Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Library & Information Science

Supervisor

McKenzie, Pamela

Abstract

Birth control options for women have advanced significantly over the past century. Barrier methods such as diaphragms became readily available in the first half of the 20th century, while hormonal contraceptives such as the birth control pill have defined advances in the latter half. While the diaphragm is still contextualized in modern sexual health discourse as an accessible birth control option, women in North America, and across the globe, are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain. This is partly because the skill of fitting a diaphragm is disappearing in medical practice, and also due to pharmaceutical influence on medicine that promotes hormonal methods and IUDs (intrauterine devices) as being more efficacious and profitable. However, many women eschew hormonal and IUD options in favour of less invasive ones such as barrier methods like diaphragms or cervical caps. These women must navigate learning about the devices and where to obtain them, finding practitioners who will fit them, and learning about their own anatomy to properly use cervical barriers. Thus, numerous information practices are at work, in the contexts of information sharing, information-seeking, and embodied knowledge.

While feminist scholars suggest that women have historically, and presently continue to carve their own spaces in medicine to account for embodied knowledges and women’s experiential approaches to health, these knowledges have nevertheless been marginalized and subjugated in favour of a masculinized medical expertise that prioritizes the scientific method. Thus, it is important to evaluate these women-centred epistemologies as conduits for information sharing and seeking behaviour, and to analyze the information strategies women undertake when the necessity of circumventing barriers put forth by mainstream medical practice emerges. Using a feminist qualitative methodology, data was collected from semi-structured interviews, as well as from four editions of the feminist health text Our Bodies, Ourselves spanning nearly four decades. To analyze the data, constant comparison and thematic analyses were utilized. By examining how subversive information seeking and sharing occur in contexts of marginalized health knowledges and investigating how women subvert boundaries to keep information flowing, this project helps illuminate how women who choose diaphragms and cervical caps exchange information.

Summary for Lay Audience

Birth control options for women have advanced significantly over the past century. Barrier methods such as diaphragms became readily available in the first half of the 20th century, while hormonal contraceptives such as the birth control pill have defined advances in the latter half. While the diaphragm is still contextualized in modern sexual health sources as an accessible birth control option, women in North America, and elsewhere, are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain. This is partly because the skill of fitting a diaphragm is disappearing in medical practice, and also due to pharmaceutical influence on medicine that tends to promote hormonal methods and IUDs (intrauterine devices). However, many women prefer less invasive forms of birth control such as barrier methods like diaphragms or cervical caps. These women must navigate learning about the devices and where to obtain them, finding practitioners who will fit them, and learning about their own anatomy to properly use cervical barriers. Thus, numerous information practices are at work, in the contexts of information sharing, information-seeking, and embodied knowledge.

While feminist scholars suggest that women have historically, and presently continue to carve their own spaces in medicine to account for embodied knowledges and women’s experiential approaches to health, these knowledges have nevertheless been marginalized and repressed in favour of a masculinized medical expertise that prioritizes the scientific method. Thus, it is important to evaluate these women-centred knowledges as means of information sharing and seeking behaviour, and to analyze the information strategies women undertake when the necessity of circumventing barriers put forth by mainstream medical practice emerges. Using a feminist qualitative methodology, data was collected from semi-structured interviews, as well as from four editions of the feminist health text Our Bodies, Ourselves spanning nearly four decades. To analyze the data, constant comparison and thematic analyses were utilized. By examining how subversive information seeking and sharing occur in contexts of marginalized health knowledges and investigating how women subvert boundaries to keep information flowing, this project helps illuminate how women who choose diaphragms and cervical caps exchange information.

Download

Share

COinS