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Feb. 28, 2023
My Baby, My Baby
The battle for control of reproduction is as old as time, and since women alone have the power to create new life, women’s bodies continue to be the de facto battlefield for that power struggle.
Political, economical, and social means have been use...
The battle for control of reproduction is as old as time, and since women alone have the power to create new life, women’s bodies continue to be the de facto battlefield for that power struggle.
Political, economical, and social means have been used to wrestle this unique capacity away from women themselves, but in the last hundred years or so - science and technology - invented and controlled by mostly men, have overtaken every inch of human baby-making.
Dr Renate Klein, a biologist and sociologist, has scrutinized and critiqued what she calls the “techno docs” and their advancements for over 40 years, and has written several books such as Broken Bonds and Surrogacy: A Human Rights Violation on the subject. In this episode we talk about where the science has taken us, and all the moral questions that arise from this hugely profitable industry.
Credits
Host: Elle Kamihira
Produced by Elle Kamihira
Audio Engineering by Jason Sheesley at Abridged Audio
Cover Art by Bee Johnson
Music by Beware of Darkness
Renate Klein
Biologist & Sociologist
Dr. Renate Klein is a Swiss-Australian radical feminist biologist and sociologist. She has researched and critiqued patriarchal science since the 1980s in relation to women’s biology, specifically in areas of reproduction including contraceptive and reproductive technologies and surrogacy. She has been a women’s health activist and Professor of Women’s Studies for many years, and is a member of international and national feminist networks such as FINRRAGE, Stop Surrogacy Now and ICAMS that are trying to abolish reproductive prostitution and oppose regulation of women- and children-hating practices. With Susan Hawthorne she founded Spinifex Press in 1991. Her book on surrogacy is published in both English and German. Surrogacy: A Human Rights Violation (2017/2022)