The Stork and the Syringe: Political History of Reproductive MedicineISBN: 978-0-7456-1187-7
Paperback
250 pages
September 1993, Polity
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The Stork and the Syringe argues that although doctors' approach to infertility is formed in response to the exigencies of the political economy of medical practice, it also accommodates a persistent gender bias: the tendency to regard women's bodies as inviting intervention and men's as demanding caution. This bias is manifest in relation to gametes (eggs and sperm), sex hormones, in the form of medical investigations and treatment, and the frequency and enthusiasm with which the latter are carried out. Departures from this theme are rare and controversial, as the history of artificial insemination using donor semen demonstrates.
This book is a major contribution to the history and sociology of reproduction, fertility, population and medicine.