CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Lutz, Thea |
|---|---|
| Title | Queer Birthing: a qualitative Investigation on Expertise of queer-sensitive Midwifery in Germany |
| Summary | This thesis studies midwifery for (and by) queer people in Germany. The focus is on the construction of expertise among queer-sensitive midwives, who practice within a profession that understands itself as a field “by women for women”, historically as well as in the present. The question hence becomes how people who do not identify as cis-female can act in this field, providing and receiving care around pregnancy and birth. How might the practices of midwives change among newly forming, explicitly queer-oriented collectives? Will it resist or align with traditional ideas of who or what a midwife or a mother is? In Germany, two such collectives have been established in the past years, promoting themselves as a space for queer birth. These collectives are the objects of this study. Based on semi-structured interviews with midwives who are part of these collectives – as well as some who are not, but still understand their practice as queer-sensitive – I argue that queer-sensitive midwifery does not contradict the basic assumptions of the profession, but rather expands on them. My findings show that the negotiation of gender against a patriarchally structured medical system align with the critical perspective inherent to the profession of midwives. Rather than claims to expertise being troubled with the introduction of queerness, I argue that it is the profession itself that keeps the patriarchal system of professionalization at a critical distance. Queer-sensitive birthing and midwifery hence build upon an ideal of individualized and holistic support and care, while expanding this practice through a continuous reflection of the self, one's positionality and communication. Referring back to a perspective on “Queer Reproductive Justice”, this research is interested in the social situatedness of queer folks experiencing pregnancy and birth, and ultimately finds the feminist claim of midwifery newly expanded by a queer-feminist practice. |
| Supervisor | Helms, Elissa |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/lutz_thea.pdf |
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