How to defeat miscarriage stigma

From 'breaking the silence' to Reproductive Justice

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4367197
AutoresVivienne Browne (0000-0001-8932-5693, Loughborough University, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume26
Fascículo1
Páginas203-223
Data de publicação2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoFeminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-7001 • E-ISSN: 1741-2773
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14647001241266173
OpenAlexW4401034366
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas48

Public discussions of miscarriage in the UK frequently describe it as a stigmatised phenomenon that is 'shrouded in silence'. And in turn, 'breaking the silence' is presented as the means of defeating the stigma. In this article, however, I argue that it is time to abandon the 'breaking the silence' frame. This is not only because it overstates the public silence it condemns, but also because it is rooted in an inadequate understanding of stigma, which keeps us stuck in a cycle of talking more, rather than doing more, about miscarriage, and failing to connect miscarriage as a feminist issue with wider struggles for social justice. Drawing on critical sociologies of stigma developed by Imogen Tyler and others, I propose a paradigm shift: from a narrow liberal understanding of miscarriage stigma as a problem of social norms that can be alleviated through 'breaking the silence' and 'awareness raising', to a critical 'stigma power' approach which understands miscarriage stigma as a 'machinery of inequality' that fulfils a core function for patriarchal, racialised, neoliberal capitalist power structures, and hence requires transformative socioeconomic solutions. To this end, I call for a new research and activism agenda that fully incorporates miscarriage within the wider movement for Reproductive Justice

Aesthetics · Criminology · Economic Justice · Miscarriage · Political science · Pregnancy · Silence · Sociology · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Gender Studies · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Law · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception