SOCIETY DOES NOT R-E-S-P-E-C-T BLACK MOTHERS: HISTORICALLY RACIALIZED REPRESENTATIONS AND BLACK WOMEN’S COMPROMISED OBSTETRICAL CARE
Abstract
This thesis explores the correlation between racialized representations of Black women with the disparities in the level of healthcare they receive and the resulting outcomes. I argue racialized representations of Black women throughout history and into the modern-era compromise Black women’s obstetrical care, affect their reproductive freedom, and contribute to their disproportionately higher maternal mortality rates. By citing pivotal historical events and the resulting racialized tropes from the antebellum, reconstruction, and civil rights time-periods, I identify the modern-era manifestations of those representations. Using theoretical lenses associated with Black Feminist Theory, Intersectionality, and Scripting, I analyze how historically racialized representations of Black women rhetorically position their bodies at the center of reproductive freedom debates. I corroborate my argument by presenting empirical data concerning Black women’s reproductive-related disparities. Lastly, I juxtapose the empirical data with the historically racialized representations scripted onto Black women’s bodies to draw the long claim, arguing that racism, in general, and implicit bias, specifically within the medical community, are a direct result of the scripting of Black women’s bodies with historically racialized representations, which are huge factors contributing to Black women’s compromised obstetrical care.