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  • Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
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    Disciplinary discourses: rates of cesarean section explained by medicine, midwifery, and feminism

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    Author
    Lee, Amy Su May; KIRKMAN, MAGGIE
    Date
    2008-05
    Source Title
    Health Care for Women International
    Publisher
    Taylor & Francis
    University of Melbourne Author/s
    LEE, AMY SU MAY; Kirkman, Maggie
    Affiliation
    Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences: Key Centre for Women's Health in Society
    Metadata
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    Document Type
    Journal Article
    Citations
    Lee, A. S. M. & Kirkman, M. (2008). Disciplinary discourses: rates of cesarean section explained by medicine, midwifery, and feminism. Health Care for Women International, 29(5), 448-467.
    Access Status
    This item is currently not available from this repository
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11343/33593
    Description

    © 2008 Taylor & Francis. Publisher's version is restricted access in accordance with the Taylor & Francis policy.

    Abstract
    In the context of international concern about increasing rates of cesarean sections, we used discourse analysis to examine explanations arising from feminism and the disciplines of medicine and midwifery, and found that each was positioned differently in relation to the rising rates. Medical discourses asserted that doctors are authorities on birth and that, although cesareans are sometimes medically necessary, women recklessly choose unnecessary cesareans against medical advice. Midwifery discourses portrayed medicine as paternalistic toward both women and midwifery, and feminist discourses situated birth and women's bodies in the context of a patriarchally structured society. The findings illustrate the complex ways in which this intervention in birth is discursively constructed, and demonstrate its significance as a site of disciplinary conflict.
    Keywords
    discourse analysis; birth intervention; cesarean rates

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