The project engages with the material semiotics of violence experienced by women and birthers during childbirth in Viennese hospitals and takes a closer look at the care practices and the enactment of medical knowledge. It is designed as a critical feminist medical ethnography, employing methods such as observation, interviews, and document analysis. Drawing on material semiotic understandings, this work provides a closer look into the webs of practices between actors involved in the birth process. This project examines or interrogates the enactment of medical knowledge to understand: (1) how birth is »done« within power asymmetries, (2) how the medical conception of the body in labour is translated into care practices, and (3) the web of violence surrounding childbirth. The main goal is to expand the typologies of obstetric violence and, ultimately, to make birth experiences better by improving care practices.

Elif Gül is a social scientist and sex educator. She works at the intersection of Gender and Sexuality Studies and Science and Technology Studies, currently focusing on birth justice matters as part of her dissertation project. Her research interests include feminist technoscience, sexualities and bodies, contraceptive asymmetries, and reproductive justice.

She has previously held a predoctoral position in Gender Studies at the Department of Education of the University of Vienna under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sabine Grenz. She has completed research visits to the University of Basel and Humboldt University Berlin and worked at the University of Graz as part of the Elisabeth List Fellowship »Reproductive Justice in the Context of Queer and Trans* Reproduction«.

Elif was awarded the Johanna-Dohnal-Förderpreis in 2025 and a Marietta Blau Stipend. She is editorial member of the Open Gender Journal, board member of the Inter Gender Network and founding member of the NGO feminist intersectional obstetrics.