“Society: Don’t blame the mothers”
“DOHaD would ideally guide policies that support parents and children, but exaggerations and over-simplifications are making scapegoats of mothers, and could even increase surveillance and regulation of pregnant women. As academics working in DOHaD and cultural studies of science, we are concerned. We urge researchers, press officers and journalists to consider the ramifications of irresponsible discussion…recognize the role of society. Many of the intrauterine stressors that DOHaD identifies as having adverse intergenerational effects correlate with social gradients of class, race and gender. This points to the need for societal changes rather than individual solutions.”
It must be so shitty to be pregnant right now, everyone is pointing and blaming about so many things. There are so many pieces in here I wanted to quote but really I just think everyone should read and know all of the things I here – I didn’t know a bunch of them. And also, it’s so so heartening to see scientists yell at the media in this way; usually it’s about complaining about how stupid non-scientists are and reinforcing the scientists-as-superior narrative but on this occasion it’s saying to the media ‘stop being sexist and racist with our studies, that’s not what they are for’.
I hope more scientists follow this example.
