Abstract
BackgroundStructural racism mediates all aspects of Black life. The medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth, and its detrimental impacts on Black birth, is well documented. The Black Lives Matter movement has elevated the national consciousness on all aspects of Black life, but significant attention has been directed toward the murder and dehumanization of Black men and boys. Black midwives, caring for Black people, using the Midwives Model of Care© which consistently demonstrates its efficacy and better outcomes for Black people, are uniquely positioned to witness the physical and psychosocial experiences of birthing Black boys in America.MethodsBetween 2011 and 2013, the first author conducted interviews with 22 Black midwives to understand their perceptions of, and experiences in, predominantly white midwifery education programs and professional organizations. Convenience and snowball sampling were used. This paper investigates previously unreported and unexamined data from the original study by focusing on the witness and insight of nine midwives who provided care for Black mothers of boys during pregnancy and childbirth.FindingsThe data presented three themes: It’s a Boy: On Restlessness and Complicated Uneasiness; Desensitization of Black Death; and, Physiological Impacts of Toxic Stress.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate that caring for Black people must be simultaneously theorized and executed within an anti-racist, relationship-centered, reproductive justice framework. Black midwives are uniquely positioned to do this work. Greater attention, in practice and in research, is needed to investigate the birth experiences of Black mothers of boys.
Highlights
Black motherhood is mediated by social institutions that foster or disallow life
The following research question was used to guide this study: How do Black midwives witness, interpret, and care for the physical and psychosocial impacts of toxic stress on Black mothers pregnant with Black boys? We argue that Black midwives are uniquely positioned to support people in birthing #blackboyjoy
With just two–three percent of the U.S midwifery workforce identifying as Black, midwifery is a microcosm of systems that fails to recruit, retain, and support the leadership of Black people
Summary
Black motherhood is mediated by social institutions that foster or disallow life. Black motherhood is embedded with a fear that they, or their infants, may not survive pregnancy and childbirth because the dominant U.S medical model prioritizes capitalist values of industrialization and systemization over the physical and psychosocial well-being of Black birthing people and infants. Black motherhood’s fear is additive and multiplicative. Birthed as a hashtag on social media in 2016, #blackboyjoy is illustrated in images of Black boys and men smiling, laughing, creating, and at play. Black people exalt and celebrate #blackboyjoy in communities, on social media and in popular culture to reclaim and honor the fullness and humanity of Blackness
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