'Straight Outta Vagina' – how depictions of violence and abuse towards women's bodies, in Western art & culture, can be seen to influence and perpetuate the incidence of 'obstetric violence' in maternity care

Topic Area This interdisciplinary, multimedia presentation uses images, music, video and the frame of feminist film, media and visual arts theory to uncover influential examples of disrespectful, abusive and violent... [ view full abstract ]

Topic Area 

This interdisciplinary, multimedia presentation uses images, music, video and the frame of feminist film, media and visual arts theory to uncover influential examples of disrespectful, abusive and violent depictions of women’s bodies, across a wide spectrum of arts and cultural genres, and suggests how these can be seen to inform our understanding of ‘obstetric violence’.

Description of area of research

‘Obstetric violence’ is a term coined by Veneuelan law in 2010, and widely inflected throughout the world. It is defined as; abusive or disrespectful care of childbearing women by health care professionals, and a lack of concern for physiological birth processes, which leads to a loss of bodily autonomy.

Discussion

The presentation will explore the powerful cultural legacy generated by the pervasive depiction of the objectification, sexualisation and violence perpetuated against women’s bodies. This includes the truncation of medical illustration, artists' picturing of rape, and the overt hetero-sexualisation and fetishism of the ‘nude’.

In addition, recent phenomena will be looked at, such as gaming culture which uses female bodies as vehicles for decoration and exploitation, the explosion of pornography on the internet, and the mass media’s obsession with stories involving violence towards women. All these and more, can be seen to encourage a proliferation and perverse pleasure in portrayals of violence and abuse towards women, which, it is suggested, underpins 'obstetric violence'.

However, the presentation also looks at artworks and activist responses by women such as Yoko Ono’s infamous ‘Cut Piece’ (1962), the Russian music group Pussy Riot’s, video ‘Straight Outta Vagina’ (2016) and the film, Prevenge (2016) by Alice Lowe, which features a murderous pregnant woman.

Conclusion

The presentation concludes with a reflection on how midwives can use a greater knowledge of the cultural roots of ‘obstetric violence’ to connect with human rights approaches in birth, women’s voices, and a feminist ethics of care in maternity to inform, challenge, innovate and ultimately promote respectful maternity care for women.

Oral presentation