Going off from the discussion we had on Wednesday in class, I'd like to address another common stereotype of midwives. When I asked the people around me what they thought of when I said"midwife" most of them said, hippie or free spirit. We see this a lot in movies; whenever a midwife is in a movie they are usually depicted as a woman who wears long skirts, tye dye shirts and crazy hair. They talk about how everything should be natural and that "herbs" is all what woman need. I'm not sure where this idea came from, possibly because being a midwife is somewhat of a traditional thing. If being a midwife is traditional and an "old" way of thinking, does that mean going to the doctors is modern and "new"?
I felt like I needed to see what an older generation thought about it so while I was home this weekend I talked to both my parents and grandparents. When I asked them what they thought when I said "midwife" they all said they thought of a woman who has a lot of knowlege about birth who helps families have a safe birthing experience at home. They said they didn't see them as any stereotypical person, such as a hippie. Which got me thinking, is the idea of stereotyping people a newer way of thinking when it comes to midwives? Or is it just because they are older and it doesn't seem like a different, or weird, way of having birth like several other people do.
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