Religación. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades

Introduction of the dossier: Critical social approaches to obstetric violence. A Latin American category for a global problem

Belén Castrillo — 2022-12-30

Introduction of the dossier: Critical social approaches to obstetric violence. A Latin American category for a global problem

Childbirth as a consumption object. From obstetric violence to the offer of new childbirth care models in Santiago, Chile

Florencia Vergara — 2022-12-27

Childbirth in Chile has had great historical, political, and economic changes. This article analyzes childbirth as a socio-economical process, based on two social science investigations: a sociological one that produces a literature review of Chilean consumption; and a anthropological one, based on interviews to obstetric staff in Santiago, Chile. The reflections we propose with this interdisciplinary work address how childbirth in Santiago de Chile goes from being a process managed by the community and then professionalized in the 20th century, to become today as an object of consumption, offered mainly by private institutions. From new models of obstetric care, we will see that within a neoliberal culture, that the production of a childbirth-object with seductive characteristics, promises improvements, both in the experience of women (previously mistreated) and in their newborns or -as we call them- optimized babies. As long as they can pay for it. The mixture of these two investigations proposes to pay attention to the exchange that the institutions are advertising, which offer differentiated methods of childbirth care, taking social demands against obstetric violence to package them into programs that seem to improve the human product and the mother’s experience. The question within the experimentation of these deliveries remains open and we extend the invite to investigate such possibilities.

Giving a voice to the most silenced violence. Suffering experiences of activists against obstetric violence in Buenos Aires

Celeste Jerez — 2022-12-26

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, women’s activism played a fundamental role in the consolidation of reproductive rights, specifically the laws on humanized childbirth and obstetric violence. Although they have not been officially recognized, the activists were pioneers in raising their voices and pushing to give meaning to the term. They politicized their own experience of suffering during childbirth by naming it obstetric violence, a form of gender-based violence. Moreover, they recognized themselves as victims and made audible the gender mandates and naturalized practices of the care system: being treated as body-objects for reproduction. Thus, we consider obstetric violence as an epistemic, ambiguous category whose meaning has been politically contested by different social actors. The main objective is to analyze -in a gender and feminist perspective- the ways in which suffering during childbirth was recognized by the activists themselves as obstetric violence, together with other women, and was transformed into a political tool with a community scope. To this end, the ethnographic method, as a qualitative methodology, allows us to delve into the reflexivities involved as an approach to the social, to power relations and to the intimate everyday life of the actors. Thus, their testimonies on obstetric violence were a gateway to the development of political networks and militancy on the issue. They played a leading role in the moral dispute over the meaning of obstetric violence, in which their bodies played a vital role.

Naming routine episiotomy for what it is: female genital mutilation. Conceptual contributions from childbirth experiences in Chile

Michelle Sadler — 2022-12-23

During the 20th century, episiotomy expanded as a practice in obstetrics. At present, after more than three decades of solid scientific evidence that recommends not practicing it routinely, it continues to be performed in alarmingly high numbers. This article analyzes the cultural meaning of episiotomy as a rite within technocratic childbirth, based on childbirth testimonies given by women in the First Survey on Childbirth in Chile, carried out by the Chilean Obstetric Violence Observatory in 2017. These testimonies show that episiotomy is, in most cases, practiced routinely, without consent, and that it has serious consequences in the physical and mental health and in the sexual life of women. Thus, it can be considered as a western form of female genital mutilation. We conclude by stating that it is urgent to attend to this practice and name it for what it is: a form of genital mutilation with serious consequences in the lives of women, which must be made visible.

Violence, school coexistence and decision-making in adolescents of an Educational Institution in Ventanilla, Peru

Rossana Villanueva Ospinal — 2022-12-14

In educational institutions, students find spaces for interaction, school coexistence and decision-making, with all the agents of the educational community, but at the same time in these spaces originate intertwined phenomena such as school violence, an adverse school coexistence for learning and decision-making that lead to situations of confrontation between adolescent schoolchildren. The objective of this study was: To determine the relationship between violence, school coexistence and decision-making in adolescents of an educational institution in Ventanilla, Perú. The type of research is basic, quantitative approach, correlational level, and non-experimental and cross-sectional design. The sample was 631 adolescents between men and women aged 12 to 18 years, the technique used was the survey and the instruments used were the CVICOA questionnaire and the Melbourne decision making questionnaire. The results allow us to verify the main hypothesis that there is a relationship between violence, school coexistence and decision-making in adolescents of an educational institution in Ventanilla, Lima-Perú.