title: Postmodern midwives in Japan: the offspring of modern hospital birth.
abstract: Although childbirth is fundamentally involved with the issue of women's bodies, it is also involved with such social values as politics, economics, medicine, and other phenomena characteristic of a particular time and culture. In this article I divide Japanese society and childbirth into pre-modern, modern, and postmodern phases, with special emphasis on the postmodern phase. I use the word "postmodern" to denote visible changes in childbirth and midwifery that began to occur around 1990 - changes that distinguish it from modern hospital birth. I conclude that postmodern midwifery is a reaction to and a consequence of modern hospital birth, which failed to satisfy a large number of women's needs. In this sense, postmodern midwifery could rightly be said to be the offspring of modern hospital birth.
authors.affiliation: Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, Japan. matsuoka@asahikawa-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D003696:Delivery Rooms / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D009321:Natural Childbirth / Q000639:trends; D011247:Pregnancy; D024382:Professional Role; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology