Publication details
Konstrukce normality, rizika a vědění o těle v těhotenství: Příklad prenatálních screeningů
| Title in English | Construction of normality, risk and the knowledge of pregnant body: The case of genetic screenings |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Biograf |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.biograf.org/clanky/members/clanek.php?clanek=v4702 |
| Keywords | authoritative knowledge; body; genetic screening; medicine; regnancy; risk |
| Description | This paper focuses on pregnancy as an embodied experience that is at the same time closely embedded in the gender relations and notions about women’s bodies and their reproductive role. Narrative interviews with nine women whose pregnancies were classified as high-risk or who experienced health complications during their pregnancy were used to study how women describe their pregnancies in view of their interactions with the medical personnel and how the discourse of risk related to their health condition is reflected in such interactions. It outlines the role that prenatal testing played in these narratives and analyzes the relationship between prenatal testing and the construction of authoritative medical knowledge as well as women’s reasons for refusing the testing. This paper argues that some women are forced to negotiate their position vis-a-vis the medical authority symbolized by modern technologies in particular. It describes the ways in which these women enforce their decisions, how doctors react to them and what argumentation they use to insist on the use of technologies. It argues that the decision to refuse this testing has to be seen in the context of the character of knowledge that is produced during the examinations. |