Graduation Year
2015
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Reader 1
Piya Chatterjee
Reader 2
Mary Ann Davis
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2015 Gabriela M. Al-Shamma
Abstract
Within this thesis I examine Western practices and conceptualizations of childbirth from three distinct angles, with the goal of better understanding how one can negotiate agency in contemporary childbirth. First, I outline the history of the medicalization of childbirth in the West, using a reference frame of the famous second wave feminist text, Our Bodies, Ourselves. Next, I conceptualize agency in the context of contemporary childbirth, first defining the ‘agency’ that I am working with, and then outlining some of the factors that play into the negotiation of agency in one’s childbirth; some of these factors include race, class, location, and information provided about specific medical and physical procedures. Finally, I destabilize the hegemonic Western understanding of labor and birth pain by situating pain as culturally constructed and contextually specific. I provide a few examples of ways in which we can reconceptualize pain in a way that situates it as a unique experience for each individual. The end goal of this thesis is to contextualize current childbirth practices within a specific history of medicalization, and to illustrate the complex nature of agency, but the importance of it to a childbirth in which the mother feels as safe and supported as possible.
Recommended Citation
Al-Shamma, Gabriela M., "Our Bodies Below the Belt: Navigating Agency in Childbirth in the Contemporary United States" (2015). Scripps Senior Theses. 672.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/672
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
