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The fetished fetus: Creating 'life' with ultrasound

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 05:13 authored by Meredith NashMeredith Nash
The tendency of the public and medical institutions to perceive fetuses as human is a problematic development because it has the potential to privilege fetuses over women. There is no question that the fetus as subject has been of historical importance. Whereas personhood The state or condition of being a person, especially having those qualities that confer distinct individuality: "finding her own personhood as a campus activist" was once gained through the social world, in Western contemporary society both mothers and fetuses establish identities through reproductive technology Reproductive technology is a term for all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including assisted reproductive technology, contraception and others. and technoscience. As childbirth is an embodied, deeply personal experience for women, I interrogate the emergence of the fetishised public fetus and the postmodern, technologised pregnant female body from which the fetus emerges. I argue that visualisation of the fetus has transformed the relationship between mother and child in the areas of consumerism, commodificationCommodification (or commoditization) is the transformation of what is normally a non-commodity into a commodity, or, in other words, to assign value. As the word commodity has distinct meanings in business and in Marxist theory, commodification of childhood and public health campaigns. As the fetus is enfranchised as an equal participant in society through ultrasound visualisation, I contend that this form of reproductive technology creates a new paradigm New Paradigm In the investing world, a totally new way of doing things that has a huge effect on business.

History

Publication title

Traffic: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Journal

Volume

7

Pagination

37-56

ISSN

1447-2538

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

University of Melbourne

Place of publication

Melbourne

Rights statement

© Copyright 2005 by GSA

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Women's and maternal health

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