The Politics of Birth
In this new book, world-reknowned author Sheila Kitzinger explores ways in which we learn about birth, how we talk and feel about it, assumptions that professional caregivers may make, and the roles and skills of midwives.
Topics include homebirth and waterbirth; the use of drugs in childbirth; obstetric and often invisible midwifery interventions which may be used routinely; caesareans; pressures that caregivers are under; the choices presented to women that are designed to reassure, but which are often superficial; and isues of power and powerlessness, with a focus on mothers and babies in prison, pregnant asylum seekers, and how midwives often become cogs in an institutional machine.
The aim of Politics of Birth is to help develop deeper insight into how an industrialised and technocratic birth culture impacts on the physical and emotional health of childbearing women and families. This book is for women and all those who want to improve our culture of birth.
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