I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I am new at this listserv option- so I ended up sending my remarks to individuals rather than to the list. Your comments were great- even those who did not agree with my research. I value your comments and your experiences. Maybe my comment to one of the individuals from your list will help clarify my standpoint.
Good question- what do I mean about the desire- I base this on two things. One being a surprisingly large amount of women, within countries such as America and Australia, who are requesting or demanding procedures such as caesarean sections. There have been numerous reports of this within Australian and American media. Mid last year I read an article which describes a pregnancy phobia- a fear of giving birth- they even labelled it "tokophobia" . This relates back to what I mention above- a request for medical intervention. It seems that, at least in regards to the women interviewed, there is a decreasing amount of trust in ones own body. These women fear birth, they fear the pain and they fear the possible consequences of a vaginal birth (the cosmetic purposes). We have to question where this fear stems from and the subsequent desire for medical intervention. Of course this article was only in the mainstream magazine "She". However, we should realize the impact on this type of publication for a mainstream audience. I do not seriously believe that all women desire medical intervention. However, I do believe that in the vast majority of cases, birth within Australia occurs within the "medicalised birth paradigm". Even with woman who choose a natural birth- these women are seen as not complying with the norm- the norm being the medicalised birth. Alphia Garrety (Ba. Hons.) PhD. Candidate School of Sociology and Justice Studies Bankstown Campus, University of Western Sydney UWS Locked Bag 1797 South Penrith Distribution Centre NSW 1797 Australia Phone: 02 97726628 Fax: 02 97726584 -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
