Transformations: Gender, Reproduction and Contemporary Society
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Transcript of Transformations: Gender, Reproduction and Contemporary Society
Transformations: Gender, Reproduction and Contemporary
SocietyIntermediate Year
30 CATS3 Terms
IntroductionTakes something apparently ordinary and routine
– having and bringing up children – and renders it strange
Reproduction generates anxiety and various institutions seek to govern it
Media representations sensationalise reproduction
Ordinary people are getting on with having and raising children in increasingly diverse ways
Transformations addresses changing practices and discourses about reproduction
Mainly UK based but with some international perspectives
Informed by feminist approaches
Key QuestionsWhy do women have children? Why do men have children? Who needs children?Do we have a right to be parents? To adopt, to infertility treatment?How do narratives of class, ‘race’/ethnicity,
age, sexuality, (dis)ability inform ideas about who’s ‘fit’ to parent?
Why is late motherhood so frowned on?To what extent does femininity rely on
motherhood?What’s the dominant construction of ‘good
fathering’?Where does the ‘breast is best’ narrative leave
mothers who don’t want to or can’t breast-feed?
Parenting: GeneticGestationalSocial
Link between biological and social parenting can’t be assumed
Why does separation of the two generate such anxiety?
What do the new reproductive technologies mean?- are contraceptive technologies neutral or do they
re/produce wider social norms and inequalities?- what’s at stake in the abortion debate?- Is IVF a modern miracle or a usually unsuccessful
risk?- Does testing in pregnancy increase or decrease
pregnant women’s anxieties?- Is genetic testing a valuable application of science
or a Frankenstein-like horror?
PracticalitiesBe prepared for a lot of participation, in
lectures and seminars, with structure and support
Group project in term 2 culminating in 15-20 minute presentation to class
Group project lays foundations for assessed work
Standard choice of assessmentAll core readings electronicHave a look online: http://
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/academicstaff/wrightc/home/teaching/transform
Ask current students
Thanks for listening…
Any questions?