Overview

Reproductive rights are human rights. Reproductive Justice and Women's Voices: Health Communication across the Lifespan offers an in-depth analysis of women’s reproductive health in a transformative, sociopolitical moment that is redefining women’s access to health care; reducing disparities in maternal and child health is a critical public health goal for the United States. Sundstrom contributes to patient-centered public health by analyzing women’s reproductive health across the lifespan. Four critical body episodes: contraceptive use dynamics, pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum period explicate women’s understandings of control and embodiment in the context of technology. Women’s meaning making of each body episode is interrogated in three areas: (1) the physiological experience of reproductive health, (2) perceptions of medicine and the biomedical model, and (3) opinions of mediated messages about reproduction, including new media. Through stories and silence, the women interviewed in this book demand accurate information, including the risks and benefits of health care, and access to reproductive services and technologies. The analysis disrupts the nature/technology dualism and reconceptualizes health outside of the normative processes of menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth. By talking with women, this study privileges women’s decision-making about reproductive health and offers insight for how women’s partners, families, and health care providers can support them in this process.

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9781498503150

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[Sundstrom] carefully weaves each woman's story in these contexts in a readable and captivating manner...Her attention to detail brings the women that participated in her research project to life for the reader.... Each woman's story is written thoughtfully and deftly while highlighting their individual encounters.... This volume is appropriate to accompany a Health Communication, Gender Communication, or Risk Communication course. The book would be best suited to a graduate course in any of these areas of communication inquiry. Sundstrom has completed a well-written and interesting volume addressing areas not often examined. This reviewer recommends the book highly. * Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly * Reproductive Justice and Women's Voices documents the complexities and contradictions of women's lived experiences and examines them within larger contexts of and discussions about reproductive technologies, health, rights, and justice. Sundstrom listens deeply and with attention to what women have to say about their lives, bodies, and experiences. -- Deborah Billings, PhD, Choose Well, the New Morning Foundation

Reproductive Justice and Women's Voices documents the complexities and contradictions of women's lived experiences and examines them within larger contexts of and discussions about reproductive technologies, health, rights, and justice. Sundstrom listens deeply and with attention to what women have to say about their lives, bodies, and experiences. -- Deborah Billings, PhD, Choose Well, the New Morning Foundation

Author Information

Beth Sundstrom is assistant professor of communication and public health at the College of Charleston.

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