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- Title
- Interrogating social conceptualizations of childbirth and gender: an ecofeminist analysis.
- Creator
- Nall, Jeff., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to...
Show moreThis dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to identify prominent characteristics and themes related to childbirth in both popular culture, such as Hollywood films (Knocked Up, The Backup Plan), documentaries (The Business of Being Born), birth guides, magazines, news articles, websites, and scholarly, medical and alternative healthcare discourse. This work seeks to consider how various conceptualizations of childbirth are used to legitimate, or, alternately, to undermine, patriarchal gender norms such as emphasized femininity and patriarchal (hegemonic) masculinity and, more generally, what ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood calls "master consciousness" (Val Plumwood 1993), a way of understanding the world that is reliant on an unjustifiably dualistic thinking and that is responsible for fostering social practices of domination. In particular, this work seeks to determine to what extent is our conceptualization of childbirth, and subsequent practice, based on potentially erroneous presumptions about the hierarchical division between the realms of culture and nature and masculinity and femininity? Perhaps most importantly, this dissertation sets out to consider the implications of alternative conceptualizations of childbirth emerging in the context of the natural birth movement. Specifically, I aim to determine whether or not these alternatives interpretations of childbirth counteract patriarchal gender categories and the culture/nature dualism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3333055
- Subject Headings
- Childbirth, Cross-cultural studies, Childbirth, Social aspects, Feminist theory, Human body, Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Un-resistive reproduction? Medical hegemony, pregnancy, and reality television.
- Creator
- Bruno, Serena R., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
- Abstract/Description
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A new trend of unscripted, reality television programming chronicling the real-life childbirth experiences of American women and families has gained considerable ground in recent years. These programs, especially Discovery Health's BirthDay and The Learning Channel's A Baby Story, record, edit and broadcast the prenatal, childbirth, and postnatal health care of "everyday" women volunteers, including their physical, social, and emotional concerns. This research study focuses attention on the...
Show moreA new trend of unscripted, reality television programming chronicling the real-life childbirth experiences of American women and families has gained considerable ground in recent years. These programs, especially Discovery Health's BirthDay and The Learning Channel's A Baby Story, record, edit and broadcast the prenatal, childbirth, and postnatal health care of "everyday" women volunteers, including their physical, social, and emotional concerns. This research study focuses attention on the authoritative, technological and therefore, medically hegemonic perspective of this type of programming, illuminating through content, textual, focus group, and survey analyses the abundance of medically hegemonic meanings in both the discursive and visual aspects of these texts as well as the negotiations of their target audience.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13300
- Subject Headings
- Reality television programs, Mass media and culture, Television program genres, Television--Social aspects, Childbirth, Television--Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Lived Experience of Breastfeeding for Women With Perinatal Depression.
- Creator
- Pratt, Beth A., Longo, Joy, Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
- Abstract/Description
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Exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months provides numerous infant and maternal benefits. Yet mothers with risk factors, such as lower education, lower socioeconomic status, younger maternal age, planned cesarean birth, and anxiety and depression, are more likely to stop breastfeeding in the early postpartum period. Few studies have focused on perinatal depression as a risk factor for breastfeeding cessation. To tailor effective interventions, nurses must first understand the lived...
Show moreExclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months provides numerous infant and maternal benefits. Yet mothers with risk factors, such as lower education, lower socioeconomic status, younger maternal age, planned cesarean birth, and anxiety and depression, are more likely to stop breastfeeding in the early postpartum period. Few studies have focused on perinatal depression as a risk factor for breastfeeding cessation. To tailor effective interventions, nurses must first understand the lived experience of breastfeeding for mothers at risk for perinatal depression. A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted to elucidate the experience of breastfeeding for mothers with perinatal depression. The study was grounded in Swanson’s middle-range theory of caring. After university Institutional Review Board approval, a purposive sample of 10 women was recruited from various organizations. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and semistructured, audiorecorded face-to-face or telephonic interviews were conducted. The researcher transcribed the data which was transformed into constituents of the mothers’ lived experience by utilizing Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method. Five constituents emerged: choosing selflessness, harboring inadequacy, deliberate persevering, discerning meaning, and cherishing intimacy. The constituents embodied the essence of the mothers’ thoughts and feelings connected to breastfeeding. By daily choosing selflessness, mothers consciously decided to breastfeed despite physical or psychological struggles. They often were harboring inadequacy due to ongoing struggles which led to incessant thoughts of maternal incompetence. Yet they successfully breastfed for at least 2 weeks after birth by deliberate persevering. Through breastfeeding, they were discerning meaning to realize their value as mothers. Finally, they reveled in purposeful moments of togetherness with their babies through cherishing intimacy. The study findings inform recommendations for nursing education, practice, research, and policy. Nursing education must include basic breastfeeding and perinatal mental health knowledge in prelicensure curricula and up-to-date lactation management techniques and perinatal mental health awareness training in continuing education. Practicing maternal-child nurses must provide education and support to mothers about advantages and difficulties of breastfeeding throughout the perinatal period. Future research includes determination of support needs for women with perinatal depression with subsequent development and evaluation of therapeutic actions to promote breastfeeding success.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004906, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004906
- Subject Headings
- Breastfeeding--Psychological aspects., Motherhood--Psychological aspects., Childbirth--Psychological aspects., Mother and child., Stress (Psychology), Pregnant women--Mental health., Postpartum depression., Postpartum psychiatric disorders.
- Format
- Document (PDF)