‘That’s a good girl’: How women are infantilized during obstetric care and labor

As Kate, a participant in our research on birth experiences, struggled with the pain she was experiencing during labor, the midwife was stern. She referred to Kate as a “silly girl” and told her she needed to calm down. Finally, the anesthetist arrived to give Kate an epidural. He asked if this was “the silly girl” he’d heard about, and then told her to control herself.

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