The role of visual and audio-visual representations for acknowledging the concept of obstetrical violence in France and Belgium

Abstract

In France and Belgium, since 2013, written and oral testimonies on the Internet, on the radio, in podcasts and in comics have made the notion of obstetrical violence public. Since the summer of 2017, audiovisual representations show the faces of victims and their allies. This media coverage has not yet been studied. The aim of the study is to describe the formal characteristics and dissemination strategies of audiovisual representations of obstetric violence in France and Belgium. Their place in the history of the media emergence of the concept is described. The result of the study is to qualify as “facing” (envisagement) the showing of faces in audiovisual representations of obstetrical violence. Seeing the faces of victims underlines their legitimacy, which contributes to the recognition of the concept of obstetric violence. The face-to-face testimony to denounce obstetric violence is thus part of the feminist tradition of showing the body in the fight against gender violence.