Identity ambivalence and embodiment in women's accounts of the gynaecological examination

Galasiński, Dariusz; Ziółkowska, Justyna

doi:10.1177/1363459307080864

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…It is possible that previous unpleasant and painful experience of events could continue to haunt their psychological wellbeing and as such could provoke a negative response and attitude towards TVU, as demonstrated in this study. This observation is in tandem with other studies that have established an association between women’s resentment to pelvic examination in relation to their previous sexual violence 16,17. The perception of ultrasound as a painful procedure sounds interesting as the women’s conclusions from mere visualization of TVU in this study speak volumes of clients’ notions and perspectives towards medical investigations and treatment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Transvaginal ultrasonography: a survey of the acceptability and its predictors among a native African women population

Atalabi

Morhason-Bello²,

Adekanmi³

et al. 2011

IJWH

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ObjectiveTo determine the acceptability of transvaginal ultrasonography (TVU) and associated factors among Nigerian women.MethodA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3137 women who presented for transabdominal ultrasound scan between August and November 2010 in two referral hospitals in Nigeria. Data were obtained using a questionnaire. Descriptive and multivariate analysis was performed applying logistic regression analysis; predictors of willingness of participants regarding transvaginal ultrasound were identified using SPSS Statistics (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL) version 17 software.ResultsThe mean age of the women was 33.8 years (standard deviation = 7.9), with 88.8% currently married. About 84% were willing to have TVU, while 54.2% were indifferent about the gender of the sonologist. About 17.3% believed that the procedure is painful. Significant predictors of willingness to have TVU were previous sexual experience and douching, prior painful vaginal examination, and vaginal surgery.ConclusionThe majority of Nigerian women expressed a willingness to have the TVU procedure without necessarily opting for any gender preference of the operator. Women should be adequately counseled on the operations of the procedure so as to be able to psychologically prepare for them.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Transvaginal ultrasonography: a survey of the acceptability and its predictors among a native African women population

Atalabi

Morhason-Bello²,

Adekanmi³

et al. 2011

IJWH

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“…Identity is a broader notion than subject position as it also involves positioning oneself in terms of belonging in relation to those ‘like me’ as well as the Other (cf. Galasiński and Ziółkowska, 2007). Positioning presents the person’s actions as intelligible within a socially, culturally and politically defined context permeated by specific interpretative schemes which in this case is the contemporary Nordic welfare society.…”

Section: Empirical Materials and Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Peterson

Engwall

2013

European Journal of Women's Studies

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This article reports from the first studies on voluntary childlessness in Sweden and addresses a so far neglected issue -the embodied experiences of childfree women. These childfree women reject and resist pronatalist understandings that conflate being a woman with being a mother. However, instead of explaining their childlessness by external factors, mentioned in previous research, the interviewed women created a positive feminine identity separated from motherhood with reference to their 'silent bodies', i.e. bodies without a biological urge to reproduce. Reducing voluntary childlessness to a mere result of biological determinism, the article argues, establishes a legitimate, natural position, less provocative and stigmatized in a pronatalist society. Nevertheless, paradoxically, drawing on biological determinism both challenges and reinstates pronatalism as it builds on the simultaneous acceptance of, and detachment from, the biological reproductive urge. The study hence highlights how persistent the social and cultural link between motherhood and womanhood is, but also how this relationship can be challenged.

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“…The embodied locus of the self, the bodily identity, so to speak, is in the patients' eyes. The rest of the body is discursively separated, and the gynecologist is examining body parts rather than "my body" (Galasin′ski & Ziól ⁄ kowska, 2006;Ziól ⁄ kowska, 2005).…”

Section: Gender and Gynecological Examinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and the Gynecological Examination

Galasiński

Ziółkowska

2007

Qual Health Res

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The authors explore the constructions of gender in male doctors' narratives of gynecological examinations. Focusing on the ways in which gender identities are constructed in the stories of the medical encounter, they argue, first, that gender is more flexible during the visit with a gynecologist than has been suggested. Gendered identities are assumed and put aside as the interaction progresses, with its final stage--the pelvic examination--being constructed with gender removed. Second, they argue that undressing is invested with a special status during the examination. It is a gendered rite of passage between the two different ungendered subject positions of the doctor and the patient. They conclude that contrary to the assumptions in the literature on gynecological interactions, it is the genderization of undressing that is most conducive to securing the least face-threatening gynecological examination for the woman.

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Identity ambivalence and embodiment in women's accounts of the gynaecological examination

Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications

Transvaginal ultrasonography: a survey of the acceptability and its predictors among a native African women population

Transvaginal ultrasonography: a survey of the acceptability and its predictors among a native African women population

Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Gender and the Gynecological Examination

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