Childfree and Sterilized: Women's Decisions and Medical Responses

Childfree and Sterilized: Women's Decisions and Medical Responses
ISBN-10
0304337471
ISBN-13
9780304337477
Category
Social Science
Pages
226
Language
English
Published
1999-01-01
Publisher
A&C Black
Author
Annily Campbell

Description

This book examines the relatively new social and medical phenomenon of women in the developed countries of the world choosing to remain childfree and electing for sterilization rather than continuing with other forms of contraception. Twenty-three voluntarily childfree, sterilized women, aged 22 to 51 years, tell their stories, revealing the struggles they faced in being women without children in a society which expects women to be mothers. They describe the many barriers encountered on the way to being sterilized, including prejudice from those around them as well as hostility and refusal from the medical profession. The women recall how their reasons and decisions were ignored or pathologized by doctors who held unquestioned assumptions about how women should be. Feminist and sociological perspectives are employed to highlight that voluntarily childfree women are perceived as abnormal, not "real" women, and are often the target of negative and critical comment.

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