Social mobilisation around the act of childbirth: subjectivity and politics

Abstract

This article explores subjective and political dimensions of the home birth movement which emerged in public discourse in Australia from the late 1970s. In re-defining their subjectivity around the act of childbirth, women participants created an emancipatory social movement that encouraged other women to resist medical/state control over that aspect of their lives. As they fought collectively to establish their right to birth at home, the personal and the political became entwined in their rejection of the dominant codes concerning childbirth.

Keywords:

• birth stories
• childbirth
• home birth
• material discourse
• social mobilisation
• social movement
• subjectivity