Subtitle: Technology, Consumption, and the Politics of Reproduction
Author: Janelle S. Taylor
Subject: Anthropology , Women's Studies
Paper ISBN 978-0-8135-4364-2
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8135-4363-5
Pages: 256 pages
Publication Date: October 2008
Series: Studies in Medical Anthropology

"Beautifully written and full of insight, The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram delivers an excellent analysis of pregnancy as it is intertwined with American gender beliefs and practices."—Rayna Rapp, author of Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America

"A riveting study of the ambiguities that plague the world of fetal  sonograms in both clinical and popular spheres. Taylor's sleuthing is  punctuated by a marvelous —though understated—sense of humor that is  certain to captivate any reader.  The work is smart, probing,  perceptive, and poignant--the perfect melding of anthropology,  history, and science studies."—Lesley A. Sharp, Departments of Anthropology, Barnard College, and Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University

In The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram, medical anthropologist Janelle S. Taylor analyzes the full sociocultural context of ultrasound technology and imagery. Drawing upon ethnographic research both within and beyond the medical setting, Taylor shows how ultrasound has entered into public consumer culture in the United States. The book documents and critically analyzes societal uses for ultrasound such as nondiagnostic “keepsake” ultrasound businesses that foster a new consumer market for these blurry, monochromatic images of eagerly awaited babies, and anti-abortion clinics that use ultrasound in an attempt to make women bond with the fetuses they carry, inciting a pro-life state of mind.

This book offers much-needed critical awareness of the less easily recognized ways in which ultrasound technology is profoundly social and political in the United States today.
 

Janelle S. Taylor is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. She is coeditor of Consuming Motherhood (Rutgers University Press).