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Women as Wombs: Reproductive Technologies and the Battle over Women's Freedom
Argues reproductive technologies violate the integrity of women's bodies, and criticizes the racism behind the marketing of fertility and infertility
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Janice G. Raymond
17 books69 followersJanice G. Raymond is a longtime radical feminist activist who works to end violence against women and sexual exploitation, as well as the medical abuse of women. She is the author of five books, one edited volume, and multiple articles translated into several languages on issues ranging from violence against women, women’s health, feminist theory, lesbian feminism, and bio-medicine.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 22, 2015
This is a reat book and makes connections between issues most people don't connect, namely the trade in reproductive technologies and in organs. Janice Raymond is such an insightful thinker.
June 17, 2023
Is surrogacy a form of human trafficking? How can surrogate motherhood for family/friends be called altruistic if refusing is labeled as selfishness? How do third world women end up having so many conveniently adoptable pale babies? Why don't the numbers match up between children who enter a waypoint country under adoption visas and children who leave it?
An incredibly insightful and clear-eyed ethical analysis and summary of investigative journalism into reproductive tech and its associated industries. Written 20 years ago and prophetic in many ways.
An incredibly insightful and clear-eyed ethical analysis and summary of investigative journalism into reproductive tech and its associated industries. Written 20 years ago and prophetic in many ways.
March 15, 2021
The good:
Raymond addresses reproductive issues that people often refuse to talk about or view critically, including IVF treatments, surrogacy (commercial and altruistic), egg donation, human trafficking, child trafficking, forced sterilization, experimentation, organ trafficking, and other horrors in the developing and developed world. Most people turn a blind eye to these atrocities because the result is often sugar coated and only shows one side - the happy family with a new bouncing baby that has overcome infertility, for example. To address these issues makes Raymond brave and a deep thinker
The bad:
Obviously this book is very old (published 1993) and many things have changed since then. Some of the arguments are almost irrelevant now, and there are many more horrifying abuses occurring today. It would be very interesting to get updated data on these topics almost 30 years later, but unfortunately it is very uncommon to find works written critically on these subjects.
I am not a radical feminist, so many of the arguments fall flat with me and would with most other people who have not internalized gender theory. Many arguments in this book are contradictory (emphasizing the importance of biology in some cases, disregarding it in others; insisting that degrading children is also degrading to women but simultaneously degrading motherhood as a patriarchal system that must be abolished, etc). Throughout the book, I would have preferred more data, more analysis of the specific process of these reproductive technologies, a more evidence and data driven approach than droning on and on about the phallic symbol of the fetus and pointing fingers exclusively at men etc etc. I will leave it at that. Radical feminists and people that hate men will love this book, though, I just did not
Raymond addresses reproductive issues that people often refuse to talk about or view critically, including IVF treatments, surrogacy (commercial and altruistic), egg donation, human trafficking, child trafficking, forced sterilization, experimentation, organ trafficking, and other horrors in the developing and developed world. Most people turn a blind eye to these atrocities because the result is often sugar coated and only shows one side - the happy family with a new bouncing baby that has overcome infertility, for example. To address these issues makes Raymond brave and a deep thinker
The bad:
Obviously this book is very old (published 1993) and many things have changed since then. Some of the arguments are almost irrelevant now, and there are many more horrifying abuses occurring today. It would be very interesting to get updated data on these topics almost 30 years later, but unfortunately it is very uncommon to find works written critically on these subjects.
I am not a radical feminist, so many of the arguments fall flat with me and would with most other people who have not internalized gender theory. Many arguments in this book are contradictory (emphasizing the importance of biology in some cases, disregarding it in others; insisting that degrading children is also degrading to women but simultaneously degrading motherhood as a patriarchal system that must be abolished, etc). Throughout the book, I would have preferred more data, more analysis of the specific process of these reproductive technologies, a more evidence and data driven approach than droning on and on about the phallic symbol of the fetus and pointing fingers exclusively at men etc etc. I will leave it at that. Radical feminists and people that hate men will love this book, though, I just did not
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews