Impoverished Appalachia and Kentucky genomes: what is at stake? How do feminists reply?
Genomic medicine can and does improve the health of individuals, but it is also important to question the role genomic research plays in maintaining inequality. Here we raise questions about the possible impact of genomic medicine on the lives and well-being of impoverished women in the United States, especially when they are already routinely stereotyped as deficient, whether behaviourally, mentally, or physically. In the context of these issues, we present a brief history of the confluence of eugenics and sexuality, childbirth, and sterilization, and we examine the present birth control practices, especially tubal ligation, of women in poor rural communities in the United States. Do past eugenic ideologies, or classist and racist motivations influence how impoverished Appalachian women are treated gynecologically? How will they be treated in the future? We argue that the issues regarding genomic research involving reproduction are very complex and multi-layered and call for feminist scholars to develop broad research agendas to address these pressing questions.
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Department of Sociology, University of Kentucky, USA
Publication date: 01 August 2006
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