Tell me by whom is defined and I’ll tell if it is violent: a reflection on obstetric violence

Abstract

In this article we discuss the definition of obstetric violence (VO) regarding certain relationships and practices in medical care of pregnancy and childbirth. We approached violence in the specific case of VO through a socio-anthropological model of analysis, and through the comparison between objective definitions (juridical, political, academic) and subjective
ones as produced by civil society associations. We assume that what underlies the discourses on VO is a dispute over the legitimacy of its definition, and that, in this process, objective naming and subjective meanings attributed to certain obstetric practices as violent are intertwined. We argue that the change in social sensitivities regarding many forms of
violence (which resulted in changes of legitimate discourses) explains the current discussion on the definition of what is VO.