2012/06/01 by Natalúcia Matos Araújo, Natalucia Matos Araújo, Natália Rejane Salim +4 · 1 citation
Medicine · Social Sciences · #Breastfeeding Practices and Influences #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Gender, Sexuality, and Education #Migration, Identity, and Health
paper · pdf · doi:10.1590/s0080-62342012000300004
crossref issued 2012/06/01 · crossref published 2012/06/01 · crossref published-print 2012/06/01 · openalex publication_date 2012/06/01 · crossref created 2012/07/04 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · crossref deposited 2017/05/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01
The objective of this ethnographic study was to understand how women experience their body's physiological processes during pregnancy and their effects on sexuality. The study involved seven women living in a poor neighborhood in São Paulo. Data collection was performed through participant observation and interviews using guiding questions. The data were presented in the narrative form and then organized into the following categories: realizing the changes in the body; living with the changes in the body; and feelings and sensations experienced in sexual life during pregnancy and imagining the body after pregnancy. The women referred to the changes in their bodies as discomforts, and expressed their concern that these changes would be permanent. They expressed they hoped that, after childbirth, their body would go back to what it was like before pregnancy and that they would recover their sexual desire. Recognition of these concerns is an essential tool to guarantee appropriate professional practices.