Testing time: temporalities and politics in narratives of home pregnancy testing

• In Event: 50462 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Femininities

Abstract

Pregnancy tests are, by far, the most widely distributed over-the-counter medical test, usable by potentially half of the population multiple times throughout their lives. They can be found at nearly every corner drug store and gas station, online and in bulk, and even at the dollar store. Using home pregnancy testing narratives as the object of study, I examine 1) the temporality of the narrative structure; 2) the variation and inequalities revealed by these narratives, in particular their relationship to dominant ideologies, and 3) the implications for surveillance studies. This paper draws on 114 qualitative reproductive life history interviews from a larger project to argue that the technology has facilitated the institutionalization of a particular reproductive narrative, a narrative that can address, conform to, and challenge contemporary reproductive surveillance practices.

Author

• Joan H. Robinson, CUNY-City College