"I felt literally violated in every cell of my body." : A feminist phenomenological study on obstetric violence in Greece.

Abstract: This thesis examines obstetric violence in Greece through the lens of feminist phenomenology.It focuses on two key questions: how women as embodied subjects experience obstetricviolence and how this event impacts their relationship with their bodies and significant others.This study employs a qualitative methodology, distributing an online survey in six onlinecommunities and using voluntary response and snowball sampling to recruit participants. Itincludes 63 valid participations and utilizes thematic analysis for the analysis of the data. Theresults reveal the obstetric malpractices performed in Greece and their connection to thepatriarchal social construction of the birthing woman (and her body) as a disempoweredsubject. Many feelings have been described in the survey, both distressful and empowering.The role of the community is crucial in dealing with traumatic emotions, while a physical andemotional connection with the newborn and the husband, which is not always easy to beestablished, acts as an empowering factor in women’s lives.