Feminist analyses offer widely different approaches to the natural processes of pregnancy, childbirth, and fertility in general, with a key question being the attitude towards science and technology as a way to monitor and control bodies. The thesis focuses on the accusations of medicalization and questions the ideal of natural childbirth. The role of science is examined in terms of objectivity, incompatible paradigms, and symptoms inscribed with meaning. Reluctance to accept medical care is associated with the issue of paternalism in medicine, resulting in natural childbirth being presented as an alternative to control. Various forms of paternalism are not limited to the patient's relationships with healthcare staff; they are present in advocacy for natural childbirth. The image of a cyborg is not treated as a threat or the extreme result of technology (over)use – it is instead embraced as a possible strategy for overcoming the questionable nature/technology dichotomy.
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