This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by MONTO, M. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

THE LINGERING PRESENCE OF MEDICAL DEFINITIONS AMONG WOMEN COMMITTED TO NATURAL CHILDBIRTH

The controversies that surround childbirth in the United States reflect competing understandings and competing definitions of situations. This article explores episodes in which dominant medical understandings of childbirth were communicated to women who sought to resist them during pregnancy, labor, and the first several weeks post-partum. Thirty-one women were interviewed three times each, twice before and once after delivery, although the focus is largely on the experience of fourteen who sought to give birth in unconventional ways. The author argues that the conflict over definitions of childbirth reflects larger cultural oppositions. The decisions that people make regarding childbirth serve to reinforce either dominant definitions or their alternatives and may be seen as part of cultural contest, the outcome of which will shape society.

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 26, No. 3, 293-316 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/089124197026003002


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. A. MONTO and N. HOTALING Predictors of Rape Myth Acceptance Among Male Clients of Female Street Prostitutes Violence Against Women, March 1, 2001; 7(3): 275 - 293. [Abstract] [PDF]