The Politics of Pregnancy

The Politics of Pregnancy
Author: Annette Lawson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780300065480

Teenage pregnancy is widely viewed as a significant social problem. This book argues that much of the problem stems from inaccurate perceptions of what the problem is. The problem, according to the text, is not teenagers who want sex too soon but a society that offers too little, too late.

The Political Geographies of Pregnancy

The Political Geographies of Pregnancy
Author: Laura R. Woliver
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2002-09-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780252027789

As reproductive power finds its way into the hands of medical professionals, lobbyists and policymakers, the geographies of pregnancy are shifting, and the boundaries need to be redrawn, argues Laura R. Woliver in this study of how modern reproductive politics shapes women's bodily agency.

The Politics of Birth

The Politics of Birth
Author: Sheila Kitzinger
Publisher: Books for Midwives
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2005
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN:

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.

Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoking and Pregnancy
Author: Laury Oaks
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2001
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780813528885

Examines smoking as a public health concern focusing on harm to the fetus, and fetal personhood, and also challenges moral policing of smoking women who are pregnant.

Politics of the Womb

Politics of the Womb
Author: Lynn Thomas
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2003-08-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520936647

In more than a metaphorical sense, the womb has proven to be an important site of political struggle in and about Africa. By examining the political significance—and complex ramifications—of reproductive controversies in twentieth-century Kenya, this book explores why and how control of female initiation, abortion, childbirth, and premarital pregnancy have been crucial to the exercise of colonial and postcolonial power. This innovative book enriches the study of gender, reproduction, sexuality, and African history by revealing how reproductive controversies challenged long-standing social hierarchies and contributed to the construction of new ones that continue to influence the fraught politics of abortion, birth control, female genital cutting, and HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Pregnancy and Power

Pregnancy and Power
Author: Rickie Solinger
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2007-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814798284

Winner of the 2013 Bullough Award presented by the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality The term “intersex” evokes diverse images, typically of people who are both male and female or neither male nor female. Neither vision is accurate. The millions of people with an intersex condition, or DSD (disorder of sex development), are men or women whose sex chromosomes, gonads, or sex anatomy do not fit clearly into the male/female binary norm. Until recently, intersex conditions were shrouded in shame and secrecy: many adults were unaware that they had been born with an intersex condition and those who did know were advised to hide the truth. Current medical protocols and societal treatment of people with an intersex condition are based upon false stereotypes about sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability, which create unique challenges to framing effective legal claims and building a strong cohesive movement. InIntersexuality and the Law, Julie A. Greenberg examines the role that legal institutions can play in protecting the rights of people with an intersex condition. She also explores the relationship between the intersex movement and other social justice movements that have effectively utilized legal strategies to challenge similar discriminatory practices. She discusses the feasibility of forming effective alliances and developing mutually beneficial legal arguments with feminists, LGBT organizations, and disability rights advocates to eradicate the discrimination suffered by these marginalized groups.

Dubious Conceptions

Dubious Conceptions
Author: Kristin Luker
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 1996
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780674217034

Traces the way popular attitudes came to demonize young mothers and examines the profound social and economic changes that have influenced debate on the issue, especially since the 1970s. --From publisher description.

The Zero Trimester

The Zero Trimester
Author: Miranda R. Waggoner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520963113

In the United States, a healthy pregnancy is now defined well before pregnancy begins. Public health messages encourage women of reproductive age to anticipate motherhood and prepare their bodies for healthy reproduction—even when pregnancy is not on the horizon. Some experts believe that this pre-pregnancy care model will reduce risk and ensure better birth outcomes than the prenatal care model. Others believe it represents yet another attempt to control women’s bodies. The Zero Trimester explores why the task of perfecting pregnancies now takes up a woman’s entire reproductive life, from menarche to menopause. Miranda R. Waggoner shows how the zero trimester rose alongside shifts in medical and public health priorities, contentious reproductive politics, and the changing realities of women’s lives in the twenty-first century. Waggoner argues that the emergence of the zero trimester is not simply related to medical and health concerns; it also reflects the power of culture and social ideologies to shape both population health imperatives and women’s bodily experiences.

Home Birth

Home Birth
Author: Mary L. Nolan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-11-08
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1136865136

The rhetoric of choice is much used in UK health policy and home birth is one of the three options that women are entitled to choose between when deciding where to have their baby. However, many women making this choice run into considerable opposition from the maternity service. Home Birth: the politics of difficult choices focuses on the experiences of women whose choices were opposed by health professionals during their pregnancy journey. It confronts why and how women are being denied home birth and raises some challenging issues for current midwifery practice. Using ten women’s narratives, this important volume explores why women might want to give birth at home and considers ideas of risk and informed choice in pregnancy and birth. The book includes chapters on communication and language; fear and stress; advocacy and autonomy; fathers’ experience of contested place of birth and free birthing. Pointers to best practice are presented whilst the text incorporates women’s narratives throughout, making this a practical and relevant read for midwifery students as well as practising midwives and childbirth educators, all of whom have a duty to make home birth a real option for women.

Reproduction on the Reservation

Reproduction on the Reservation
Author: Brianna Theobald
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469653176

This pathbreaking book documents the transformation of reproductive practices and politics on Indian reservations from the late nineteenth century to the present, integrating a localized history of childbearing, motherhood, and activism on the Crow Reservation in Montana with an analysis of trends affecting Indigenous women more broadly. As Brianna Theobald illustrates, the federal government and local authorities have long sought to control Indigenous families and women's reproduction, using tactics such as coercive sterilization and removal of Indigenous children into the white foster care system. But Theobald examines women's resistance, showing how they have worked within families, tribal networks, and activist groups to confront these issues. Blending local and intimate family histories with the histories of broader movements such as WARN (Women of All Red Nations), Theobald links the federal government's intrusion into Indigenous women's reproductive and familial decisions to the wider history of eugenics and the reproductive rights movement. She argues convincingly that colonial politics have always been--and remain--reproductive politics. By looking deeply at one tribal nation over more than a century, Theobald offers an especially rich analysis of how Indigenous women experienced pregnancy and motherhood under evolving federal Indian policy. At the heart of this history are the Crow women who displayed creativity and fortitude in struggling for reproductive self-determination.