Research on the Modern State of Childbirth 'You are led through automatic doors into bright fluorescent lighting. An empty hallway stretches out before you, save for a few sullen nurses. Before you know it, you're in stirrups in a room full of strangers and being constantly examined without any explanation. Everyone seems to know what they're doing, but there's a certain roughness to their expertise. Because you are not informed about what is happening, decisions that affect your body are made by these people. When you enter the hospital to give birth, a sense of control disappears. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In this case, this loss of control has lasting effects on mothers, especially when things suddenly take a turn for the worst. Technology has led to the modernization of childbirth in developed countries, sending women conflicting messages about their bodies in the typical hospital setting. Childbirth is no longer a social event that still persists in other cultures, but often takes place in a sterile and unfamiliar environment. This experience (being surrounded by strangers, restricted and invasive procedures, no control over the choices made about one's body) has been compared to rape. We wonder if postpartum depression is actually misdiagnosed PTSD. This will be compared to descriptions of childbirth in more traditional cultures. Also discussed here are concerns about women's sense of control, population, patriarchal relics, and influences that affect the choice to have children. Analysis of Traditional Cultures For a basis of comparison, let's look at how other cultures view childbirth, past and present. Once in labor, food, alcoholic beverages, potions and herbal teas to relieve pain were brought to a woman in medieval Europe by her "godsibs", friends who would take care of her after her husbands were essentially expelled (“godsib” would eventually transform). in “gossip”). Much of the food and drink would also be used for postnatal celebrations (Kitzinger 2012). The midwifery profession would be made up of a social group of women, not dependent on the expertise of any individual. “She never lost a shoulder to grab onto, a chest to lean against, or a strong hand to hold an ankle or knee. If a woman gets tired or has to return to her children, another quickly takes her place... ready to support her as she wishes. Sometimes she would kneel or lie on her side, and at other times she would stand with her arms around a friend's neck” (Kitzinger 2012, p. 302). Social anthropologists are regularly shocked by the number of women involved, crowding into the hut, filling the room with laughter and loud chatter. Social births, compared to what we would later call medical births, serve an important function in maintaining and strengthening community relationships, primarily among women (Kitzinger 2012). These relationships are not only strengthened by the birth itself, but also deliberately facilitated by the primary midwife. It is believed that social conflicts disrupt the work process and measures will be takentaken to alleviate social conditions and stress on the mother, thereby creating an environment of positivity and empowerment for the new mother (Kitzinger 2012). Japanese, Indian and Native American cultures and countries. like Uganda, New Guinea, and those in West Africa, all continue to emphasize the importance of touch, massage, and movement during childbirth (Kitzinger 2012). Technocratic cultures like the United States, where the woman lies on her back, are the exception to the generally accepted idea that “birth is a movement.” Swinging on the ropes, suspended by other women who join in this dance, the childbirth process follows the rhythm of the uterus during contractions. This is very different from typical childbirth in a developed country, where it is considered an exclusively medical event and considered in terms of risk. It makes women feel like they've missed out: "There is growing evidence that postpartum distress – often attributed to postnatal depression, an illness coming from within the woman – n It's not depression, but post-traumatic stress disorder following an experience in which it was lived. helpless by a medical model of childbirth that involves obstetrical management, physical immobilization, lack of emotional support, frequent interventions, a rigid schedule, and operative delivery. The result is that birth is an experience comparable to rape for many women. They feel helpless, mutilated, isolated and often in an emotional double bind because they were raped by the very people who “gave” them the baby (Kitzinger 2012, p. 304). Kitzinger calls for awareness of the political agenda and medical delivery methods that benefit pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. Attributes of Control The broader physiological effects on mothers reflect the message sent to many women that their bodies “are not capable of giving birth.” without medical intervention” (Meyer 2013, p. 221). Four attributes were identified with the aim of quantifying the degree of control exercised by women during childbirth. Decision making, access to information, personal safety and physical functioning. Decision making was most prevalent in women's relationship to the concept of control during childbirth, including choosing to use or withhold pain relief, location of delivery, and creating plans childbirth by thinking about scenarios in advance. Choosing a home birth was directly related to the woman's desire to be the primary decision maker during the process. This choice gave them freedom of movement, as one woman who gave birth in the hospital during the study said: "I knew I would be stuck on the bed and attached to a monitor and couldn't not move. around” (Meyer 2013, p. 222). Being at home allowed women to do or say whatever they wanted, as well as control who entered the space (rather than staying in a room full of strangers or interns). Being knowledgeable was another essential aspect of feeling in control. during the process. Women expect a staff member to explain to them what a routine labor and delivery is like. Obtaining thorough answers to questions and discussing potential interventions in the event of a medical event could prevent a traumatic childbirth experience (Meyer 2013). Personal security is directly linked to a woman's relationship with those around her. In the case of a hospital birth, personal safety is forged when relationships with staff are created andmaintained before childbirth and during pregnancy. It's about how well supported and respected the mother feels in this environment. A relationship with the staff before delivery was very important during C-sections, allowing women to feel comfortable and assured that someone they trust is making the right choices for their body when they need support. medical care. On the other hand, in home births, midwives often trust the mothers themselves, giving them the confidence they need to know that they are in control of their bodies (Meyer 2013). Physical functioning is the last essential element of control during childbirth. Much attention is rightly given to heat pack pain relief, ambulation, and mental state before delivery (higher expectations for control have actually led to increased control ). When it came to epidurals, some women felt more in control with the opioid pain relief, allowing them to focus on something other than the pain. Other women felt that without an epidural, they would feel less in control if they swore or shouted/screamed (Meyer2013). Meyer (2013) concludes that the woman's control is the determining factor in whether childbirth was a positive or negative experience. The feeling of satisfaction or fulfillment following a successful birth in the eyes of the mother improves self-confidence, and the outcome of her experience also affects women's future reproductive decisions. Wider Implications - Population The choice of continuing to have more children or having them at all is one. that governments have taken for granted in the past. Until recently, it was correctly believed that the number of children born would lead to population growth. However, certain climates of modern societies have created circumstances in which fertility rates fall below replacement levels (Longman 2006). Isolated areas are experiencing a decline in population rate (for individual countries like Russia, Canada, Singapore, South Korea and others); this remains true even though infant mortality rates have also declined (Longman 2006). Countries have taken an active role in encouraging women to return to being baby machines. Family tax incentives in France, speed dating approved in Singapore for busy professionals, and compensation for child care costs in Sweden are all attempts to encourage procreation to prevent further aging of the population (Longman 2006). . Longman (2006) attributes this chronic emphasis on a larger population to the historical importance of numbers during the imperialist era. Typically, whoever had the most troops won, and this study even suggests that Britain's decline as a world power was linked to its declining fertility rate. These rates (the number of women who have children) are also falling due to increased taxes on a declining population (Longman 2006), creating a spiral of reluctance to conceive. A more important consequence is that one-child families, with a more libertarian and generally more educated mindset, are rapidly declining. It's a simple fact: having just one child doesn't contribute much to the future population. What is happening is that more traditional and religious families continue to have larger numbers of children, adhering to a more patriarchal fundamentalism, while smaller families are more individualistic (Longman 2006). Longman highlights the potential change in the values of thepopulation based on the potential for smaller libertarian families to shrink significantly while larger, more nationalist and religious families essentially take over (2006). These societal changes tend to propagate typical patriarchal characteristics (Idiocracy is a comedy that exaggerates this same concept). These characteristics evolved after the agricultural revolution and with it, food surpluses to support families and growth (before that, population limitation was greater). pressing to avoid starvation). In these societies, we witness the marginalization of “bastards” or “illegitimate children” because they do not carry on the legacy of their fathers. “Legitimate” children will bear their father’s last name, with the idea that they belong to the father’s family and not the mother’s. Essentially, this gives men powerful emotional motivations to take responsibility for their successful children and also results in multiple attempts to have a particular son (Longman 2006). This is what we still see today; One of the stipulations of China's one-child policy is that rural families can have a second child if the first is a girl (to try for a son). Furthermore, women who remain childless in Western society are often questioned harshly or hypocritically considered selfish (Longman 2006). Leaving women with few desirable choices other than to be mothers, more children are born into a prophecy of diminished individualism, and we see these values increasing, not decreasing, in our society, despite post-industrial decline overall birth rates. fertilityThe causes of these birth rates around the world are diverse and complex. We already know that economic growth, or lack thereof, has significant effects on fertility rates. Higher literacy rates among women around the world correlate with them having fewer children (Robbins et al. 2014). Access to condoms, on-demand reproductive health care, and social and political autonomy all affect women's ability to make individual choices for themselves. The choices a woman makes in the domestic sphere can range from almost complete autonomy to none. The degree of separation between men's public sphere and women's private sphere has a great influence on the number of children they will have. An influential woman with a demanding career in a city will generally have fewer children than a stay-at-home mother in a suburb. The suburbs are an example of this division between worlds; Women are kept on the outskirts of cities to take care of the house full of children while the men go to work, something we discussed in class. While it might be an exaggeration to call this women's entrapment, this is how architecture reflected patriarchal values during the era of good housewives. We also see that extrinsic forces keep women in domestic roles in the natural world. Roughgarden discusses mate guarding, a behavior in which the male actively keeps females in their shelters and prevents them from leaving (2004). In the case of ground squirrels, the male blocks the exit from the den after mating to prevent the female from exiting and the males from entering to ensure that the offspring remain his (Roughgarden 2004). She also explains guarding in terms of mammals versus avian species. Internal gestation in mammals allows the female to control the embryo; to have control over the offspring, the male must also have control overthe female. For birds, eggs can be directly controlled and flight gives females autonomy over their own behavior (Roughgarden 2004). In humans, the solution to many global problems can be found linked to the rights and autonomy of women around the world. Power in sexual and gender roles and the medicalization of childbirth. Compared to more traditional societies, women face a lack of control and experience the power of entrusting their body to a stranger in a hospital. Power dynamics between men and women are so integral to our daily lives that their normalization makes them almost invisible. Women face the need to stay at home throughout their lives; husbands, the workplace and especially other women. While patriarchal values are the basis of the subordination of women worldwide and husbands exert the typical pressure for them to stay at home, it is other women in the family or friends who, by ridicule and gossip, shame women who fail to have children and caring for them is their first priority.Personal ReflectionsThe expectation of women to give up their lives to become reproductive machines is so ingrained in our story that the world is blind to how obsolete this has become. Today, the pressure to have many children is a relic of the past and direct evidence of an organized religion with misogynistic intentions. In the United States, we no longer need more children to increase the population, to combat infant mortality, or to have more labor on farms due to urbanization. To actually think about calling a woman selfish because she doesn't have children is a hypocritical embarrassment. Let's take a look at that. When people talk about having kids, they talk about “having a baby.” Many people simply want to experience having a baby for their own personal growth and out of boredom in their lives, usually completely ignoring the fact that to remedy this boredom, they give birth to a human life. They forget that these babies become, yes, real people. People who have to deal with overpopulation, poverty, and dwindling resources. I'm pretty sure that's the definition of selfish. And yet we harass women without children. Even more, we widely question and condemn women who wish to be sterilized. Why don't those who want to start a family have a huge responsibility, endure the same countless appointments, interviews, condemning doctors and bewilderment as women who simply want to continue before and after sterilization? We view the choice not to have children and live our own lives as a greater responsibility than the choice to bring forth human life. This is simply not true. To think that being a mother is the only and greatest job a woman can do is an insult to all women capable of conceiving as well as all women unable to conceive. As a child, still uneducated, I thought I would be a mother one day. , and a young me settled down with the number of three children. And with feminine magic, I would produce two sons and a daughter at will. This was clearly a personal bias, as it was the same structure as my current family; it seemed to work very well. Boys would be fun to raise, I'd probably need two to look after each other, and a girl would be more approachable. I thought that being a mother would be the epitome of my life and would eliminate all my other desires to learn,.

Essay / Research on the Modern State of Childbirth 'You are led through automatic doors into bright fluorescent lighting. An empty hallway stretches out before you, save for a few sullen nurses. Before you know it, you're in stirrups in a room full of strangers and being constantly examined without any explanation. Everyone seems to know what they're doing, but there's a certain roughness to their expertise. Because you are not informed about what is happening, decisions that affect your body are made by these people. When you enter the hospital to give birth, a sense of control disappears. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In this case, this loss of control has lasting effects on mothers, especially when things suddenly take a turn for the worst. Technology has led to the modernization of childbirth in developed countries, sending women conflicting messages about their bodies in the typical hospital setting. Childbirth is no longer a social event that still persists in other cultures, but often takes place in a sterile and unfamiliar environment. This experience (being surrounded by strangers, restricted and invasive procedures, no control over the choices made about one's body) has been compared to rape. We wonder if postpartum depression is actually misdiagnosed PTSD. This will be compared to descriptions of childbirth in more traditional cultures. Also discussed here are concerns about women's sense of control, population, patriarchal relics, and influences that affect the choice to have children. Analysis of Traditional Cultures For a basis of comparison, let's look at how other cultures view childbirth, past and present. Once in labor, food, alcoholic beverages, potions and herbal teas to relieve pain were brought to a woman in medieval Europe by her "godsibs", friends who would take care of her after her husbands were essentially expelled (“godsib” would eventually transform). in “gossip”). Much of the food and drink would also be used for postnatal celebrations (Kitzinger 2012). The midwifery profession would be made up of a social group of women, not dependent on the expertise of any individual. “She never lost a shoulder to grab onto, a chest to lean against, or a strong hand to hold an ankle or knee. If a woman gets tired or has to return to her children, another quickly takes her place... ready to support her as she wishes. Sometimes she would kneel or lie on her side, and at other times she would stand with her arms around a friend's neck” (Kitzinger 2012, p. 302). Social anthropologists are regularly shocked by the number of women involved, crowding into the hut, filling the room with laughter and loud chatter. Social births, compared to what we would later call medical births, serve an important function in maintaining and strengthening community relationships, primarily among women (Kitzinger 2012). These relationships are not only strengthened by the birth itself, but also deliberately facilitated by the primary midwife. It is believed that social conflicts disrupt the work process and measures will be takentaken to alleviate social conditions and stress on the mother, thereby creating an environment of positivity and empowerment for the new mother (Kitzinger 2012). Japanese, Indian and Native American cultures and countries. like Uganda, New Guinea, and those in West Africa, all continue to emphasize the importance of touch, massage, and movement during childbirth (Kitzinger 2012). Technocratic cultures like the United States, where the woman lies on her back, are the exception to the generally accepted idea that “birth is a movement.” Swinging on the ropes, suspended by other women who join in this dance, the childbirth process follows the rhythm of the uterus during contractions. This is very different from typical childbirth in a developed country, where it is considered an exclusively medical event and considered in terms of risk. It makes women feel like they've missed out: "There is growing evidence that postpartum distress – often attributed to postnatal depression, an illness coming from within the woman – n It's not depression, but post-traumatic stress disorder following an experience in which it was lived. helpless by a medical model of childbirth that involves obstetrical management, physical immobilization, lack of emotional support, frequent interventions, a rigid schedule, and operative delivery. The result is that birth is an experience comparable to rape for many women. They feel helpless, mutilated, isolated and often in an emotional double bind because they were raped by the very people who “gave” them the baby (Kitzinger 2012, p. 304). Kitzinger calls for awareness of the political agenda and medical delivery methods that benefit pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. Attributes of Control The broader physiological effects on mothers reflect the message sent to many women that their bodies “are not capable of giving birth.” without medical intervention” (Meyer 2013, p. 221). Four attributes were identified with the aim of quantifying the degree of control exercised by women during childbirth. Decision making, access to information, personal safety and physical functioning. Decision making was most prevalent in women's relationship to the concept of control during childbirth, including choosing to use or withhold pain relief, location of delivery, and creating plans childbirth by thinking about scenarios in advance. Choosing a home birth was directly related to the woman's desire to be the primary decision maker during the process. This choice gave them freedom of movement, as one woman who gave birth in the hospital during the study said: "I knew I would be stuck on the bed and attached to a monitor and couldn't not move. around” (Meyer 2013, p. 222). Being at home allowed women to do or say whatever they wanted, as well as control who entered the space (rather than staying in a room full of strangers or interns). Being knowledgeable was another essential aspect of feeling in control. during the process. Women expect a staff member to explain to them what a routine labor and delivery is like. Obtaining thorough answers to questions and discussing potential interventions in the event of a medical event could prevent a traumatic childbirth experience (Meyer 2013). Personal security is directly linked to a woman's relationship with those around her. In the case of a hospital birth, personal safety is forged when relationships with staff are created andmaintained before childbirth and during pregnancy. It's about how well supported and respected the mother feels in this environment. A relationship with the staff before delivery was very important during C-sections, allowing women to feel comfortable and assured that someone they trust is making the right choices for their body when they need support. medical care. On the other hand, in home births, midwives often trust the mothers themselves, giving them the confidence they need to know that they are in control of their bodies (Meyer 2013). Physical functioning is the last essential element of control during childbirth. Much attention is rightly given to heat pack pain relief, ambulation, and mental state before delivery (higher expectations for control have actually led to increased control ). When it came to epidurals, some women felt more in control with the opioid pain relief, allowing them to focus on something other than the pain. Other women felt that without an epidural, they would feel less in control if they swore or shouted/screamed (Meyer2013). Meyer (2013) concludes that the woman's control is the determining factor in whether childbirth was a positive or negative experience. The feeling of satisfaction or fulfillment following a successful birth in the eyes of the mother improves self-confidence, and the outcome of her experience also affects women's future reproductive decisions. Wider Implications - Population The choice of continuing to have more children or having them at all is one. that governments have taken for granted in the past. Until recently, it was correctly believed that the number of children born would lead to population growth. However, certain climates of modern societies have created circumstances in which fertility rates fall below replacement levels (Longman 2006). Isolated areas are experiencing a decline in population rate (for individual countries like Russia, Canada, Singapore, South Korea and others); this remains true even though infant mortality rates have also declined (Longman 2006). Countries have taken an active role in encouraging women to return to being baby machines. Family tax incentives in France, speed dating approved in Singapore for busy professionals, and compensation for child care costs in Sweden are all attempts to encourage procreation to prevent further aging of the population (Longman 2006). . Longman (2006) attributes this chronic emphasis on a larger population to the historical importance of numbers during the imperialist era. Typically, whoever had the most troops won, and this study even suggests that Britain's decline as a world power was linked to its declining fertility rate. These rates (the number of women who have children) are also falling due to increased taxes on a declining population (Longman 2006), creating a spiral of reluctance to conceive. A more important consequence is that one-child families, with a more libertarian and generally more educated mindset, are rapidly declining. It's a simple fact: having just one child doesn't contribute much to the future population. What is happening is that more traditional and religious families continue to have larger numbers of children, adhering to a more patriarchal fundamentalism, while smaller families are more individualistic (Longman 2006). Longman highlights the potential change in the values of thepopulation based on the potential for smaller libertarian families to shrink significantly while larger, more nationalist and religious families essentially take over (2006). These societal changes tend to propagate typical patriarchal characteristics (Idiocracy is a comedy that exaggerates this same concept). These characteristics evolved after the agricultural revolution and with it, food surpluses to support families and growth (before that, population limitation was greater). pressing to avoid starvation). In these societies, we witness the marginalization of “bastards” or “illegitimate children” because they do not carry on the legacy of their fathers. “Legitimate” children will bear their father’s last name, with the idea that they belong to the father’s family and not the mother’s. Essentially, this gives men powerful emotional motivations to take responsibility for their successful children and also results in multiple attempts to have a particular son (Longman 2006). This is what we still see today; One of the stipulations of China's one-child policy is that rural families can have a second child if the first is a girl (to try for a son). Furthermore, women who remain childless in Western society are often questioned harshly or hypocritically considered selfish (Longman 2006). Leaving women with few desirable choices other than to be mothers, more children are born into a prophecy of diminished individualism, and we see these values increasing, not decreasing, in our society, despite post-industrial decline overall birth rates. fertilityThe causes of these birth rates around the world are diverse and complex. We already know that economic growth, or lack thereof, has significant effects on fertility rates. Higher literacy rates among women around the world correlate with them having fewer children (Robbins et al. 2014). Access to condoms, on-demand reproductive health care, and social and political autonomy all affect women's ability to make individual choices for themselves. The choices a woman makes in the domestic sphere can range from almost complete autonomy to none. The degree of separation between men's public sphere and women's private sphere has a great influence on the number of children they will have. An influential woman with a demanding career in a city will generally have fewer children than a stay-at-home mother in a suburb. The suburbs are an example of this division between worlds; Women are kept on the outskirts of cities to take care of the house full of children while the men go to work, something we discussed in class. While it might be an exaggeration to call this women's entrapment, this is how architecture reflected patriarchal values during the era of good housewives. We also see that extrinsic forces keep women in domestic roles in the natural world. Roughgarden discusses mate guarding, a behavior in which the male actively keeps females in their shelters and prevents them from leaving (2004). In the case of ground squirrels, the male blocks the exit from the den after mating to prevent the female from exiting and the males from entering to ensure that the offspring remain his (Roughgarden 2004). She also explains guarding in terms of mammals versus avian species. Internal gestation in mammals allows the female to control the embryo; to have control over the offspring, the male must also have control overthe female. For birds, eggs can be directly controlled and flight gives females autonomy over their own behavior (Roughgarden 2004). In humans, the solution to many global problems can be found linked to the rights and autonomy of women around the world. Power in sexual and gender roles and the medicalization of childbirth. Compared to more traditional societies, women face a lack of control and experience the power of entrusting their body to a stranger in a hospital. Power dynamics between men and women are so integral to our daily lives that their normalization makes them almost invisible. Women face the need to stay at home throughout their lives; husbands, the workplace and especially other women. While patriarchal values are the basis of the subordination of women worldwide and husbands exert the typical pressure for them to stay at home, it is other women in the family or friends who, by ridicule and gossip, shame women who fail to have children and caring for them is their first priority.Personal ReflectionsThe expectation of women to give up their lives to become reproductive machines is so ingrained in our story that the world is blind to how obsolete this has become. Today, the pressure to have many children is a relic of the past and direct evidence of an organized religion with misogynistic intentions. In the United States, we no longer need more children to increase the population, to combat infant mortality, or to have more labor on farms due to urbanization. To actually think about calling a woman selfish because she doesn't have children is a hypocritical embarrassment. Let's take a look at that. When people talk about having kids, they talk about “having a baby.” Many people simply want to experience having a baby for their own personal growth and out of boredom in their lives, usually completely ignoring the fact that to remedy this boredom, they give birth to a human life. They forget that these babies become, yes, real people. People who have to deal with overpopulation, poverty, and dwindling resources. I'm pretty sure that's the definition of selfish. And yet we harass women without children. Even more, we widely question and condemn women who wish to be sterilized. Why don't those who want to start a family have a huge responsibility, endure the same countless appointments, interviews, condemning doctors and bewilderment as women who simply want to continue before and after sterilization? We view the choice not to have children and live our own lives as a greater responsibility than the choice to bring forth human life. This is simply not true. To think that being a mother is the only and greatest job a woman can do is an insult to all women capable of conceiving as well as all women unable to conceive. As a child, still uneducated, I thought I would be a mother one day. , and a young me settled down with the number of three children. And with feminine magic, I would produce two sons and a daughter at will. This was clearly a personal bias, as it was the same structure as my current family; it seemed to work very well. Boys would be fun to raise, I'd probably need two to look after each other, and a girl would be more approachable. I thought that being a mother would be the epitome of my life and would eliminate all my other desires to learn,.

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