Medicalization discourse and modernity: contested meanings over childbirth in contemporary Turkey
Author
Cindoglu, D.
Cengiz, F. S.
Date
2010Source Title
Health Care for Women International
Print ISSN
0739-9332
Electronic ISSN
1096-4665
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Inc.
Volume
31
Issue
3
Pages
221 - 243
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
124
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242
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Abstract
In this article, we explore the increasing medicalization of birth and the surge in Caesarean sections in order to examine how this phenomenon relates to the dominant modernization discourse on women's lives in contemporary Turkey. We analyze women's modes of resistance and conformity to medicalization of birth through qualitative data from 15 focus groups of Turkish women as well as from physicians and midwives. We found out that Turkish women generally submit to medicalized birth, despite unpleasent experiences of hospital birth. We argue that the discourse of modernization and traditional patriarchy both play a role in women's submission to medicalization of birth; and we demonstrate the patterns through which these discourses collaborate in establishing the meaning of childbirth in Turkey. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
Attitude to healthAuthority
Behavior
Birth
Cesarean section
Cultural anthropology
Ethnology
Female
Health personnel attitude
Hospitalization
Information processing
Legal aspect
Male
Medical staff
Nurse midwife
Paternalism
Pregnancy
Psychological aspect
Qualitative research
Social change
Turkey (republic)
Women's rights
Attitude of health personnel
Attitude to health
Authoritarianism
Focus Groups
Parturition
Power (Psychology)
Western World