Annotation. Renowned scholar and feminist activist, Janice Raymond, delivers a passionate expose and uncovers the alarming ethical, legal and political implications of high-tech biomedical reproductive technologies. She argues that these technologies are neither liberatory nor an issue of reproductive "choice". Rather, they violate the integrity of women's bodies, perpetuate prostitution and an international trafficking in women and children, and are a threat to women's basic human rights. Women As Wombs is a scathing feminist analysis which contributes groundbreaking insights to the raging debate over reproductive technology.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. A sociological and historical study of the development of reproductive technologies, this book focuses on key technological developments through a biomedicalization lens with special attention to gender. Using in vitro fertilization (IVF) as a hub, it critically examines the main areas of related socio-technical developments: reproductive science, birth control, animal husbandry, genetics and reproductive medicine. Employing a critical framework to illuminate dominant discourses, the book also highlights examples of social resistance, as well as contradictory responses to new reproductive technologies. Over eight chapters, the author examines the social history of reproduction and sexuality, reproductive technologies from old to new and debates surrounding new reproductive technologies and genetic engineering. Women and Reproductive Technologies pays close attention to the interconnections between the business of reproduction (and replication industries), the sociality of reproduction (including reproductive justice) and what are considered the technologies themselves. As such, it constitutes essential reading for students and researchers in the fields of sociology, health studies and gender studies interested in the current state of human reproduction.

This work is based on a concern for women's health and autonomy and on the premise that technology and society mutually shape one another. A basic question is one of cultural appropriation. Do technologies take on different shapes, different practices, and have different impacts as they spread from one place to another? By juxtaposing a number of culturally and historically contextualized studies of similar technologies, the editors demonstrate that although technologies globalize by spreading among cultures, they are also localized by the cultures they encounter.

"A sociological and historical study of the development of reproductive technologies, this book focuses on key technological developments through a biomedicalization lens with special attention to gender. Using in vitro fertilization (IVF) as a hub, it critically examines the main areas of related socio-technical developments: reproductive science, birth control, animal husbandry, genetics, and reproductive medicine. Employing a critical framework to illuminate dominant discourses, the book also highlights examples of social resistance, as well as contradictory responses to new reproductive technologies. Over eight chapters, the author examines the social history of reproduction and sexuality, reproductive technologies from old to new, and debates surrounding new reproductive technologies and genetic engineering. Women and Reproductive Technologies pays close attention to the interconnections between the business of reproduction (and replication industries), the sociality of reproduction (including reproductive justice), and what are considered the technologies themselves. As such, it constitutes essential reading for students and researchers in the fields of sociology, health studies and gender studies interested in the current state of human reproduction"--

These essays examine the global impact of infertility as a major reproductive health issue, one that has profoundly affected the lives of countless women and men. The contributors address a range of topics including how the deeply gendered nature of infertility sets the blame on women's shoulders.

In the early 1980s the new reproductive technologies available supposedly offered infertile women a chance to have children. However, there was growing concern that the determination of scientists to dominate nature, their disregard for women’s well-being, and the financial gains to be made from these technologies would together result in the increased modification of all women’s lives and the loss of even more control over our own bodies. Originally published in 1985, the essays in Man-Made Women describe the technologies being used and researched in the areas of in vitro fertilization (’test-tube babies’), sex-predetermination and embryo transfer at the time. They discuss the practical application of the technologies on an international scale and draw attention to the racist and classist assumptions on which they are based. There is also information about the international action that feminists had begun to counter these so-called benevolent and therapeutic technologies. Man-Made Women hoped to encourage women to start questioning the ‘miracle’ of these new reproductive technologies and to become involved in crucial decisions about their bodies and their lives.

Although major breakthroughs in reproductive technology have created dramatic opportunities for many people, they are not without problems. More significant than the question of whether the technologies are "good" or "bad," however, is for whom they are good, in what instances, and to whom they should be made accessible. These issues can be debated at multiple levels; from the ethical implications, to the social and psychological consequences for society and for the individual, to the legal and medical outcomes. Each chapter highlights a different array of problems and benefits, while emphasizing four major themes: the impact of technology on women's lives; the role of women; the individual versus society; and the fetus as patient.

In this wide-ranging account of the reproductive technologies currently available, John Robertson goes to the heart of issues that confront increasing numbers of people - single individuals or couples, donors or surrogates, gays or heterosexuals - who seek to redefine family, parenthood, the experience of pregnancy, and life itself.

Will procreation become just another commodity in the marketplace with “designer” sperm, ova, and embryos offered for sale? Will the attention and monies focused on the new reproductive technologies take away resources from infertility prevention, prenatal care, and adoption? If states move to regulate such practices, will this encourage widespread governmental interference in reproductive choice? How will society look at the biologically unique children who are the products of genetic manipulation--and more importantly, how will these children view themselves? This controversial book explores the answers to these questions that are frequently being asked as the battles over reproductive technologies and freedoms become more heated and touch more people’s lives. Embryos, Ethics, and Women’s Rights examines both the clinical and personal perspectives of reproductive technologies. Experts explain and debate the growing number of procreative possibilities--in vitro fertilization, genetic manipulation of embryos, embryo transfer, surrogacy, prenatal screening, and the fetus as patient. Some of the leading authorities in the field, including John Robertson, Ruth Hubbard, and Gena Corea, address the ethical, legal, religious, social, and psychological concerns that are inherent in the issues. Essential reading for every person concerned with control over basic issues of human destiny, Embryos, Ethics, and Women’s Rights provides unique and comprehensive coverage on the subject of technologically controlled childbearing and particularly its effects on mothers and their unborn children.