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Birth as an American Rite of Passage
by Robbie E. Davis-Floyd
Product Group: Book
Publisher: University of California Press (1993-09-01)
ISBN: 0520084314
EAN: 9780520084315
Dewy Decimal #: 301
Paperback: 382 pages
SKU: 080705006
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: This copy is in good condition. No visible markings, highlights, underlining, tears to text. Tight spine. No Dust Jacket. Back Soft Cover has a crease with small scratches to front/back. Minimum/moderate, shelf/edge wear. Very interesting copy, worth having at an affordable price. (7H-5)
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
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a must-read
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-10-14
this is a very important book. it may be a little heavy on the (anthropological) jargon for some people but it is worth it. it's an eye-opening study of the medicalization of birth in our culture and it's really interesting, upsetting, and informative. she includes many interviews with women who have birthed in hospitals and obstetricians describing their socialization/training/beliefs. i do believe that any woman giving birth owes it to herself to explore this issue. it is actually statistically less safe for low-risk women to deliver in a hospital than at home with a competent midwife (in terms of maternal & fetal infections and deaths). whether you already know that you want an epidural or if you are hoping for a natural birth, you should become aware of the practices that are commonplace in hospitals so that you can make informed decisions about what is right for you and your baby. it is possible (though very challenging) to have a "natural" birth in a hospital but it is a constant uphill battle to avoid the numerous dangerous interventions the medically-oriented practitioners try to push on women without evidence that they help (indeed, with research that shows that they hinder the progress of labor or make recovery more difficult for the woman).
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Necessary reading
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-10-17
13 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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Wonderful and thoughtful reading experience!
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-10-10
12 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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An amazing look into the technocracy of birth.
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-04-04
15 out of 17 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a paradigm blowing must read for any woman. A fluid read and with intense narratives. The most educational book I've read in a long time.
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Exposes Obstetric care as a disempowering ritual
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-02-23
39 out of 39 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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