Regulating reprogenetics: strategic sacralisation and semantic massage

Area of Science:

• Feminist bioethics
• Sociology of science and technology
• Reprogenetics regulation

Background:

• Biomedicine often systematically excludes the role of women's bodies in developing reprogenetic technologies.
• Existing regulatory frameworks may be influenced by rhetoric that marginalizes women's perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how notions of the sacred are strategically used to shape consensus in reprogenetic technology regulation.
• To critique the exclusionary discourse in reprogenetics and advocate for a renegotiation of the symbolic order.

Main Methods:

• Feminist critique of regulatory consequences in biomedicine.
• Analysis of strategic rhetoric in infertility treatment and embryo research regulation (UK).
• Drawing on cultural anthropology of biomedicine and feminist ethnographies of reprogenetics.

Main Results:

• The "sacred" is employed to decontextualize and delimit disagreement, fostering marginalization.
• Conceptions of the sacred facilitate pragmatic regulatory consensus through symbolic manipulation.
• A "bricolage" of culturally resonant images is used to solidify support or exclude dissenting views.

Conclusions:

• An explicit renegotiation of the symbolic order is necessary to disrupt exclusionary dominant discourse in reprogenetics.
• Challenging the strategic use of "sacred" notions can enrich and diversify debates on reprogenetic regulation.
• Integrating feminist perspectives is crucial for a more inclusive and equitable approach to reprogenetic technologies.