Giving Birth: From Vulnerability to Empowerment

Giving birth encompasses a spectrum of potentialities: it can range from a deeply traumatic experience to an empowering experience that increases the birthing person's confidence in their abilities and in their environment. The element we analyze here to understand these potentialities is the specific vulnerability of childbirth. We argue that the vulnerability of the birthing process involves a radical openness and codependency that exposes us to harm, but also enables the creation of unique bonds with one's own body and with others. We explore pain and uncontrollability as central features of the childbirth experience and propose a re-signified notion of control as key to making childbirth a positive and even empowering experience. We understand this empowerment from the coordinates of relational autonomy, since it would only be possible to achieve it if, after opening ourselves to the world and to others, we find the necessary support, trust, and care.

philosophy of birth, traumatic experience, transformative experience, transcendent birth, pain, uncontrollability

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