The last menopausal woman and other future reproductive imaginaries

• In Event: Making Biofutures: Anticipating the futures of biomedicine, healthcare, and life itself

Abstract

A range of new reproductive possibilities in genetic screening and editing, uterine transplants, ovarian tissue transplants, hormone regimes and demands for stem cells lie in our foreseeable future. Drawing from ethnographic lessons from previous technological advances in reproduction, in this paper I explore the directions of reproductive technologies and the ways in which these will shape future demands and create new markets. I consider how these technologies are reinventing our conceptions of gender, health and embodiment and challenge notions of self and agency. They promise a biofuture in which endlessly flexible interventions and malleable applications purportedly allow for a myriad of new reproductive choices, oblivious to the old stratified inequalities they entail.

Author

• Andrea Whittaker, Monash University, Australia