Sharon Moloney

PhD Candidate

Room:	023, Behavioral Science Building, DA-004
Tel:	+61 (07) 4781 4964
Fax:	+61 (07) 4781 4664
Email:	sharon.moloney@jcu.edu.au
Postal Address:	School of Arts and Social Sciences James Cook University TOWNSVILLE QLD 4811 AUSTRALIA

Qualifications

Fertility/Childbirth Educator
Pregnancy/Birth Counsellor
Hypnobirthing Practitioner/Hypnotherapist
Master of Women’s Studies, JCU

Research Area

Women’s health, menstruation, birth, spirituality, gender issues, motherhood, cultural reform

Thesis Abstract

Reframing Female Biology as Sacred Ground and a Site of Liberation - a study of women's bio-spiritual experiences of menstruation and birth

Through my research I seek to illuminate those dimensions of spirituality connected with the female body experiences of menstruation and birth. In Western, industrialised culture, these processes are generally regarded as non-spiritual; they are often seen as medical concerns. Our culture teaches us to devalue and detach from our menstrual rhythms so that they remain bodily changes without meaning, or worse, are associated with pathology, shame, uncontrollable body processes and the profane. Yet other cultures like the Navajo have celebrated and revered menstruation as a time of heightened spirituality of benefit to the whole community. My study explores the links between our cultural attitudes to menstruation and spirituality, and women’s experiences of birth.

For many women, myself included, birth is something of profound spiritual significance. Yet obstetric medicine, which is widely accepted as the norm for our birth practices, does not regard spiritual experience as its domain. For most women, birth occurs in hospital and is primarily seen as a medical event, with little attention paid to its spiritual dimensions. Many midwives and caregivers intuitively know about birth spirituality, but their training does little to prepare them to engage with it confidently.

My research explores the question: How are women’s experiences of menstruation, birth and spirituality inscribed with meaning, and how does this shape and influence those experiences? The methods used to explore the question are auto-ethnography, interviews and women’s circles. Underpinning the research is a critical feminist perspective, which recognises the power imbalances, patriarchal controls & structural inequities that work to oppress women even in their intimate body experiences. My methodology is Organic Inquiry, an emergent qualitative approach which presumes research as a sacred partnership with Spirit. The goal of Organic Inquiry is personal transformation of researcher, participants & readers. Feeling, intuitive, and body-based information are valued, as well as thinking modes of knowledge. The researcher’s personal experience of the topic is foregrounded and her subjectivity transparently incorporated into the analysis.

Sex differences deriving from the physiology of menstruation, pregnancy, birth and lactation imply a uniquely female spirituality. Menstruation can be understood as sacred blood, a living covenant with the Divine and a source of power. Birth too is sacred. Like death it is the portal of life, a time of powerful opening to Spirit. My research aims to explore, document and give voice to these aspects of women’s spirituality. It offers a significant contribution to preventive health care by dismantling shame associated with menstruation and by recommending reforms that enhance optimal birth outcomes.

Supervisor

Dr Susan Gair

Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed: The Spirituality of Childbirth. Birth Issues, 15 (2), 2006.

Dancing with the Wind: a methodological approach to researching women’s spirituality around menstruation and birth. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 6 (1), March, 2007. http://www.ualberta.ca/~ijqm/english/engframeset.html

Non-peer reviewed: Dismantling the Fear of Birth. Natural Parenting, 16, Spring, 2006.