Silverman, CarolTully, Hillary2018-09-062018-09-062018-09-06https://hdl.handle.net/1794/23765For every method, there's a story - the IUD that almost killed her, the male birth control that almost happened, the weight gained and the moods changed. Whether a narrative of personal experience or one heard through the grapevine, stories about contraception illuminate critical issues in reproductive health today. Using ethnographic data deeply colored by ongoing partisan rhetoric around reproductive rights and the body, I discuss the dynamics of power at play in patient experience, the performance of social complaint and institutional critique, and vernacular conceptualizations of health and embodiment in the contraceptive regimen.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Birth ControlContraceptionFolkloreFolk MedicineNarrativeReproductive HealthElectronic Thesis or Dissertation