The White Feminist Movement, Obstetrical Reform, and the Invisible Narratives of Working-class Women and Women of Color

Ronni Getz, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A142

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-24-2015 2:45 PM

End Date

4-24-2015 3:45 PM

Abstract

My research centers on childbirth pain management in early 20th-century America, focusing on the advent of twilight sleep around 1914-15. Situated within first-wave feminism, upper-class white women claimed power and agency through their campaign for “painless birth.” Their arguments, upheld by male obstetricians, hinged on race-and class-based ideas that perpetuated the oppression of “uncivilized” women. Recognizing the limits of the archive, I utilize the dominant voices of wealthy white women and male obstetricians to tease out the silenced narratives of working-class women and women of color within the broader history of obstetric anesthesia and the medicalization of childbirth.

Notes

Session 2, Panel 13 - The Grain of the Voice: Feminist Reconsiderations of Fairy Tales, Birthing Practices, and Semi-popular Music
Moderator: Afia Ofori-Mensa, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research

Major

Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

Advisor(s)

Meredith Raimondo, Comparative American Studies

Project Mentor(s)

Pablo Mitchell, History

April 2015

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 24th, 2:45 PM Apr 24th, 3:45 PM

The White Feminist Movement, Obstetrical Reform, and the Invisible Narratives of Working-class Women and Women of Color

Science Center, A142

My research centers on childbirth pain management in early 20th-century America, focusing on the advent of twilight sleep around 1914-15. Situated within first-wave feminism, upper-class white women claimed power and agency through their campaign for “painless birth.” Their arguments, upheld by male obstetricians, hinged on race-and class-based ideas that perpetuated the oppression of “uncivilized” women. Recognizing the limits of the archive, I utilize the dominant voices of wealthy white women and male obstetricians to tease out the silenced narratives of working-class women and women of color within the broader history of obstetric anesthesia and the medicalization of childbirth.