“Shut Up and Let Us Work!” Silence, Silencing, and Resistance in Obstetrics

Obstetric violence includes multiple forms of mistreatment perpetrated by healthcare workers and institutions toward patients during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. A common manifestation is linguistic violence, often presented as mocking, threatening, or yelling at patients. Using critical narrative analysis of 105 semistructured interviews with health providers and patients in Medellín, Colombia, this study found that silence and silencing are forms of violence in obstetrics but can also function as acts of resistance. This study expands current research on language use in cases of violence against women in clinical settings and expands the concept of "linguistic obstetric violence" beyond verbal abuse.