The CLAM in the Media
Researchers Ueslei Solaterrar (CLAM/IMS/UERJ and REMA) and Tamara Vicaroni (CLAM/IMS/UERJ and REMA) published an article in the column of the Transnational Network of Research on Deprived, Violated, and Assaulted Maternities (REMA) in the Brasil de Fato newspaper. The article, titled “And Ain’t I a Woman?”: The Deprivation of Motherhood for “Mad Women,” discusses state-driven processes of stripping motherhood rights from women socially classified as mad or incapable, based on mental health diagnoses.
The article’s title references the historic speech by Sojourner Truth in the United States in 1851, which denounced the exclusion of African American women from women’s movements and called for their inclusion and defense of their rights. Similarly, Solaterrar and Vicaroni’s article highlights the denial of motherhood rights to Black women from humble origins, labeled insane by society and the state. The article narrates the story of Conceição, a 31-year-old Black woman from a low-income background diagnosed with schizophrenia. She is the mother of one child and was pregnant with her second during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his doctoral research in Collective Health at the Institute of Social Medicine at UERJ, Ueslei Solaterrar followed Conceição’s journey. After giving birth during the pandemic, she experienced a postpartum mental health crisis, leading to the immediate removal of her newborn by state authorities to a child shelter, without prior consultation, support, or preparation. This separation caused Conceição profound sadness and despair. Eventually, she permanently lost custody of her child.
The authors emphasize that Conceição’s story is not an isolated case but rather a recurring scenario for countless women in vulnerable situations. These women are predominantly Black and poor, diagnosed with mental health conditions, and subsequently deemed unfit to care for their children. They are often labeled as dangerous to their offspring and themselves. Under the guise of protecting the child—and sometimes the mother—the Brazilian state has intervened to separate mothers from their children. This practice raises critical questions about which women society and the state permit to exercise motherhood. Solaterrar and Vicaroni highlight the intersection of psychiatric diagnoses, race, class, and the deprivation of motherhood rights, calling for these issues to be analyzed in their full complexity.
What steps can be taken to address these issues and ensure that women have the full right to exercise motherhood and care for their families? Solaterrar and Vicaroni argue that the anti-asylum movement must align with reproductive rights advocacy. They also stress the importance of viewing caregiving not as an isolated task solely for women but as a collective activity supported by the mother and her networks of care. Public policies grounded in these perspectives are crucial to expanding motherhood rights for all women.
The full article is available [here].
Throughout 2024, REMA’s column in Brasil de Fato published ten articles, all accessible [here].