the internet and rehabilitation of muted groups: the case of pregnant women

cyberspace and empowerment of muted groups a study of pregnant women referring to the websites related to pregnancy issuesalireza dehghan niri atefe aghaie mohaddese ziachi 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. keywords: women, pregnant women, virtual space, muted group, relationship between patient and physician.