Technologies of the Gendered Body: Week 10

PresentationsGroups of 4-5Focusing on up to three images / articles /

ads / published reports etcCritical discussionDraw from across the module (with reference

to the literature)Powerpoint 15 minutes of presentation; 5 minutes for

questions

OutlineWhat are the new reproductive technologies?Resisting IVFNRTs as disciplinary technologies

Procedure / processSurveilling female bodiesCreating new desiresCreating new objects / subjectsRethinking resistance

What are “new reproductive technologies”?

Resisting IVFMany people (feminist and non-feminst) have

opposed IVF – why?)

NRTs as disciplinary technologiesBiopower is reflected in the “numerous and

diverse techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations” (Foucault, 1978: 140)

Power is “everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere” (ibid. : 93)

Jana Sawicki (1991)“Disciplinary technologies are not primarily

repressive mechanisms. In other words, they do not operate primarily through violence against or seizure of women’s bodies or bodily processes, but rather by producing new objects and subjects of knowledge, by inciting and channelling desires, generating and focusing individual and group energies, and establishing bodily norms and techniques for observing, monitoring and controlling bodily movements, processes and capacities. Disciplinary technologies control the body through techniques that simultaneously render it more useful, more powerful and more docile.” (p. 83)

Jana Sawicki (1991)“Disciplinary practices represent the body as a

machine. They aim to render the individual both more power, productive , useful and docile. They are located within institutions such as hospitals, schools, and prisons, but also at the microlevel of society in the everyday activities and habits of individuals. They secure their hold not through the threat of violence or force, but rather by creating desires, attaching individuals to specific identities, and establishing norms against which individuals and their behaviours and bodies are judged and against which they police themselves.” (p. 68)

Processes / ProceduresA laboratory

procedureA process of

assisted conception

Surveillance of women’s bodiesPre-pregnancy preparation (e.g. pre-natal

vitamins)Monitoring of women during pregnancy Public (and self-) surveillance of pregnant women Self-monitoring (basal body temp; ovulation kits;

pregnancy tests; measuring of hormones)Close monitoring of women undergoing IVF (to

check for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome / follicle maturity / uterine wall thickness)

Genetic testing (of parents; of foetuses; of embryos)

Creating new desires

Creating new objects / subjects

Creating new objects / subjects

Creating new obejcts / subjects

Creating new objects / subjectsThe (post) IVF patientClaire: “I can say “At least I tried”. So there

can be no stage in the future when I might say to myself, “Oh well, if only I’d tried, it could have been different”. Erm…it’s almost like I can say to society, “look, I tried to be the typical female, I tried to be the mother, you know, but it conspired against me, so I now have the right to go off and spend my money on nice holidays or whatever and don’t feel guilty.” (Throsby 2006: 84)

Creating new subjectsThe post-IVF fertile body:Angela: “Then I was on 6 ampoules, erm,

produced 22 eggs…no, there were 22 of the little sacs, 21 eggs – and none fertilised”.

June: “I didn’t consider myself infertile, but I didn’t know what was happening as well…It only takes on egg to get fertilised, so I didn’t consider myself to be infertile”. (Throsby 2006: 88)

Creating new objects / subjectsThe post-IVF infertile body:

John: “No it’s like “Do you have any children?” I say, “Well, no, unfortunately, my couldn’t have any. We’ve tried, but we couldn’t”. (Throsby and Gill 2004: 338)

Rethinking resistance

Rethinking resistance(prospective) patient action:

Fighting for funding / treatmentStrategic half-truths (about smoking /

relationship / how long they’ve been “trying”)

Within relationships – persuasion / negotiation to circumvent resistance

Using genetic testing to select for a disability

But…Important not to overstate this agency:Active role exposes women to blame when it

failsOngoing pressures on (some) women to be

mothersSome very worrying examples of coercion:

Contraceptive implants / sterilisationsThe “sharing” of eggs for the treatment of others

(or for research) in exchange for reduced cost treatment

ConclusionKathy Davis (about cosmetic surgery)

(1995: 180):It should be seen as “a dilemma

rather than as a form of self-inflected subordination”.

This is “what makes it both desirable and problematic for women”.