Obstetric Violence as Biopower: On the Dignity of Women

Iparraguirre M.; Mendoza J.; Cóndor M.; Muñoz R. · Encuentros (Maracaibo) (2023) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7527761

Resumen

Obstetric violence is a philosophical problem, as it symbolizes the dehumanized treatment of women and the exercise of power over the female body, negatively affecting their rights. This is a concept born from the legal field, but it soon took on ethical, philosophical and interdisciplinary dimensions that deserve constant exploration, given that, in its background, it is related to structural problems of society, such as gender violence or institutional violence., product of the growth of the patriarchal, androcentric and macho culture. By virtue of the above, the article analyzes obstetric violence as violence against women, as part of the mechanisms used by biopower, where the obstetrician, health personnel and the hospital become control devices that, in turn, Somehow, they model the behavior of women towards what is normatively expected by society. For this reason, obstetric violence is formed as an ideological construct, which is integrated into social hegemony, which objectifies, coerces and represses women, denying their rationality and dignity..

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica