Reproduction and Society: Interdisciplinary Readings

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Carole Joffe (University of California, San Francisco, USA) Jennifer Reich (University of Denver, USA)

Reproduction and Society

Interdisciplinary Readings

Carole Joffe (University of California, San Francisco, USA), Jennifer Reich (University of Denver, USA)

$110

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
30 May 2025

Illness & addiction: social aspects; Gender studies, gender groups; Sociology: family & relationships; Birth control, contraception, family planning; Medical sociology

Series: Perspectives on Gender

The new edition of Reproduction and Society assembles an authoritative collection of the best scholarship on reproductive matters to help students and readers think critically and more expansively about acts of reproduction as social phenomena.

The social, political, and personal meanings of reproduction have become increasingly important and surround us in the news, during elections, and even within popular culture. In the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a nearly 50-year-old precedent guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion, these issues have become even more pressing. Exploring the topic from a sociological lens, and drawing on influential writing from other fields, including history, economics, anthropology, and medicine, editors Carole Joffe and Jennifer Reich are assured and accessible guides as they lead readers across six core thematic areas analyzing reproductive self-determination and why it matters. From a reproductive justice perspective, the new edition examines issues related to contraception and sterilization, abortion, pregnancy, maternal-fetal conflicts, and uses of reproductive technologies. Readers will encounter classical texts that have contributed to the foundation of this exciting field, as well as more recent research that continues to push the field forward, all in the service of sharpening their understanding of why reproductive politics have been and continue to be contentious, complicated, and high stakes.

Refreshed and significantly expanded, with over two dozen new selections, the second edition of this reader will have wide appeal for undergraduate and graduate students who are new to the study of reproduction, both in courses that focus on the topic across different disciplines and as a supplement to courses on the family, gender, health care, social problems, and sexuality.

Edited by: Carole Joffe (University of California San Francisco USA), Jennifer Reich (University of Denver, USA)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm,
ISBN: 9781032225272
ISBN 10: 1032225270
Series: Perspectives on Gender
Pages: 434
Publication Date: 30 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction: Reproduction and the Public Interest in Private Parts Section I. Controlling Reproduction 1. Reproductive Justice as Intersectional Feminist Activism 2. Expanding Opportunities for Women and Economic Uncertainty Are Both Factors in Declining US Fertility Rates 3. Forced Sterilization in the US Targeted Minorities and Those with Disabilities - and Lasted Into the 21st Century 4. Reproductive Justice for Disabled Women: Ending Systemic Discrimination 5. Letter to Maria Van Vorst on ""Race Suicide"" (1902) 6. Motherhood as Class Privilege in America 7. Reproducing Eugenics, Reproducing While Trans: The State of Sterilization of Trans People Section II. Contraception and Sterilization 8. The Folklore of Birth Control 9. The Pill - Genocide or Liberation? 10. The Feritily of Women of Mexican Origin: A Social Constructionist Approach 11. Dissatisfied with Birth Control? You're Not Alone 12. Male Birth Control Options Are in Development, but a Number of Barriers Still Stand in the Way 13. Agency-Without-Choice: The Visual Rhetorics of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Promotion 14. What is Voluntary Sterilization? A Health Communication Expert Unpacks How Legacy of Forced Sterilization Shapes Doctor-Patient Conversations Today 15. Bishops and Bodies: Doctrinal Iatrogenesis 16. Without Birth Control Help, Marine’s Readiness Suffers Section III. Abortion 17. U.S. Medicine and the Marginalization of Abortion 18. How A Supreme Court Decision Limiting Access to Abortion Could Harm the Economy and Women’s Well-Being 19. Selections from Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice 20. When Abortion at a Clinic Is Not Available, 1 in 3 Pregnant People Say They Will Do Something on Their Own to End the Pregnancy 21. The end of Roe v. Wade and the new landscape of abortion access in the United States 22. Less Than 1% of Abortions Take Place in the Third Trimester – Here’s Why People Get Them 23. Beyond Abortion: The Consequences of Overturning Roe 24. What You Need to Know about Surveillance and Reproductive Rights in a Post Roe V Wade World Section IV. Fetal Rights and Constructions of Maternal-Fetal Conflicts 25. Reproduction in Bondage 26. The Policy and Politics of Reproductive Health Motherhood Preconceived: The Emergence of the Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative 27. Coercive and Punitive Governmental Responses to Women's Conduct During Pregnancy 28. Selections from Jailcare: Finding the Safety Net for Women Behind Bars 29. Changing Roles of Doctors and Nurses: Hospital Snitches and Police Informants 30. “Black Children Are an Endangered Species”: Examining Racial Framing in Social Movements Section V. Pregnancy and Birth 31. The Biomedical Subjectification of Women of Advanced Maternal Age: Reproductive Risk, Privilege, and the Illusion of Control 32. “I'm Just a Woman Having a Baby”: Negotiating and Resisting the Problematization of Pregnancy Fatness 33. Maternal Mortality in the United States: A Primer 34. Obstetric Racism: The Racial Politics of Pregnancy, Labor, and Birthing 35. Stratified Reproduction and Prenatal Genetics in a Post-Roe United States 36. Transgender Men and Nonbinary People Are Asked to Stop Testosterone Therapy During Pregnancy – But the Evidence for This Guidance Is Still Murky 37. What Causes Miscarriages? A Doctor Explains Why Women Shouldn’t Blame Themselves 38. Pregnant on the Other Side of the Border 39. The Liability Threat in Obstetrics Section VI. Reproductive Technology 40. Infertility and IVF Access in the United States: A Human Rights-Based Policy Approach 41. Selling Genes, Selling Gender 42. Male Fertility Is Declining – Studies Show That Environmental Toxins Could Be a Reason 43. Making the Ethnic Embryo: Enacting Race in US Embryo Adoption 44. The ‘Chore’ of Having Sex to Try to Get Pregnant 45. The Belly Mommy and the Fetus Sitter: The Reproductive Marketplace and Family Intimacies 46. India’s Reproductive Assembly Line 47. Do Embryos have Kinship? Negotiating Meanings of Relatedness in the Fertility Clinic 48. Who’s Your Daddy? Don’t Ask a DNA Test

Carole Joffe is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and a Professor Emerita of Sociology at U.C. Davis. She is the coauthor, with David S. Cohen, of the book, After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but not Abortion. She is the author of several other books and over 100 articles and op-eds on abortion and other topics in reproductive health. She has won lifetime achievement awards from the Society of Family Planning, the National Abortion Federation, and the Abortion Care Network. Jennifer Reich is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research examines how individuals and families weigh information and strategize their interactions with the state and service providers in the context of public policy, particularly as they relate to health care and welfare. She is the author of two award-winning books, Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System and Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines, and is editor of the book, State of Families as well as the NYU book series, Health, Society, and Inequality. She has written more than 50 articles and book chapters that explore vaccination, reproductive health, welfare, multiracial families, public assistance, and recovery after disaster.

Reviews for Reproduction and Society: Interdisciplinary Readings

""A truly impressive collection of ideas and research to help make sense of the ever-changing landscape in reproductive health, rights, and justice amid state attempts at coercion and control. A much-needed update to the first edition that should live on everyone's bookshelf."" Krystale E. Littlejohn, Associate Professor of Sociology and author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics ""A collection of great value not only to teachers, not only to anyone concerned with women's ability to be full citizens in a democracy, but also to anyone concerned with today's powerful right-wing attacks on health and family wellbeing. It includes the very best thinking on these issues available today."" Linda Gordon, Professor Emeirita of History, New York University, and author of The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America ""Joffe and Reich have performed a brilliant act of intellectual beneficence. This one volume collects an extraordinary set of insights and analyses, facilitating a rich understanding the contours and content of reproductive politics today. Since dipping into Reproduction and Society once, I have returned to it again and again."" Rickie Solinger, Independent hstorian, and author of Reproductive Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know ""This book is a timely and praiseworthy compilation of articles spanning 50 years that explore the dialectic between private reproduction and public policy. Because the control and manipulation of women's bodies are as much a matter of culture and politics as about biology, teaching about the complexity of reproductive politics is never easy. Pedagogical attempts are more difficult due to the lack of aggregated materials accessibly written for both professors and students. This book contributes substantially to the scholarship on reproductive politics, and is impressive for its diversity and breadth of contributors."" Loretta J. Ross, Former National Coordinator of SisterSong and Associate Professor of the Study of Women & Gender, Smith College ""In this exciting new interdisciplinary collection, two leading scholars of reproduction assemble essential readings on contraception, abortion, pregnancy, and birth. Informative, nuanced essays introduce students to the intersecting politics of reproduction, demonstrating that these biological processes are also fundamentally social. Reproduction and Society will be a valuable addition to courses on family, gender, sexuality, technology, health, and medicine."" Rene Almeling, Professor of Sociology, Yale University, and author of GUYnecology The Missing Science of Men’s Reproductive Health ""This anthology is a magnificently curated selection of articles essential to understanding our Post-Dobbs World. It is a vital resource and should be used by all those interested in learning why it is not possible to regulate abortion without regulating the people who need and have them."" Lynn Paltrow, founder, Pregnancy Justice (formerly National Advocates for Pregnant Women)