The Negative Effects Of Medicalization

The medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth first began appearing in the 19th century and is now a dominant way of perceiving processes that were once considered natural. The process of medicalization is a social process that focuses on the “biomedical tendency to pathologize otherwise normal bodily processes and states” (Inhorn 2006). Medicalization is a concept that deals with what is defined as healthy and what is defined as illness in society. The process of medicalization in modern societies involves taking a naturally occurring process like pregnancy or childbirth in women and redefining these processes as disruptions to health requiring medical treatment. Because pregnancy is seen as disrupting health, the processes of being pregnant

In Zardorozyj's article “Social Class, Social Selves and Social Control In Childbirth” (1999) she argues that medicalization is an alienating process that disempowers those without obstetrical training and is a process that focuses on issues of safety and not women's subjective experiences of giving birth. Because of the focus medical practitioners put on safety and reducing risks, there are higher chances of technological interventions being recommended to patients. The focus put on reducing risks during pregnancy and safety of patients is in some ways a positive impact of medicalization because care given to expectant mothers and fetuses has improved in modern society and has improved health and made pregnancy/childbirth safer. Technological interventions are not always positive though and there may be unknown negative impacts of

Cahill (2000) at the University of York, medicalization has become a form of social control where patients trust their doctors to be moral and objective and as knowing the correct ways to treat health issues. Because of medicalization, medical jurisdiction has increased into areas not previously seen as medically defined problems. Social control is obtained by defining pregnancy as a medical disorder, by the usage of technological interventions to monitor and control biological processes, and through the usage of a medical setting. Women's control and expertise over pregnancy is decreased and dependency on health care practitioners is ensured because they are seen as authority figures knowing privileged knowledge obtained through education and experience. Women's reproductive functions have been redefined to be seen as hazardous which has made women dependent on medical practitioners out of the belief that medical practitioners will do what is best to increase safety and reduce risks during pregnancy and childbirth (Zardorozyj