Abortion Pills, Test Tube Babies, and Sex Toys (eBook)

Vivid ethnographies from the Middle East and North Africa that reveal the complexities and ironies of how societies react to new sexual and reproductive technologies

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From Viagra to in vitro fertilization, new technologies are rapidly changing the global face of reproductive health. They are far from neutral: religious, cultural, social, and legal contexts condition their global transfer. The way a society interprets and adopts (or rejects) a new technology reveals a great deal about the relationship between bodies and the body politic. Reproductive health technologies are often particularly controversial because of their potential to reconfigure kinship relationships, sexual mores, gender roles, and the way life is conceptualized. This collection of original ethnographic research spans the region from Morocco and Tunisia to Israel and Iran and covers a wide range of technologies, including emergency contraception, medication abortion, gamete donation, hymenoplasty, erectile dysfunction, and gender transformation.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction | Setting the Context: Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Medical Technologies in the Middle East and North AfricaAngel M. Foster and L. L. WynnPart I | Preventing and Terminating PregnancyIs There an Islamic IUD? Exploring the Acceptability of a Hormone-Releasing Intrauterine Device in EgyptAhmed Ragaa A. RagabIntroducing Emergency Contraception in Morocco: A Slow Start after a Long JourneyElena ChopyakMifepristone in Tunisia: A Model for Expanding Access to Medication AbortionAngel M. FosterNavigating Barriers to Abortion Access: Misoprostol in the West BankFrancoise Daoud and Angel M. FosterPart II | Achieving Pregnancy and Parenthood"e;Worse comes to worst, I have a safety net"e;: Fertility Preservation among Young, Single, Jewish Breast Cancer Patients in IsraelDaphna Birenbaum-Carmeli, Efrat Dagan, and Suzi Modiano GattegnoThe "e;ART"e; of Making Babies Using In Vitro Fertilization: Assisted Reproduction Technologies in the United Arab EmiratesShirin KarsanWanted Babies, Excess Fetuses: The Middle East's In Vitro Fertilization, High-Order Multiple Pregnancy, Fetal Reduction NexusMarcia C. InhornBirthing Bodies, Pregnant Selves: Gestational Surrogates, Intended Mothers, and Distributed Maternity in IsraelElly TemanC-Sections as a Nefarious Plot: The Politics of Pronatalism in TurkeyKatrina MacFarlanePart III | Engaging Sex and SexualityHPV Vaccine Uptake in Lebanon: A Vicious Cycle of Misinformation, Stigma, and Prohibitive CostsFaysal El-KakHymenoplasty in Contemporary Iran: Liminality and the Embodiment of Contested DiscoursesAzal Ahmadi"e;Viagra Soup"e;: Consumer Fantasies and Masculinity in Portrayals of Erectile Dysfunction Drugs in Cairo, EgyptL. L. WynnSex Toys and the Politics of Pleasure in MoroccoJessica Marie NewmanNarratives of Gender Transformation Practices for Transgender Women in Diyarbakir, TurkeyM. A. SandersConclusion | Individual, Community, Religion, State: Technology at the IntersectionDonna Lee BowenAcronyms and AbbreviationsGlossary of Foreign TermsBibliographyContributorsIndex