Violência obstétrica: do sonho ao pesadelo

Abstract

This scientific article traces an analysis of childbirth from its history and main aspects, in order to elucidate the concept of obstetric violence and the forms in which this modality of violence embodies itself. As a result of the change in the birth environment – from the house to the hospital – a process of medicalization of childbirth began and the woman's body happened to be trated as a defective machine that needs the help of man and science for a functioning perfect. In hospitals, obstetric violence gains time and form, and practices such as episiotomy – incision in the perineum – and Kristeller maneuver, among many other violent acts, are incorporated into the daily life of childbirth, turn it dreams into true nightmares.