Gender intersectionalities and obstetric violences

Abstract

In this article we present two cases of obstetric violence that occurred in Barcelona between the years 2016-2017 in the same hospital: a first level subsidised center in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The cases presented are instrumental because they clearly illustrate the phenomenon of obstetric violence suffered within gender and collective conditions as they address more than one model and, because with them, we might be able to provide an in-depth understanding of similar cases that have occurred in recent years. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyze said cases in order to highlight the rights of autonomy and informed consent in pregnancy and childbirth from a gender intersectional perspective. Throughout the text we reflect on how the trivialization produced by the current individualistic ontological model has generated a deep confusion between desire and right, reproducing taylorist processes of childbirth. In these processes violence is confused with altruism, the possibility of having children with the acquisition of them, health with merchandise. We want to highlight the importance of gender determinants and intersections to adopt a complex view and to define and understand obstetric violence in order to transform the current situation.