PMID: 9194245Jun 1, 1997Paper

Women's hidden transcripts about abortion in Brazil

Social Science & Medicine
M K NationsO M Campbell

Abstract

Two folk medical conditions, "delayed" (atrasada) and "suspended" (suspendida) menstruation, are described as perceived by poor Brazilian women in Northeast Brazil. Culturally prescribed methods to "regulate" these conditions and provoke menstrual bleeding are also described, including ingesting herbal remedies, patent drugs, and modern pharmaceuticals. The ingestion of such self-administered remedies is facilitated by the cognitive ambiguity, euphemisms, folklore, etc., which surround conception and gestation. The authors argue that the ethnomedical conditions of "delayed" and "suspended" menstruation and subsequent menstrual regulation are part of the "hidden reproductive transcript" of poor and powerless Brazilian women. Through popular culture, they voice their collective dissent to the official, public opinion about the illegality and immorality of induced abortion and the chronic lack of family planning services in Northeast Brazil. While many health professionals consider women's explanations of menstrual regulation as a "cover-up" for self-induced abortions, such popular justifications may represent either an unconscious or artful manipulation of hegemonic, anti-abortion ideology expressed in prudent, unobtrusive and ve...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 5, 2002·Social Science & Medicine·Marilyn K Nations, Sharmêniade de Araújo Soares Nuto
Jun 26, 2001·Reproductive Health Matters·A C Guedes
Sep 10, 2002·Women & Health·Monique Skidmore
Feb 14, 2014·BMC Women's Health·Ellen M H MitchellCarolyn Tucker Halpern
Nov 18, 2005·Reproductive Health Matters·Sylvie Schuster
Aug 10, 2011·Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology : the Journal of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology·J I B AdinmaC Ezeama
Aug 4, 2015·Social Science & Medicine·Chimaraoke O IzugbaraRispah Okelo
Sep 1, 2016·Reproductive Health Matters·Megan WainwrightNatalie Leon
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Apr 9, 2008·Cadernos de saúde pública·Marilyn K NationsHilma Fontenele Dias
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Aug 10, 2017·Ciência & saúde coletiva·Alberto Pereira Madeiro, Andréa Cronemberger Rufino
Sep 7, 2021·Global Public Health·Mariana Prandini Assis, Joanna N Erdman
Dec 21, 2019·Best Practice & Research. Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology·Heidi MosesonCaitlin Gerdts

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