Puerpério, subjetividade e capitalismo

Abstract

This article is a theoretical essay that aims to discuss the relationship between puerperium and subjectivity from the axiomatics of capitalism and the interference of society’s control in the processes of pregnancy, childbirth, puerperium and breastfeeding. In this sense, we sought to understand the historical changes in the reproductive cycle of women when they enter the job, market, starting with the exercise of new functions in which they will assume a relevant economic role within society. Thus, we tried to combine the physiological events of the postpartum period with the job productivity demand and, at the same time, the 45-day period of the puerperium – as defined by medicine – in order to critically question the concept within the schizoanalytical conception. In the context discussed, the child will appear as a product/source of consumption, a promise to establish a family and an achievement in which the myth of maternal love will cover up the liberal ideology.