The Internet and rehabilitation of muted groups: the case of pregnant women

The purpose of this paper is to study pregnant women’s attendance in cyber space as a muted group. This is a qualitative research which has been done using grounded theory method and interview technique. We interviewed a number of pregnant women who had visited some websites related to pregnancy issues, during fall and winter of 1394. The interviewees were 16 pregnant women and we met them in a hospital located in Saadatabad in Tehran. Our results show that women can overcome gender-based limitations using special websites concerning pregnancy issues, and remark their issues and problems related to pregnancy freely and clearly. Moreover they have been able to play a more active and participative role in getting medical care during pregnancy in general and in their relation with physicians in particular.