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Teaching women to question and control: public pedagogies of birth and vaccine refusal

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Abstract

In the US, birth has become a carefully planned experience for those with the greatest access to resources. Pregnancy preparations, including prenatal care, childbirth education, and peer interactions, encourage women to act as informed consumers, to communicate their own values, beliefs, and preferences in labor and delivery, and to challenge healthcare systems and medical providers. Simultaneously, there has been a growth in the number of mothers who reject medical recommendations for infant vaccination and newborn interventions. These challenges are presented by women with higher levels of education and resources, a group that is also most likely to insist on control over birth. In this article, I draw on qualitative data from mothers who reject vaccination recommendations for their children to highlight the interconnected experiences of childbirth self-advocacy and vaccine refusal. I suggest prenatal education toward self-advocacy may serve as a pedagogical process that mirrors the rhetoric of vaccine refusal. I conclude by showing how this new pedagogy of patient empowerment is nurtured and respected by pediatricians who administer vaccines and provide wellness care, even as they struggle with mothers who reject this core public health intervention.

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Notes

  1. “Architected,” a noun that was transformed into a verb by some in the technology industry, was popularized and widely mocked after Ivanka Trump used it frequently in her book, Women Who Work, where she insists, “All women benefit immeasurably by architecting their lives.” For a discussion, see Tolentino (2017).

  2. William Sears is author of dozens of books and parenting advice columns that support dominant views of vaccines, birth, and infant care. He is quite different in approach from his son, Robert “Bob” Sears, who promotes alternative vaccines schedules and whose medical license has been placed on probation after writing letters to provide medical exemption from vaccine requirements without adequate medical history or examination.

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Laura Carpenter, Norah MacKendrick, Rene Almeling, Joanna Kempner, Anna Kirkland, and the anonymous reviewers for helpful feedback in developing this article.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 105, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO, 80217-2264, USA

    Jennifer A. Reich

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Reich, J.A. Teaching women to question and control: public pedagogies of birth and vaccine refusal. BioSocieties 15, 580–600 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-019-00168-2

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