Gender Performances During Labor and Birth in the Midwives Model of Care

Abstract

Previous research suggests many middle-class white women attempt to maintain femininity during labor and birth. There is also evidence that women who give birth outside the medical model may engage in more gender-deviant behaviors. The current study examines women's accounts of gender performances during birth in the midwives model of care. Participants describe themselves engaging in a number of gender-deviant behaviors, without apology or overt remorse. However, participants also describe themselves engaging in activities during labor and birth that are traditionally considered feminine, including domestic tasks, care-giving and adhering to beauty norms; some defined childbirth itself as a feminine activity. Thus, participants are not simply adhering to or defying dominant notions of femininity, but are engaging in a complex set of gender behaviors. It is argued that study participants are prioritizing certain aspects of femininity-in particular, the ''good mother''-over others.Previous research suggests normative standards of femininity are so pervasive that they shape many women's behaviors even during what is perhaps the most physically challenging activity many women will engage in: childbirth. In an article titled ''Giving birth like a girl,'' Martin [38] found most participants in her sample of white, middle class women described themselves working to maintain a feminine composure during childbirth. Participants discussed concern with appearing nice

From the “Technician Thing” to the “Mental Game”: Masculinity and U.S. Homebirth

“…The type of care that their partners received prenatally may have contributed to this. The midwifery model of care places much less emphasis on technologically derived knowledge of birth, relying more on the midwife's hands‐on skills and the mother's experiential knowledge (Carter ). For example, they typically receive fewer ultrasounds, if any.…”

“…Others (e.g., Cheyney ; Davis‐Floyd ; Shaw and Kitzinger ) have found that women, often deliberately, use homebirth as a time to construct a transgressive femininity, asserting the strength and resilience of the female body and rejecting the need for highly technological or medicalized assistance. Of course, women may engage in both gender‐conforming and gender‐deviant behaviors during their births (Carter ) and may reinterpret hospital messages about gender to fit their own narratives (Davis‐Floyd ).…”

Technologies of gender and childbirth choices: Home birth, elective caesarean and white femininities in South Africa

“…Bartky, 1990) and 'technologies of gender' (Gavey, 1992;de Lauretis, 1987;Luke, 2009). Feminists utilizing the Foucauldian concept of 'technologies of power' have examined the various techniques/discourses through which gender/ femininity are constructed in particular sites such as heterosex (Gavey, 1992(Gavey, , 2005, the negotiation of sexual violence risks (Luke, 2009), cinema (de Lauretis, 1987, normative heterosexuality (Bartky, 1990) and childbirth (Carter, 2009;Martin, 2003).…”

“…Similarly, Carter (2009) found a commitment to maintaining normative femininity in American women's childbirth accounts. Many women engaged in traditionally feminine activities during labour, for example: cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing and care-giving.…”

“…These women advocated for their own needs, 'acted out' by being loud or 'bad' (without remorse or apology later) and accepted or demanded assistance from others. Carter's (2009) work points to the complexities of gendered performances during childbirth, with many women both resisting and colluding with normative forms of femininity.…”