Medicalization Discourse and Modernity: Contested Meanings Over Childbirth in Contemporary Turkey

Creative Commons License

Cindoglu D., Sayan-Cengiz F.

HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL, cilt.31, sa.3, ss.221-243, 2010 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 31 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2010
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/07399330903042831
  • Dergi Adı: HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.221-243
  • Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

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.