Reproductive Theories: Then & Now PDF

Chapter 1: Reproductive Theories: Then & Now REPRODUCTIVE THEORIES: THEN & NOW - Reproductive understanding has evolved: - Early humans [did not] connect sexual activity with reproduction - 20^th^ century: - Major advancements like decoding the human genome,...

Chapter 1: Reproductive Theories: Then & Now REPRODUCTIVE THEORIES: THEN & NOW - Reproductive understanding has evolved: - Early humans [did not] connect sexual activity with reproduction - 20^th^ century: - Major advancements like decoding the human genome, biochemical contraception, and conception outside the body - Progress is not linear, it is influenced by historical questioning and dominant ideologies PREHISTORIC VENERATION OF A FEMININE DIVINE: - Prehistoric artifacts and imagery: - They often depict female bodies with exaggerated reproductive features - Breasts - Vulvas - Swollen bellies - Interpreted by archaeologists (Marija Gimbutas) as representations of life cycles and fertility - Example: - **Venus of Willendorf** (30000-25000 BCE) emphasizes feminine reproduction - Symbolism: - Animals associated with reproduction - Example: - Bull for the uterus - Prehistoric reproduction theories often centered on females bodies, excluding the role of heterosexual copulation (sex) - Critiques: - Scholars like Richard Lesure caution against overgeneralizing these figurines meanings - Male figures rarely appear -- raises questions about gendered representations in prehistoric reproduction imagery ANCIENT PHILOSOPHIES OF GENERATION: EPIGENESIS - **Aristotle's Theory (384-322 BCE)** - **Introduced epigenesis:** - Development starts with the male seed, which provides form, while the female body provides nourishment - Male semen described as the "[principle of soul]," elevating the male role spiritually - Menstrual blood, seen as inferior but essential, was the material upon which the seed acted - Competing theories: - **Hippocrates** believed in the combination of male and female semen to form the fetus - **Galen** initially supported this but later adopted Aristotle's theory, reinforcing female passivity - Religious influence: - Thinkers like Saint Thomas Aquinas integrated theological beliefs into reproduction, positioning male sperm as a divine intermediary - Anatomical misunderstandings: - Female anatomy was depicted as an inferior version of male anatomy - Ovaries -- cooler than male testes - These misconceptions shaped societal views on gender and reproduction THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION & PREFORMATIONISM - New discoveries: - Microscope revealed sperm but led to debates about its function - Ovists believed the egg contained a preformed being, while spermists emphasized the role of the sperm - Transition to genetics: - By the 19^th^ century, **cell theory replaced preformationist** - Cells were recognized as the structural and functional units of life, regenerating through division - Religious and scientific interplay: - Theories of creating intertwined with religious beliefs, particularly the idea of a divine male creator [ ] MODERN REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCE: GENETIC RECOMBINATION - Milestones in genetics: - DNA discovered as the molecule of inheritance (1869), with its structure discovered in 1953 - Chromosomes identifies as units of heredity, with detailed mapping by the early 20^th^ century - **Barbara McClintock** demonstrated genetic recombination through "crossing over" - Understanding of genes: - **Gregor Mendel's** work on inheritance patterns in peas laid the groundwork for modern genetics - Traits were shown to be passed through dominant and recessive genes - **Epigenetics**: - Contemporary theories focus on the differentiation of cells, building on Aristotle's concept of epigenesis but integrating equal genetic contributions from both parents ASSISTED REPRODUCTION & GENETIC REPLICATION: - **IVF and related tech:** - **Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe** achieved the first successful human IVF in the 1970s - Techniques include hormonal stimulation, gamete freezing, embryo transfer - Animal research contributions: - Early experiments with animal embryos (rabbits, cows) refined IVF techniques - Embryo freezing and genetic manipulation initially developed for agricultural applications - Genetic screening: - Allows for the identification and correction of genetic abnormalities in embryos before implantation CONCLUSIONS: - Shifting perspectives: - Reproductive theories have evolved from female-centric to male-dominant and finally to balanced genetic contributions - Male roles were historically overemphasized due to cultural and religious beliefs - Modern understanding: - Reproduction is now seen as an equitable genetic exchange, informed by cellular and genetic insights - Historical influences still permeate societal perceptions of reproduction and gender roles Chapter 2: The Medicalization of Pregnancy and Birth MIDWIVES: - Passed on knowledge and experience to other women - They knew knowledge regarding herbal remedies and techniques for assisting in childbirth THE MEANING OF MEDICALIZATION: - Medical fields: - Gynaecology - Medical speciality unique to females that focuses on reproductive capacity and health - Obstetrics - Medical speciality focusing on pregnancy and birth - Andrology - The male equivalent of gynaecology was basically non-existent during the 20^th^ century - 20^th^ century -- the start of medicalization - Scientific research, medical research, and clinical development in reproduction expanded to include cellular biology, biochemistry, endocrinology (hormones) and neurology TALCOTT PARSONS: MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY - Parsons views on a good society - One that is well-oiled, stable, predictable machine of distinct but interactive parts or social institutions (schools, governing bodies, and normal behaviours and norms) - He viewed the influence of medicine on society as benign and helpful and an example of how modern societies were more civic and less dogmatic than those that came before - Explains the importance of medicine in today's modern social life MEDICALIZATION OF PREGNANCY AND BIRTH: - Mid-20^th^ century to the 1970s: - Medicine now regulated social deviance, and an individual was not held morally responsible for a diagnosable illness, such as hyperactivity; you were not a bad person but had a medical condition - Clear and consistent medical professional roles, a specific division of labour, and formal education were parts of the necessary social system for managing health and keeping the social world stable. - The medicalization of pregnancy and birth was and remains a good and necessary thing to properly manage the risky business of reproduction which is central to the future of society 1970s: VIEWS ON MEDICALIZATION - **Monopolization of medical knowledge:** - Idea by **Eliot Friedson** - Argues that medical knowledge was kept secret by medical authorities to protect their professional autonomy - This shows how doctors became dominant in healthcare by taking authority from long-standing professions like midwives. - **Irving Zola** - Adds to this idea saying that medical systems had moved beyond the mandate of keeping societies healthy and stable to practising a form of social control - **The medicalization of daily life** - Nonmedical issues became redefined and treated as medical problems - Pregnancy and birth were categorized as medical conditions and were assigned their own medical specialty - This became a focus of feminist critique of medicalization (1970s) - The medical sociality is based on an implied social contract between patients, healthcare providers, and the medical industrial complex - Medicalization was presented as necessary to handle risky life MEDICALIZATION OF REPRODUCTIVE PRACTICES: - Techniques in textbooks were named after male physicians - Midwifery practices, including in-utero fetal repositioning and C-sections (performed as early as the 1400s in France), were overshadowed. - Feminist sociologists ([late 1970s onward]) criticized the erasure of midwifery and the medicalization of female reproduction - White and North American activists advocated for natural and home births - Midwifery persisted in some [Europe and Economically challenged regions] but was rarely independent from medicalized practices - **American-based medicalization (mid 20^th^ century)** - Anaesthetizing labouring women - Shaving public hair before birth - Routinely cutting the vaginal opening (episiotomy) during birth - The approach relies on the birthing [women as a passive and compliant participants ] - Doctors, not mothers, delivered babies - During this time, pregnant women gave their obstetricians instructions about procedures they wanted to avoid (like routine episiotomies or pubic shaving) and their preferences for pain relief during labor. - But... doctors frequently dismissed these requests, believing their medical training and protocols gave them the authority to decide what was best for their patients. This criticism of overly medicalized births influenced later practices - In the U.S., the medicalization of pregnancy and birth, combined with high-tech interventions, created a system dominated by male authority figures and limited patients\' ability to question medical decisions. Guides emerged to empower women to navigate this system, highlighting the need for patients to use legal avenues to regain control over their maternity care amidst a context of increased litigation and unchecked medical practices. THALIDOMINE DISASTER: - 1950s, - A pharmaceutical company developed the drug thalidomide that could help with morning sickness during pregnancy - The drug was not tested for effects on pregnant women or developing fetuses - 1960s, - Doctors became concerned about patients using the drug long term - Some patients reported numbness and tingling in hands and feet - 1961: - Link between the drug use in pregnant women and children born with missing or malformed limbs, hands, and feet was made - 10,000 children born with thalidomide-caused deformations - [This led to more stringent measures for testing drugs with particular attention to pregnant and nursing women, but only after widespread and tragic consequences] GLOBAL MEDICALIZATION OF PREGNANCY AND BIRTH: - C-Section Rates: - Developed countries: \~25% C-section rates; U.S., China, and Australia \~30%; Dominican Republic, Turkey, Egypt, Brazil \>50%. - Global rates doubled since 2000, raising concerns over unnecessary interventions. - Risks for C-section babies: - Missed respiratory and immune benefits from vaginal birth. - Challenges in Developing Countries: - Focus on lack of healthcare infrastructure. - Issues include: - Poor nutrition causing birth complications (e.g., small pelvises). - Unsafe water leading to diseases affecting mothers and children. - **Biomedicalization**: - Broader concept integrating genetics, advanced technology, and health services. - Emphasis on prevention and health enhancement beyond treating disease. - Impacts vary: - Overmedicalization in affluent nations. - Under-medicalization in impoverished regions. - Key Takeaway: - Medicalization is shaped by social and political contexts, revealing stark global disparities. MIDWIFERY: PROFESSIONALIZATION & MEDICALIZATION - European witch-hunts - 16^th^ century Europe, England, and Scotland - Women, with any social influence, were blamed for crop failures, disease, male impotence and "monstrous" births - These women derived their "power" from the traditional and informal authority that they have obtained from centuries of midwives and healers before them - With the development of science and modern medicine, midwives and traditional healers became problematic and symbolic of cruder and uneducated times - Less than 5% of women in the US delivered their babies in hospitals at the turn of the 20^th^ century - Today, less than 2% of US births occur outside of hospitals - In the Netherlands, where midwifery never disappeared, home birth is limited to 30% THE REGULATION OF MIDWIFERY: - The regulation of midwifery occurred over two major periods - During the 14^th^ and 15^th^ centuries with the move from religious authority to civic governance - Around the turn of the 20^th^ century when medical professions were legally recognized, and their respective scopes were defined - By regulating midwifery in terms of ability and scope or practice, the mainly female midwife profession was distinguished from a growing body of medical men now interested in birth, and women were effectively barred from their traditional body of knowledge, practices and technologies CHAMBERLEN FAMILY: - The Chamberlen family (late 1500s--1880s) sought to enter the lucrative business of childbirth, targeting wealthy and influential women. - Promoted moral decency during childbirth by introducing customs like draping the birthing woman. - The family was forced to be licensed as midwives and struggled to gain full trust from women. - Developed a secret scissor-like, spooned device (early forceps) to assist in complicated births. - Marketed to save both mother and child during difficult deliveries. - Kept the tool and technique hidden for over 200 years, ensuring their financial success. - Used drapes and locked storage to prevent traditional midwives from accessing their methods. - The Chamberlens' exclusivity and tools marked an early shift of authority from traditional midwives to male medical practitioners. - Set a precedent for the medicalization and professionalization of childbirth practices. DECLINE OF MIDWIFERY DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: - Industrial Revolution introduced statistical sciences and bureaucratic methods - Maternal mortality (death of mothers during childbirth) and infant mortality (death of newborns at or shortly after birth) became key metrics. - High mortality rates, such as Sweden's infant mortality in the 1920s (60 deaths per 1,000 births compared to 2.3 today), were used to critique midwifery. - [These deaths were more linked to:] - Lack of germ theory knowledge. - Absence of sterile practices. - Risky surgical interventions. - Mortality rates were used to justify the medicalization of childbirth and the reduction of midwives' roles in the birthing process. CHALLENGES WITH HISTORICAL MORTALITY DATA: - Reliable infant and maternal mortality statistics began with the medicalization of birth and hospitalization. - Early data lacks clarity due to inconsistencies in documentation: - Some midwives were medically trained, others were not. - Transfers between midwives and physicians were often undocumented. CRITICISMS OF MIDWIFERY: - Physicians in the early 20^th^ century criticized midwives, using sexism and racism to portray them as uneducated and unsanitary - The ride of hospitals exposed women to risks like contagious diseases and experimental procedures, contributing to maternal and infant mortality CONTRADICTIONS IN MATERNAL MORTALITY: - In the UK (1930s) middle class women had higher maternal mortality rates than lower class women due to exposure to hospital based infections - In the US, racial and economic disparities resulted in the highest maternal mortality rate in rural, poor, Black communities - Lack of training in antiseptic practices for midwives was a major contributor - Proper training significantly reduced mortality rates in these areas MIDWIFERY IN UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS: - Countries with universal healthcare (Sweden, Netherlands, UK) integrated midwifery into medical models: - Sweden (1930s): Tiered maternity care with midwife-focused centers for low-risk births. - Netherlands: Independent midwifery legally recognized since 1865. - UK: Hospital and community-based midwifery recognized in 1902. RACIALIZED HISTORY IN THE US: - Enslaved Black women's reproduction was controlled to sustain the slave economy. - J. Marion Simms, \"father of modern gynecology,\" conducted unethical experiments on enslaved women without anesthesia to develop surgical techniques. - Post-emancipation, Afro-American communities faced systemic neglect in reproductive health. IMPACT OF COLONIZATION ON INDIGENOUS & MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES: - Indigenous women in Canada: - Disruption of cultural birthing practices due to colonization and residential schools. - Modern practices often involve airlifting women to hospitals, addressing biomedical risks but neglecting socio-cultural needs. - Maori in New Zealand: - Maternal knowledge and traditions are undergoing reclamation. - U.S.-Mexico border: - Poor Mexican women used for midwifery training by Canadian practitioners during midwifery legalization in Canada. GLOBAL DISPARITIES & PROGRESS: - WHO guidelines highlight the importance of medically trained midwives in reducing maternal mortality (83 per 10,000 globally in 2018). - Wealthier women in countries with universal healthcare (Canada, UK, Cuba) often have greater access to high-quality care and reproductive choice. - Poverty and systemic inequalities continue to limit access to equitable maternal healthcare in many regions. CONCLUSIONS: - 2 forces at play in the current state of medicalization of pregnancy and birth - The rise of modern medicine over the last century and a half - How it became an authority over pregnancy and birth - How it has been received - The professionalization of medicine and how that relates to a long tradition of women attending women during pregnancy and birth - The movement of women to hospitals increased mortality rates: - Exposure to infectious diseases in crowded maternity wards. - Interventions by physicians who were poorly trained or untrained in using medical instruments. - Modern healthcare delivery, including reproductive care: - Highly influenced by economic means, differing among populations within and between nations. - Developed nations often have better access to safe pregnancies and deliveries, while developing nations face disparities. - Historical influences on medical practices: - Early medical attention to Afro-American slaves in the 19th century: - Driven by financial interests of slave owners, aspiring physicians, and the American economy. - Highlighted the role of financial motivations in shaping medical practices. - Monopolization of medical knowledge by predominantly white male physicians: - Based on flawed theories of gendered and racialized intelligence. - Excluded women and marginalized populations from medical practice, including roles in pregnancy and birth care. Chapter 3: The Social Control of Reproduction INTRODUCTION: - **In sociology, social control is presented as a tiered process of informal expectations (family and immediate community expectations), norms, formal expectations (laws) and force that guide human behaviour.** - Violence or legal sanction does [not] chiefly control social behaviour, it is the internalized and intimately shared norms and the shame that is associated with their bread that most strongly impacts how we act - Key debates within the social control of reproduction: - Who should be recognized as legitimate children and parents - Who has the right to control reproductivity - Both at the individual and population level - Reproductive rights focus on the individual right to choose within formal structures of law, they are being replaces by the more expansive concept of reproductive justice where intersecting social processes such as poverty and racialization come into play in understanding how reproduction is enabled and constrained - 1960s: - White, middle-class women led reproductive rights movements during the 1960s because they wanted access to safe and effective contraceptives and abortion - The reproductive rights movement in most developed countries did allow women access to contraception and abortion, [less was achieved in terms of reproductive justice for all] - Whereas Afro-American women were seeking access to social equity alongside men through the civil rights movement to provide the means and social stability to raise their families - They're struggles were complicated by the intersection of race, class, and gender - Race, ethnic background, class, and geographical location effected how women would weight their reproductive choices compared to white women with access to economic resources in politically stable environments REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS & SOCIAL CONTROL -- DOMINANT HISTORICAL TRAGECTORIES: - We have been trying to control human reproduction from as far back as 3000 BCE - Ancient methods of controlling reproduction: - Honey, leaves, and lint, pressed into the vagina to block the passage of ejaculate into the womb - Withdrawal method - Crocodile dung - Acacia gum - Roman bronze pessary (200 BCE) - Contraceptive sponges and condoms made from animal skins - Early form of an IUD used in 1880s - Industrial revolution introduced rubber as a material for condoms - Condoms are used by 189 million men, making up 21% of contraceptive use - IUD are used by 159 women, 24% of all contraceptive use - The pill makes up 16% of all methods globally - Female sterilization (largest) makes up 26% THE PILL: - Development of the pill relied on scientific developments in understanding human hormones and the persistence of birth control activists: **Maragret Sanger and Catherine McCormick** - **Sanger** wanted to break the association between contraceptives and pornography - She encouraged **Gregory Pinctus, John Rock, and Min-Cheuh Chang** to develop the pill - **Planned Parenthood came from Sanger and McCormick,** it still functions today to disseminate contraceptives and contraception information and to provide abortion - The Pills effectiveness, 99.7%, and its ease of use (daily pill), and its release in the **1960s** when there were strict religious and moral codes around heterosexual activity helped trigger the **"sexual revolution"** - Before the 1960s sexual revolution, reproduction was monitored by norms and legal sanctions from Christian, Judaic, and Muslin religious beliefs that places the nuclear, heterosexual family as the proper and unique place for sexual activity and reproduction - In the 20^th^ century, Christian beliefs led to the outlawing of contraception in the US and CAN, at the same time, feminists, communists, and socialists helped develop effective and accessible contraception as "family planning" - Condoms, associated with prostitution, were referred to as the mechanical means of contraception and were distinguished from family-planning contraceptives - The knowledge of women's fertile periods in their cycle or the rhythm method, were part of early acceptable attempts at modern birth control - The pill was aligned with natural and acceptable modes of contraception because of its origin in science and its dissemination through medicine - The demand for acceptable, effective, and accessible contraception and safe abortion emerged due to dire circumstances, particularly for poor women. - Industrialization led to urban immigration starting in the early 1800s in Western Europe and continuing into the 20th century in North America and Australasia. - Urban intensification and industrialization highlighted class differences, creating ghettoized areas in cities. - [In these ghettos:] - Working-class fathers faced underemployment and labor exploitation. - Families suffered from poor living conditions, hunger, malnutrition, and untreated illnesses. - Adding another child was a significant burden due to these conditions. - Moral activists like Anthony Comstock in the US enforced religiously driven norms about reproductive and sexual behavior through laws. - In Great Britain, Victorian-era morals outlawed male homosexuality and prostitution and promoted marriage and motherhood for women as religious and societal expectations. - Christian churches (Catholic and Protestant) opposed contraception before the 1920s based on natural law theory derived from Thomas Aquinas: - The human body was seen as designed by God for heterosexual reproduction. - Interfering with this design was considered immoral and sacrilegious. - Sexual desire, especially for women, was viewed as a potential disruption to God's plan. - Islam and Judaism traditionally allowed contraception within marriage and did not adopt the Christian natural law theory, but their influence in industrialized nations was limited due to marginalization. - Strict Christian beliefs combined with social control severely restricted the development and availability of safe contraception, making family planning nearly impossible for most women. - Women without access to legal or effective contraceptives were often exploited, especially in cases of pregnancy outside of marriage. - Doctors, did not share what they knew about conception and contraception, our of adherence to social mores (religious and nationalistic) and to laws against contraception, and to maintain their growing monopoly over medical information and practice. EFFECTIVE & LARGE-SCALE CONTRACEPTIVE USE: - Three groups with differing reasons were interested in effective and large-scale contraceptive use - **Women's advocates** - Women led by reproductive control activists Sanger (US) and Stopes (UK) saw the control of reproduction as essential to the complete liberation of women (along with voting) - **Eugenics Advocates** - focused on restricting certain populations, including the growing numbers of impoverished people in urban centers and the physically and mentally "unfit" - Used terms like "degeneracy," "mental sanitation," and "human damaged goods" to promote sterilization for economic and societal "improvement." - Alfred Ploetz, a German physician, introduced the term "racial hygiene" in 1895, linking declining birth rates with economic concerns and advocating for the exclusion of the mentally ill and disabled. - **Nazi Eugenicists** - Expanded Ploetz's racial hygiene theory to justify the dominance of the Aryan race. - In the 1930s, the Nazi regime created genetic registries and blood banks to prove Aryan lineage. - Targeted Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, disabled individuals, and mental "defectives" for elimination, using reproductive and genetic theories to support the Holocaust. - 1890 and 1920, the US states passed legislation to enforce sterilization in the feeble-minded, those with epilepsy, the intellectually disabled and the mentally ill. - **Left-wing political groups** - Saw contraception to reduce poverty linked to large family sizes, empowering the working class. - Viewed widespread and state-controlled contraception and forced sterilization laws as threats to the working class. - The Canadian Communist Party criticized the birth control movement as a bourgeois distraction from class struggle. - Noted leaders like Stopes and Sanger were upper-middle-class women working in poor communities. - Fourth group: Afro-American. Found the acceptance of contraception as a menace to their population - Those fighting for black civil rights in the 60s saw the white middle-class birth control movement as an attempt to reduce and control black American populations REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE & POVERTY: - Sanger and Stopes - Connected family planning to poverty, reducing the issue of family size - Argued that women's ability to control family size could life families out of poverty - Black women's liberation movement - Made of primarily working-class women and women on welfare - Focused on protecting motherhood through welfare rights, housing, and education - Poor nations with high birth rates are often targeted for mass birth control programs by associations funded by industrialized nations - These industrialized nations are responsible for ecological damage from mass consumption - Reproductive Justice - Emerged from African American women's liberation perspectives on birth control in the 60s - Critique's global population control programs and emphasizes broader social, political, and economic contexts ABORTION: - Social Control and Historical Context: - Social control of abortion is tighter than for contraception. - Debates focus on definitions of human life and its moment of origin. - Conception as understood today is based on relatively recent reproductive theory developments involving knowledge of the egg and sperm. - Historical Practices and \"Quickening\": - Social control of the fetus was not always prevalent. - First-trimester abortions have been sought and secured to varying degrees throughout history. - The concept of \"quickening\" historically defined pregnancy: - Refers to when a pregnant woman first feels the fetus move (typically between the fourth and fifth month). - Quickening was seen as the first certain sign of pregnancy before technologies like hormone assays and ultrasounds. - For centuries, quickening marked the moment of conception for many (including Christians). - Before quickening, the fetus\'s prospects were uncertain due to common miscarriages - Termination of pregnancy was widely acceptable before quickening. - Quickening principle was dropped in 1837. - Women aborting their pregnancies were criminalized alongside abortionists in 1861. - Criminalization of Abortion: - Abortion began to be criminalized in the 19th century as a perceived threat to the natural reproductive order. - Timeline of criminalization: - UK (1803), France (1810), Australia (1861), Canada (1869), Germany (1871), US (state-by-state, early 20th century). - Changes in the 1960s: - The contraceptive pill became available, and contraception bans were lifted in most developed countries. - Abortion was decriminalized in fewer countries, often with restrictions influenced by religious authorities: - Women were required to appear before hospital panels or undergo mandatory counseling (still practiced in Germany and the US). - Abortion remained highly restricted in some regions, e.g., only allowed in cases of incest or rape. - Prohibited entirely in countries like the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Holy See. - Strict prohibitions persisted in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and parts of Latin America until the early 2020s, even for life-threatening cases. - Shift from Private to Public Regulation: - Previously private matters like contraception, pregnancy, and abortion became publicly regulated - Religious authorities initially controlled reproductive issues. - Physicians later gained moral authority and became arbiters over life and reproductive decisions. - Self-Induced Abortions and Consequences (Early 20th Century): - Women resorted to unsafe methods due to legal restrictions - Techniques included hot water baths, turpentine and carbide douches, and tools like lead pencils, knitting needles, and crochet hooks. - Many women suffered injuries or died from botched procedures. - Maternal mortality from unsafe abortions was often underreported to protect families or doctors. - Women's Movements and Reproductive Rights (1960s): - Women's movements linked reproductive autonomy to public participation: - Control over reproduction was necessary for full participation in the workforce. - The movement aimed to reclaim control over bodies and reproductive decisions. - Afro-American women faced unique challenges due to racism and socioeconomic inequalities: - Some Black activist groups viewed contraception and abortion as white-led attempts at genocide. - Despite these views, many Afro-American women fought for access to contraception and abortion. - Racism complicated their advocacy for reproductive rights. REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE -- THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH - **The shift from a right to a justice perspective in the social control of reproduction is a move away from formal measures of control of individual bodies, typically laws, to broader concerns of social justice including the right to sustainable living -- including food and safe shelter, public safety, education, employment -- and the right to cultural or community expression or belief.** - The social control of reproduction intersects with global population management, colonial legacies, environmental concerns, and identity politics. Efforts to regulate fertility through coercion, eugenics, pro-natalist policies, or exclusionary practices highlight systemic inequities in reproductive justice. Access to reproductive healthcare, cultural recognition, and legal protections remain central to addressing these issues globally. - Reproductive freedom - Refers to an array of freedoms far more expansive than individuals' access to contraception and abortion - Includes the freedom from social discrimination and policies that arise from such that can prohibit undesirable people from reproducing through forces sterilization and an effective control of welfare-dependent Black and Hispanic Populations - Women marginalized by their race and ethnicity combined with systemic poverty often find themselves trapped within policies that target their reproductivity as a cause of their problems and do little to address the broader issues of systemic discrimination and structured economic inequalities. - Post-WWII Initiatives: - - - - - - - - Criticisms and Coercion: - - - - Modern Trends: - - COLONIAL AND NECOLONIAL REPRODUCTIVE POLICIES - Modernization in Developing Nations: - - - - - - Pro-Natalist Policies - - - - - Eugenics and Social Control - - - Reproductive Justice - - - - Paternity and Patriarchy - Historically, paternity was socially constructed to protect male interests: - Surnames and inheritance systems reinforced patriarchal control. - Modern DNA Testing: - DNA fingerprinting, originally developed for paternity, is now available and commercialized. - Governments use it for child support, custody cases, and immigration. - Exploitation in Artificial Insemination (AI): - Early cases of AI involved unethical practices (e.g., inseminating women without their consent or knowledge). - Fertility doctors have abused their positions (e.g., inseminating women with their own sperm). - Reproductive Rights for LGBTQ+ Communities - LGBTQ+ individuals face barriers to reproduction due to discriminatory laws and social norms: - Adoption often restricted to heterosexual, married couples. - Surrogacy and parenting rights for gay men remain complex and legally challenging. - Some progressive regions (e.g., San Francisco) provide better support for non-heteronormative families. - Reproductive Violence and Ethnic Cleansing - Forced pregnancies used as tools of war (e.g., Bosnian War). - Women victimized by sexual violence face rejection from their communities, exacerbating social control. - Migration and Social Control - Migrants are often viewed as threats to idealized state populations. - Policies restrict entry to preserve national identities. - Social control of reproduction reinforces existing inequities between peoples distinguished by race, sexuality, income, religion etc. - It is the restriction of undesirable populations - Usually because they threaten the economy, environment and global safety, and are often brown or black - It is the promotion of others - Economic wealth, high consumption and education rates, whiteness - Women create self-help insemination groups, gay men and lesbian women swap reproductive capacities to help each other form families outside heteronormativity, women in former colonized contexts step carefully between tradition and modern medicalization to get what serves them and their children best, and some doctors aid women in controlling their reproductivity despite legal sanctions. - Reproduction is not always controlled through the passage of laws, and not all laws protect all people's reproductive rights. Reproductive justice does not look the same everywhere, and it is not the same for everyone. Chapter 4: Reproduction & Sexuality