birth Crisis, Birth and Sex: The Power and the Passion, and A Passion for Birth. She created a Birth Crisis Network in Britain, which offers reflective listening for women traumatized after delivery. She died after a short illness on April 11, 2015 at the age of 86.

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