Online, some good information on bullying in the midwifery profession provides insight into how this may work with women on email lists, listservs, or groups. This comes from Midwifery Today .
So many times I hear it characterized as conflict among “powerful women”—as though we are bullying one another simply because we are so strong. The truth is that our bullying reflects the fact that we are powerless and fearful.
Horizontal violence — hostile and aggressive behavior by individual or group members towards another member or groups of members of the larger group
“Bullying is not about anger. It is not a conflict to be resolved. It is about contempt—a powerful feeling of dislike toward someone considered worthless, inferior or undeserving of respect. Contempt allows [bullies to harm others] without feeling empathy, compassion or shame.” This sense of contempt frees a bully to feel “[a] sense of entitlement…an intolerance to difference…and a freedom to exclude, bar, isolate, and segregate others.”
Identifying the fact that [midwives] are an oppressed group with the fears endemic to counterculture groups—such as isolation, ridicule and economic suppression—allows us to develop a language to prevent mimicking the painful behavior of the dominant medical hierarchy.
And so, to the last, substitute women who have felt victimized in place of midwives, and it is quite well understood how this can take place, this mimicking of the painful behavior — this redirection of aggression onto other women. All in the guise of “not being politically correct” or “not sugar-coating,” as I have heard such excuses made.
But I am much too tired after a long night of work and writing, and must call it a night. I am hoping to be able to return soon to my essay, dealing with my mother and aunt and their strength of support through everything other than speech. For this, I need a quieter head and heart, which means rest and solitude.
Thank you to all my readers. It is fun to watch the stats each day climb higher and higher. I will hope to have useful information posted soon on all I am learning about VBACs, HBACs, and, of course, c-sections.
