More gardener than goddess.

WOMEN'S rights; SHAME; PRENATAL bonding; SOCIAL status; EXTENDED families

For modern mothers, I would argue that alongside joy and wonder, there are particular, insidious risks involved in this life-changing transition. The term, coined by medical anthropologist Dana Raphael (1975), was popularised by perinatal psychiatrist Dr Alexandra Sacks and extended through Dr Aurelie Athan's work (e.g. Athan & Reel, 2015). The current biomedical framework views motherhood through a risk-focused lens, whereby medical regulation and control of the pregnant body/ container continues postpartum, leading to pathologisation of new mothers' distress (Ussher, 2006). Significant hormonal fluctuations, stress, sleep deprivation, potential birth injury and breast-feeding difficulties, can increase risk of postnatal depletion (Serrallach, 2018). [Extracted from the article]

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