Violence and Trauma in Australian Birth

This chapter puts contemporary concerns with traumatic birth in dialogue with historical evidence to illuminate continuities over time and to suggest sources of the intractability of women’s suffering. We marry two concepts—obstetric violence and epistemic violence—to inform our understanding of how power operates in maternity care. Drawing on evidence from Australian newspapers, magazines, oral testimonies, and qualitative survey data, we analyse examples of trauma and violence in birth from the second half of the twentieth century to the present. We argue that while the work of birth activists over decades has led to the elimination of numerous practices that undermined women’s agency, considerable work remains to ensure labouring women’s dignity and empowerment.