LIVED EXPERIENCE OF OBSTETRIC VIOLENCE IN ROMANIA: BIRTH, WOUNDED FLESH, AND THE POLITICS OF CONTROL
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.47743/asas-2025-1-815Mots-clés :
obstetric violence, lived experience, phenomenology, femininity, bodily discipline, RomaniaRésumé
Cet article examine la violence obstétricale en Roumanie comme une forme systémique de discipline exercée sur le corps féminin dans le contexte de l’accouchement médicalisé. À travers une analyse phénoménologique de l’expérience vécue, fondée sur 30 entretiens semi-directifs menés auprès de femmes ayant accouché dans des établissements publics et privés entre 2019 et 2024, la recherche explore comment les abus obstétricaux sont vécus, racontés et parfois rationalisés. Les résultats mettent en évidence une typologie complexe de la violence obstétricale — allant d’interventions médicales non consenties et de violences verbales à des formes plus subtiles d’abandon, de silence institutionnel et d’expropriation symbolique. L’accouchement apparaît comme un espace ambivalent où le corps de la femme est à la fois hyper-visible et privé d’agentivité, réduit à un objet de savoir médical. La violence obstétricale n’est pas une anomalie, mais une expression récurrente de la manière dont le système biomédical régule la féminité, la douleur et l’autonomie corporelle.
Références
Annborn, A., & Finnbogadóttir, H. R. (2022). Obstetric violence: A qualitative interview study. Midwifery, 105, 103212.
Babbie, E. (2010). The Practice of Social Research (12th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Baranowska, B., Doroszewska, A., Kubicka-Kraszyńska, U., Pietrusiewicz, J., Adamska-Sala, I., Kajdy, A., Sys, D., Tataj-Puzyna, U., Bączek, G., & Crowther, S. (2019). Is there respectful maternity care in Poland? Women’s views about care during labour and birth. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 19, Article 520.
Briggs, L. (2002). Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico. University of California Press.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, August 22). One in 5 women reported mistreatment while receiving maternity care. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s0822-vs-maternity-mistreatment.html [May 17, 2025].
Chadwick, R. (2018). Bodies that Birth: Vitalizing Birth Politics. Routledge.
Cohen Shabot, S. (2016). Making loud bodies “feminine”: A feminist-phenomenological analysis of obstetric violence. Human Studies, 39(2), 231–247.
Davis-Floyd, R. (2003). Birth as an American Rite of Passage (2nd ed.). University of California Press.
Duden, B. (1993). Disembodying Women: Perspectives on Pregnancy and the Unborn. Harvard University Press.
Ferrão, A. C., Sim-Sim, M., Almeida, V. S., & Zangão, M. O. (2022). Analysis of the concept of obstetric violence: Scoping review protocol. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12(7), 1090. doi: 10.3390/jpm12071090
Foucault, M. (1973). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of medical perception (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1963).
Freedman, L. P., & Kruk, M. E. (2014). Disrespect and abuse of women in childbirth: Challenging the global quality and accountability agendas. The Lancet, 384(9948), e42–e44.
Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.
Iluț, P. (1997). Abordarea calitativă a socioumanului. Polirom.
Jewkes, R., & Penn-Kekana, L. (2015). Mistreatment of women in childbirth: Time for action on this important dimension of violence against women. PLOS Medicine, 12(6), e1001849.
Lock, M., & Scheper-Hughes, N. (1987). The mindful body: A prolegomenon to future work in medical anthropology. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 1(1), 6–41.
Martin, E. (2001). The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. Beacon Press.
Martínez-Galiano, J. M., Hernández-Martínez, A., Rodríguez-Almagro, J., Delgado-Rodríguez, M., & Gómez-Salgado, J. (2021). Obstetric interventions and women's self-reported experience of birth: A national online survey in Spain. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21, Article 326. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03796-9
Neaga, D.-E., Grünberg, L., & Radu, C. (2024). Experiența nașterii în spitalele din România: Raport de cercetare privind violența obstetrică. Recomandări pentru a îmbunătăți accesul la asistență prenatală universală, practici de naștere bazate pe dovezi și măsuri prietenoase pentru femei și copii în spitale. Asociația Moașelor Independente.
Palaga, A.-C. (2021). Avatarurile economiei medicale informale în România postsocialistă. Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărții de Știință.
Pickles, C. (2023). Obstetric violence, mistreatment, and disrespect and abuse: Reflections on the politics of naming violations during facility-based childbirth. Hypatia, 38(3), 628–649.
Roberts, D. (1997). Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. Pantheon Books.
Rusu, M. H., Nogueira, C., & Topa, J. B. (2025). Obstetric violence: Reproductive and sexual health trajectories of racialised Brazilian women in Portugal. Social Sciences, 14(2), 109.
Sadler, M., Santos, M. J. D., Ruiz-Berdún, D., Rojas, G. L., Skoko, E., Gillen, P., & Clausen, J. A. (2016). Moving beyond disrespect and abuse: Addressing the structural dimensions of obstetric violence. Reproductive Health Matters, 24(47), 47–55. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.002
World Health Organisation. (2014). The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/ 10665/134588 [April 24, 2025].
Young, I. M. (2005). On Female Body Experience: “Throwing Like a Girl” and Other Essays. Oxford University Press.