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The Fetishised Fetus: Creating 'Life' with Ultrasound

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-22, 02:03 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 was once gained through the social world, in Western contemporary society both mothers and fetuses establish identities through reproductive technology 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, 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 for understanding fetal personhood.

History

Publication title

Traffic

Pagination

49-70

ISSN

1447-2538

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

University of Melbourne

Place of publication

Melbourne

Rights statement

Copyright 2005 University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association (GSA)

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Women's and maternal health

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