Ills from the womb? A critical examination of clinical guidelines for obesity in pregnancy

Jetté, Shannon; Rail, Geneviève

doi:10.1177/1363459312460702

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Critical scholars writing from diverse epistemological positions have questioned both the "problem" of pregnancy fatness and the proposed solutions (Furber and McGowan, 2011;Lindhardt et al, 2013;Mulherin et al, 2013;DeJoy and Bittner, 2015). For scholars writing from a poststructural epistemological frame, contemporary knowledge about pregnancy fatness does not represent an objective truth or reality but rather historically and socially specific "truths, " constituted from multiple dominant gendered, biomedical, and neoliberal discourses about health, fatness, reproduction and mothering (Jette, 2006;Tolwinski, 2010;McNaughton, 2011;Warin et al, 2011Warin et al, , 2012Jette and Rail, 2013;Parker, 2014;Parker and Pausé, 2018). Dominant discourses, from a poststructural perspective, are the practices of knowledge production which, through existing power relations, come to constitute truth and meaning, as well as producing a range of subject positions or ways of being in the world (Bacchi and Bonham, 2014, p. 174).…”

Section: Pregnancy Fatness As Dominant Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

“I'm Just a Woman Having a Baby”: Negotiating and Resisting the Problematization of Pregnancy Fatness

Parker

Pausé

2018

Front. Sociol.

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This article explores how fat pregnant people construct successful narratives around their pregnancies and birthing. Fat pregnant people are a critical site for the war on fatness; viewed as irresponsible: threatening the health of their pregnancy, and the far-off future of their child. Contemporary knowledge about pregnancy fatness is imbued with longstanding and powerful gendered biomedical discourses that have served to script women's reproductive bodies as faulty and deviant compared to the masculine "norm," priming them for medical management and control. The problematization of pregnancy fatness represents a concerning extension of maternal responsibilization to pregnancy, entangling pregnant people in a politics of preemptive action to secure their children's future health, all the while denying the socio-political, economic and cultural realities of women's lives that constrain their ability to do so. Policy and media responses have located both the causes of, and solutions to, the problem of pregnancy fatness in women's individual self-management imploring them to take responsibility for the necessary lifestyle changes needed to reduce the risks posed by their fat bodies to their babies and the health system. This paper extends critical scholarship on the problematization of pregnancy fatness by identifying the importance of understanding not only how women are oppressed by these dominant discourses but also how they are involved in strategies of negotiation and resistance. By creating space for alternate versions and visions, discursive resistance offers a critical means by which individuals can exercise agency by redefining their lives and recovering their harmed identities.

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Section: Pregnancy Fatness As Dominant Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

“I'm Just a Woman Having a Baby”: Negotiating and Resisting the Problematization of Pregnancy Fatness

Parker

Pausé

2018

Front. Sociol.

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“…Taken Thus, we tend to accept them as objective truth or reality, allowing them to become deeply 387 embedded in our cultural discourses and practices (Jette & Rail, 2012). 388…”

Section: Participants 311mentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating female judoka identities in Greece: A Foucauldian discourse analysis

Kavoura

Ryba

Chroni³

2015

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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“…Prozen & Krajnc (2019) also acknowledged that intervention was applied to areas going over and beyond medical imperialism. Furthermore, studies have created an entire discourse questioning the biomedical problem of obesity and the unethical approach of blaming individuals for medicalisation posited by the current approach (Jette, and Rail, 2013;Parker, & Pausé, 2018;Ralston et al, 2018;Toomath, 2016;Tolwinski, 2010;Ward & McPhail, 2019). Midwives in this study confirm that such alternative views remain neglected in favour of the mainstream dominant medicalised view.…”

Section: Medicalisation Of Obesitysupporting

confidence: 52%

An exploration of midwives’ perspectives on the provision of maternity care to women with an increased BMI during pregnancy and childbirth in NZ

Wratten¹

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The global burden of ‘maternal obesity’ 0F0F continues to receive worldwide attention, with the dominating focus being the identification and management of the perceived risks obesity poses to pregnancy. This focus, however, has neglected to seek solutions and perspectives from the individuals themselves and those others that may be best placed to understand the nuanced dynamics and realities. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) over 95% of women1F1F choose a midwife as their Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) (Ministry of Health [MOH], 2020) yet research exploring midwives’ perspectives on the provision care to women with increased Body Mass Index (BMI) is limited. The aim for this thesis was to explore ‘the perspectives of midwives in NZ regarding the provision of maternity care to women with an increased body mass index (BMI).’ The research question driving this study was “What are midwives’ perspectives on the provision of maternity care to women with an increased BMI in New Zealand?” To answer this question, this qualitative study utilised a feminist standpoint theoretical lens to explore the experiences of seventeen midwives who provide care to such women, in three separate geographical locations in NZ. Data was collected using focus groups and semi-structured interviews and Braun and Clark’s (2013) thematic analysis process was used to identify four themes. Midwives within this study perceived that the use of BMI as a single measure of risk in maternity was flawed. They identified that hype exists around increased BMI which leads to over medicalisation and unnecessary and potentially harmful interventions taking place when women present with an increased BMI. Midwives are aware of and witness both discriminatory behaviour towards, and poor treatment of women with increased BMI within their midwifery work. Midwives desire change, yet often feel obstructed and powerless within the current maternity system which is dominated by these practices. The study themes presented are titled, a flawed approach, concern for womens’ experience, being stuck, and sticking together. This study suggests that systemic and structural barriers to equitable care exist within the maternity system in NZ regarding the provision of care to women with increased BMI. Viewing this situation from a feminist standpoint perspective has enabled the articulation of a position that despite midwives feeling the system hampers their ability to advocate for women and protect normal birth, their expertise about how to most effectively work with obese women has the potential to transform women's experience and improve maternity outcomes. Explicit pathways for women who are obese require strengthening within our current system to enable judgment-free informed choice regarding interventionist or non- interventionist care.

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Ills from the womb? A critical examination of clinical guidelines for obesity in pregnancy

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

“I'm Just a Woman Having a Baby”: Negotiating and Resisting the Problematization of Pregnancy Fatness

“I'm Just a Woman Having a Baby”: Negotiating and Resisting the Problematization of Pregnancy Fatness

Negotiating female judoka identities in Greece: A Foucauldian discourse analysis

An exploration of midwives’ perspectives on the provision of maternity care to women with an increased BMI during pregnancy and childbirth in NZ

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