Mathematica Inc, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX, USA.
Cult Health Sex. 2023 Sep;25(9):1164-1179. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2022.2141330. Epub 2022 Nov 3.
Women's contraceptive use is a central feature of US culture around reproduction as evinced by high usage rates and nationwide public health efforts to further increase its use. Paradoxically, women know little about contraception within its biomedical framing, and successive public health-related educational campaigns have produced only moderate knowledge gains. Drawing on 86 in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of reproductive-age women, we set out to understand this persistent learning lag. In doing so, we found that women's limited contraceptive knowledge extended beyond simply being uneducated about various methods. Rather, these learning lags can be attributed to many women's lack of knowledge or misunderstandings about their anatomical bodies and reproductive processes. Employing feminist perspectives, we argue that these misunderstandings derive from factors beyond individual women's control. Indeed, they are rooted in cultural norms that stifle and stigmatise women's reproductive learning. Traditional public health efforts may inevitably fail to overcome these cultural barriers, perpetuating women's gaps in knowledge. Recognising the cultural dimensions of contraceptive knowledge and education reveals how critical action is needed around sexuality education in the USA as well as the limitations of on-going educational efforts.
女性避孕措施是美国生殖文化的核心特征，这一点体现在高使用率和全国范围内为进一步提高使用率而开展的公共卫生努力上。矛盾的是，女性对避孕措施在生物医学框架内的了解甚少，而且连续开展的与公共卫生相关的教育活动只取得了适度的知识增长。本研究通过对 86 名不同年龄段的育龄女性进行深入访谈，旨在了解这一持续存在的学习差距。在这样做的过程中，我们发现，女性避孕知识有限不仅仅是因为对各种方法缺乏了解。相反，这些学习差距可以归因于许多女性对自己的解剖身体和生殖过程缺乏了解或误解。我们采用女性主义观点认为，这些误解源于超出女性个人控制的因素。事实上，它们植根于抑制和污名化女性生殖学习的文化规范。传统的公共卫生努力可能不可避免地无法克服这些文化障碍，从而使女性在知识方面的差距持续存在。认识到避孕知识和教育的文化层面揭示了在美国，性教育以及正在进行的教育工作的局限性是多么关键。
