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

Abstract

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.