Romito P, Hovelaque F
Int J Health Serv. 1987;17(2):241-58. doi: 10.2190/LX8E-D4D7-0D3D-2KLP.
In this article, we contend that the standard definition of risk factors in pregnancy is not the neutral or technical process that women may assume it to be, but is colored by the prejudice of its context: a capitalist and patriarchal society. In such a society, only paid work is valued, and thus there is little study of the ill effects of housework on pregnant women; such a study would mean considering and possibly changing our sex-biased division of labor. Physicians and the mass media stress risk factors such as smoking, while omitting to mention that drugs prescribed by doctors are not always safe, and some are prescribed for years before-and even after-their harmful effects are known. Further examples are given from the field of childbirth, and we advance the hypothesis that, especially in fee-for-service medical systems, the physician can represent a risk factor. "Information" is often offered as the solution for pregnancy risks, the responsibility for this being the woman's. The mystification and narrowness of such a victim-blaming approach are evident. The key factor in prenatal preventive care is the mother's level of education: to admit this would be to acknowledge the need for change of a social system that keeps women in ignorance. We point out the limitations of the proposed individualistic solutions and conclude that, in redefining risk factors for women and their babies, we must analyze our society in feminist terms and in terms of social class.
在本文中，我们认为孕期风险因素的标准定义并非女性可能认为的那种中立或技术性的过程，而是受到其所处背景——资本主义和父权制社会——的偏见影响。在这样的社会中，只有有偿工作才被重视，因此几乎没有关于家务劳动对孕妇不良影响的研究；这样的研究意味着要考虑并可能改变我们基于性别的劳动分工。医生和大众媒体强调吸烟等风险因素，却忽略提及医生开的药并非总是安全的，有些药在其有害影响被知晓之前——甚至之后——还被开了数年。分娩领域也给出了更多例子，我们提出一个假设，即尤其是在按服务收费的医疗体系中，医生可能是一个风险因素。“信息”常被当作应对孕期风险的解决办法，而责任却在于女性。这种指责受害者做法的神秘化和狭隘性显而易见。产前预防保健的关键因素是母亲的教育水平：承认这一点就意味着要认识到改变使女性处于无知状态的社会制度的必要性。我们指出了所提议的个人主义解决方案的局限性，并得出结论，在重新定义女性及其婴儿的风险因素时，我们必须从女权主义角度以及社会阶层角度来分析我们的社会。
