Reaction to Ryan C's blog

Ryan, I thought this blog post was very interesting because you (and me) are guys and, likely, we don't have to go through anything as unbearable as birthing a child.

I would also say that I never would have considered my wife and I to have a midwife deliver our child, since it is so unheard of in society today. We truly overlook this "field" because we have doctors who can deliver babies healthy and more efficiently; but at the same time its way more expensive. I believe the video said a midwife would cost around $5,000 and a doctor/hospital at $12,000. That is a huge difference!! (That's the price of a used car to drive on campus).

Now that I have seen this video, I definitely would consider a midwife to help my wife deliver in the future. They seem  like they know what they are doing and its cost-effective too. I mean hospitals are great too but again they just care about getting people in; treating them; and getting them out, to help another patient that needs to recover from a cold or what-have-you. All the hospitals care about is money and they really don't care about their patients' overall well-being. That is just said to me when you think about it.

~Chad S.

“Hardwired Sex Differences: Analysis of a Persistent Claim,” a lecture by Dr. Giordana Grossi

Attending Dr.Grossi's lecture was pretty eye-opening for me. It was for me the continuation of a question I have had swirling around in my head for just about a year now. Last year during woman's history month there was a lecturer presenting research, done on mice, on the subject of gene expression in the brain in relation to exposure to sex- hormones (testosterone and estrogen).

In short, data was presented representing sexual behaviors in mice when within seconds of their birth, female and male mice had been injected with inverse sex hormones. What the study found was that gene expression changed when certain sex hormone was introduced in the brain. So for example, if a female mouse was injected with testosterone shortly after birth, she would exhibit male sexual behavior.

Dr. Grossi's lecture seemed to me to be a reaction against these kinds of studies, and what seems to be a more and more commonly accepted assumption about the inherent differences between Males and Females. I found her argument to be systematic, mythological, and incredibly convincing. She first challenged, linguistically, why the term "hard-wired" is problematic. How "hardwired" as a term is inaccurate and misleading. Then she went on to explain how the results, the data presented in these talks, is at often times unfounded and in-replicable. And then went on to present data which contradicted the hypothesis affirmed by "hardwired" assumptions.

Dr. Grossi's final conclusion was what I have been repeatably been told from different people with which I have been having these talks with, that being that there is a severe lack of data and research with which to validate the claim the gender differences within males and females are hardwired. She then went on to ask, if it even was an important question to answer.

Overall, I really enjoyed her research and the way she constructed her arguments. Despite it being hard to hear through her accent at times, I still found her talk leave a lasting impression.

The Business of Being Born

The debate over Midwives vs. Hospitals has been an ongoing and controversial issue that in my opinion has an extremely obvious answer. Every mother is different, and every woman has a different body type that has very specific wants and needs when it comes to child birth. I think that if a woman is able to have a natural birth at home with a midwife, then she definitely should. A woman will be thankful that she had the chance to have an emotional bond with her child immediately after giving birth. In my opinion, the only time a woman should have a birth in a hospital is if her physical make up would not ensure a safe labor. I guess I should not be giving advice on being pregnant or giving birth because I am not a mother, but from the knowledge I have gained and the research I have done on this topic, I do believe that at home births with a midwife are the best option when it come to child birth.

The Father of Gynecology

When comparing Sartin’s article to that of Washington’s from Medical Apartheid there were some drastic differences. Washington really describes the harsh treatment African American slaves both men and women had to go through while under the care of Dr. Sims. Women were subjected to prodding and poking in more sensitive and private parts. The slaves were thought to be able to tolerate pain and would not be given any anesthetics. This is one example in which Sims was a cruel and selfish man, for putting his scientific drive before the well being of his patients.  Sims made a special hospital building next to his home, but was this really a hospital or just a laboratory for his experiments? Even though this was a time when slaves were considered property I think he could have gone about things differently and for that I see him as a villain. Was it proper and ethical for Sims to carry out his experimental surgeries in the way he did? I think he could have used anesthesia, especially when we know these women were screaming at the top of their lugs and had to be held down. His vaginal surgeries were thought to be minor procedures when described in Sartin’s article, but I think a lot is left out to make Sims seem more of a hero for his gynecological findings. Washington tells a much more descriptive and honest story of the struggle women went through due to Sims’ need for answers in the medical world. I think he was putting his want of fame and fortune first and would do anything in order to gain respect in society as a doctor. As a doctor he definitely over stepped his authority, but this is based on the perspective of what’s acceptable in today’s society.  

-emothersell

A thought on the Business of Being Born

Okay, so a lot of interesting points being brought up here about the video. Amidst the multitude of questions that the film has raised, as well as the graphic imagery, I was very curious to the progression of medicalized births. The film said in 1900 nearly no babies were born in hospitals, but nearly half were born in one by 1940. They said that this was caused the increased feminist movements and their desire to take advantage of new medications to ease to pain and symptoms. This would then be administered in hospitals by OBGYNs. So the "business" formed around this pro-medicine attitude initiated by the women in the 20th century. But I got the vibe that somehow this view as hospitals being pro-women changed in the 1960s when a different kind of feminist empowerment took place. So mid-wives returned as a new pro-women option against the hospitalized industry (which originated from a pro-medicine movement by women,) because hospitals "ruined" the spiritual and emotional parts from giving birth. Please correct if I am wrong, but this is what I picked up on from watching the film.

Regardless, I disagree with the one mid-wives view of hospitals ruining the connection between mother and baby because the mother was "sedated" in the process.  I would assume that an emotional connection to the baby would still exit regardless of its method of birth. If a caring mother spent 9 months tending to her baby, then her method of birth would not change a mother's will to nurture her child.

Artifact

The artifact that I’m presenting from our culture is the speculum. The speculum is a tool used in gynecology for the common procedure, Pap smear. This procedure includes inserting the speculum into the vagina as to be able to gain a more “open” perspective. The common speculum is an artifact of our medical culture and we can deduce quite a bit about how the view of women’s health has changed. The fact that we even have such an instrument shows that we’ve grown in our concern for women’s health. However if we take a look at this speculum versus Sims’ tool:

We can see that there has been some change. There is a clear difference in how we treat and think about women. Our culture has become more updated with a more comfortable way to deal with women’s health

Discussion Question

-Speaking from the artifact its self, what are the clear differences between the beginning of gynecology to now?

-Do you believe Sims’ was malicious or just trying to help or hurt? Was he after advances in medicine or money and a name for himself?

-How do you think Sims’ would have been seen if he had tested his surgery on white women rather than black slaves during that time?

-Consider the many medical experiments that have been done to advance to the point that we are at, would these be plausible now considering our different view for all of humanity?

Joan Welch

In Response to "Hospitalization of Birth"

I was also very surprised by the Business of Being Born video, it brought up many points that I had never even thought about or ever even questioned. As a young college student I don’t plan on having children anytime soon, but I plan on it in the future, and I always figured it would be a normal birth in the hospital. This video takes that image and questions it in many different ways, and it left me thinking what the hell am I ever going to do when I have kids. I see both sides of the video, but one of the things that worried me most was what if a mother chose home birth and something very serious went wrong? Yes, the chance of this happening is very low, but you never know who it’s going to be. I think this is a topic that is very hidden, considering the fact that I have never heard much about the argument, but I think it is very important and shouldn’t go as unnoticed. I think the video makes a great statement that women should have more choice when it comes to giving birth, as it is probably one of the most important aspects of life to a mother. I also think that a reason that mothers don’t have much of a choice is because the hospitals are treating it as a business, they want as many patients they can get to make the money, which means getting others out as quick as possible. It’s also a little scary to think in reality the doctors delivering babies haven’t been trained in delivering babies as they really have been trained more to perform the surgeries. I believe that there is a lot of manipulation taking place in the situation and that it should be brought to more attention because mothers deserve respect when bringing a child in to the world.