Birth as an American Rite of Passage (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care) [Hardcover]

Robbie E. Davis-Floyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1992 | Series: Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care

Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth--routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy? And why, in spite of the natural childbirth movement, has hospital birth become even more intensely technologized? Robbie Davis-Floyd argues that these obstetrical procedures are rituals that reflect a cultural belief in the superiority of science over nature. Her interviews with 100 mothers and many health care professionals reveal in detail both the trauma and the satisfaction women derive from childbirth. She also calls for greater cultural and medical tolerance of the alternative beliefs of women who choose to birth at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Davis-Floyd has written a brilliant feminist analysis of childbirth rites of passage in American culture. These rites, she argues, take away women's power over their bodies, naturally designed to bring life into the world, and for no physiological reason give it to the medical system. She believes that society, intimidated by women's ability to give birth, has designed obstetrical rituals that are far more complex than natural childbirth itself in order to deliver what is from nature into culture. "In this way," she writes, "society symbolically demonstrates ownership of its product." This beautiful book, full of insightful interviews with women on a range of birth experiences and with an extensive bibliography, is a wonderful addition to the growing literature on the anthropology of the body and the theoretical debates over mind/body and nature/culture dichotomies. Essential for all anthropology and women's studies collections and medical school libraries and highly recommended for public libraries.
- Patricia Sarles, Mt. Sinai Medical Ctr. Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"[Davis-Floyd] is a respectful listener who has encouraged her subjects to speak honestly about a complex experience. Consequently, even skeptical readers of the fascinating stories she has gathered should be prompted to reflect on the meaning of their own or their partners' experience of birth. . . . I admire, without reservation, the generous, critical, passionate spirit that animates this book." -- Sara Ruddick, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 382 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (October 5, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520074394
• ISBN-13: 978-0520074392
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exposes Obstetric care as a disempowering ritual, February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Birth as an American Rite of Passage (Paperback)

The majority of obstetric procedures, from putting on a hospital gown to the birthing position itself, are unnecessary and sometimes dangerous rituals that are perpetuated by an authoritarian system in its desire to maintain control over a virtually uncontrollable process. Robbie Davis-Floyd has studied these rituals of birth; why taking the ride to L&D in the wheelchair sets up an invalid mindset in the laboring woman, and how the lithotomy position robs the woman of her birthing power, forcing her to rely on the medical professions to deliver her baby for her.

It is powerful stuff and difficult to accept, but truth sometimes is.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary reading, October 16, 2005

By 

Doulawoman (Oklahoma City OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birth as an American Rite of Passage: Second Edition (Paperback)

If you really want to know what to expect when you're expecting, read this book and Henci Goer's Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. If you'd really like to remove yourself from the technobirth machine, read Ina May Gaskin's Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery. If you've always thought you might want a natural birth, read Peggy O'Mara's Having a Baby, Naturally. And remember this one thing: If you really (really) want a natural, unmedicated birth, don't give birth in a hospital.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and thoughtful reading experience!, October 10, 2000

By 

Christina B Morrow (Galveston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birth as an American Rite of Passage (Paperback)

If you are a woman looking for a thoughtful review of our modern birthing culture this is a wonderful book. I have read a lot about birth options, perspectives of the birth experience, and midwifery history and philosophy but went away wanting for more. My desire to really explore an informed text about our birthing culture was finally satiated by this book. I am not an anthropologist by training and yet found the book accessible, educational, and challenging. I really suggest this book be read by everyone interested in the birth experience, partners, attendants, birthing woman, or children of technocracy.