While many communication studies and feminist scholars study gendered discourse and the medicalization of the female body, no work has been done to understand the term "Incompetent Cervix" and its implications for those with this diagnosis. Using Poststructuralist Feminist Theory and Narrative Theory as guiding frameworks, this paper utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis, Contrapuntal Analysis, and Sociological Introspection to examine medical discourse surrounding the term "Incompetent Cervix." This study also includes my lived experience with this diagnosis and adds patient perspective where it is previously missing. Key findings of this work include the tropes of Doctors as Heroes, The Silenced Woman, and The "Good," "Competent" Mother wherein the analyzed medical discourse positions women as failures in need of a medical savior; women are silenced by medical providers, and women are made to (re)negotiate their identities in light of so-called their "incompetent" cervix.
