Cyborg Babies: From Techno-sex to Techno-tots

369 Pages·1998·2.935 MB·English

by  Robbie Davis-Floyd, Joseph Dumit

C Y B O R G B A B I E S

C Y B O R G B A B I E S
From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots
edited by
Robbie Davis-Floyd
and
Joseph Dumit
Routledge
New York and London
Published in 1998 by
Routledge
29 West 35th Street
New York, NY 10001
Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE
Copyright © 1998 by Routledge
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
The editors gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint previously
published material here.
Rayna Rapp’s essay, “Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis,” originally appeared in
Science, Technology and Human Values 23 (1): 45–70, Winter 1998.
Copyright © Science, Technology and Human Values. Reprinted by
permission of Sage Publications, Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cyborg babies : from techno-sex to techno-tots / edited by Robbie
Davis-Floyd and Joseph Dumit, with a foreword by Donna Haraway.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-91603-8 (hc). — ISBN 0-415-91604-6 (pbk.)
1. Human reproductive technology—Social aspects. 2. Human
reproductive technology—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Cyborgs.
I. Davis-Floyd, Robbie. II. Dumit, Joseph.
RG133.5.C9 1998
176—dc21 97-44516
CIP
To our own cyborg babies—Peyton, Jason, and Andrew.

contents
introduction Cyborg Babies
Children of the Third Millenium
joseph dumit and robbie davis-floyd 1
cyborg conceptions
part one
one Constructing a “Good Catch,” Picking a Winner
The Development of Technosemen and the
Deconstruction of the Monolithic Male
matthew schmidt and lisa jean moore 21
two “Quit Sniveling, Cryo-Baby. We’ll Work
Out Which One’s Your Mama!”
charis m. cussins 40
three Witches, Nurses, Midwives, and Cyborgs
IVF, ART, and Complex Agency in the
World of Technobirth
steven mentor 67
four Natural Love
janet isaacs ashford 90
the techno-fetus
part two
five Baby’s First Picture
The Cyborg Fetus of Ultrasound Imaging
lisa m. mitchell and eugenia georges 105
six The Fetus as Intruder
Mother’s Bodies and Medical Metaphors
emily martin 125
seven Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis
The Uneven Meanings of Bioscience
in a Multicultural World
rayna rapp 143
eight Babies Don’t Feel Pain
A Century of Denial in Medicine
david b. chamberlain 168
machines and mothers:
part three
postmodern pregnancy,
cyborg birth
nine “Native” Narratives of Connectedness
Surrogate Motherhood and Technology
elizabeth f. s. roberts 193
ten Living with the “Truths” of DES
Toward an Anthropology of Facts
joseph dumit withsylvia sensiper 212
eleven The Logic of Heartbeats
Electronic Fetal Monitoring and
Biomedically Constructed Birth
elizabeth cartwright 240
twelve From Technobirth to Cyborg Babies
Reflections on the Emergent Discourse of
a Holistic Anthropologist
robbie davis-floyd 255
techno-toys and techno-tots
part four
thirteen Growing Up Cyborg
Developmental Stories for Postmodern Children
jennifer l. croissant 285
fourteen Inhabiting Multiple Worlds
Making Sense of SimCity 2000TMin the Fifth Dimension
mizuko ito 301
fifteen Cyborg Babies and Cy-Dough-Plasm
Ideas about Self and Life in the Culture of Simulation
sherry turkle 317
sixteen Children of Metis: Beyond Zeus the Creator
Paganism and the Possibilities for
Embodied Cyborg Childraising
anne hill 330
notes on
contributors 345
index 349