Situating Oneself in the Intersectional Hierarchy and Women’s Sterilization Decisions

• In Event: 2184 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Reproductive Health and Decision-making

Abstract

Few studies explore intimate partner conversations about sterilization, particularly in racial-ethnic minority group samples. We investigate ideas of gender, race/ethnicity, class, and power in our analysis of 44 qualitative interviews of a majority-Latina, racially/ethnically diverse group of low-income women in the Houston-metro area as they recall their sterilization discussions with intimate partners. Results reveal that racial-ethnic and gender norms and larger institutional structures influence reproductive behaviors and that women’s understandings of an ambiguous idea of “machismo” shape their fertility work. The majority of these women displayed agency in female sterilization decisions, yet had little control over vasectomy decisions, which many attributed to their place in a racial-ethnic and gender hierarchy in their personal relationships as well as their relationships to larger societal structures. The results indicate that ideas of power and control are not absolute and can be simultaneously restrictive and emancipatory. One potential solution to lift the contraceptive burden off of women would be for more couple-oriented contraceptive health services.

Author

• Ophra Leyser-Whalen, University of Texas-El Paso