BACKGROUND:
Obstetric practice, historically shaped by technocratic models, continues to prioritize technical success over women's subjective experiences. In the context of elective cesarean sections, this logic is intensified, transforming reproductive choices into decisions mediated by discourses of safety and control.1,2

OBJECTIVES:
To reflect on the process of care in obstetrics regarding elective cesarean sections, based on the paradigm of subjectivity and the childbirth care models proposed by Davis-Floyd.

METHODS:
This is a theoretical reflection grounded in the concept of care as an encounter between subjects, articulated with Davis-Floyd’s (2001)3 obstetric care models, which view childbirth as a symbolic and culturally mediated event.Ethics and conflicts of interest: Not applicable.

RESULTS:
This approach highlights the importance of recognizing subjectivity as a foundational element of care. By acknowledging that women's reproductive choices are influenced by biomedical and cultural structures, it advocates for the appreciation of female protagonism and listening as ethical-political dimensions of obstetric practice . The humanistic model, positioned between technique and attentive listening, emerges as a viable path to break with practices that, despite an appearance of autonomy, perpetuate symbolic violence.

CONCLUSIONS:
Reconfiguring obstetric care requires shifting the focus from technique to the subject. Humanization is not a rejection of technology but rather its application in service of singularity and ethics.

KEY MESSAGE:
Building sustainable obstetric practices requires recognizing subjectivity as central and repositioning women as protagonists of care, thus overcoming models that objectify them. Labour and birth - miscellaneous