Robyn Rowland

A child at any price? An overview of issues in the use of the new reproductive technologies, and the threat to women.

Abstract Since the advent of modern contraceptive techniques, sexuality and reproduction have been divided more than at any other time in human history. At first, this was seen as a liberating process for women, particularly for heterosexual women. Now, new reproductive technology has separated sexuality and the procreative process even further: a child can now be created without recourse to sexual intercourse. This too has been presented as a liberation for women. However, within this process men are gaining control of an experience uniquely female. The result of allowing this technological process to go unchecked could be the elimination of women and the development of artificial wombs.

Women who do and women who don't, join the women's movement: issues for conflict and collaboration

The womens movement as a social movement with intentions to create social change has had a cyclical history of appearance and disappearance. At its periods of reemergence, “backlash” reactions also occur. This paper deals with the womens movement in this context. Using a social movement analysis, it considers the possibility of success in creating social change, given that powerful groups of women oppose it. There is a renewed interest in antifeminism since the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment. Questions that arise: (1) Why do some women become feminists and others antifeminist? (2) What are the characteristics of social movements and the backlash that would explain these differences and lead to possible reconciliation? The material that forms the empirical basis of this paper is drawn from 24 feminists and antifeminists in five countries who wrote according to a structured outline about their relationship to the womens movement. Contributors differed in background, age, race, sexual preference, and life-style. Through their stories the issues that both separate and unite women emerge—issues such as abortion, men, motherhood, and the family. Surprising similarities emerge between those supposedly on different “sides” of the fence, and it becomes evident that no clear dividing line does exist, but rather a complex interweaving of the issues, experiences, and difficulties of being “woman.”

Women's studies courses: Pragmatic and political issues concerning their establishment and design☆

Abstract When attempting to establish womens studies courses within institutions of higher education, women face a traditional power structure designed to obstruct movements for change. Four factors relevant to a power analysis of this situation are status, concrete resources, expertise and self-confidence. These factors are defined and examined in relation to the fight to establish womens studies courses. Within this background the issue of men as ‘patrons’ as teachers and as students, and the fact of womens anger are examined. Many arguments forwarded by conservative patriarchal institutions are discussed. The paper emerges from the experiences of the author in three universities. It is aimed at clarifying some of the traps set for women so that other women can eliminate any fears that their experiences are idiosyncratic or ‘their fault’ rather than part of a formalized power game.

Hormonal cocktails: Women as test-sites for fertility drugs women as test-sites for fertility drugs

Synopsis Clomiphene citrate is a drug that has been given to women for conventional fertility treatment for over 20 years. It is also now being administered—often in connection with other hormone-like drugs—to an increasing number of women in IVF programmes-(many of whom are fertile), in order to stimulate egg cell growth. Clomiphene citrate is handed out as if it were a “safe drug.” This paper analyses some of the medical and scientific literature on the drug including its effect on the women themselves and the children born after such treatment. It also incorporates our research with women who have used the drug. What surfaces is a disturbing array of health hazards ranging from depression, nausea, and weight gain, to burst ovaries, adhesions, and the promotion of cancer leading to death in some women, worrying rates of birth anomalies in the children and severe chromosomal aberrations in egg cell development. Of great concern is the evidence that the drug may stay in a womans body for at least six weeks. Since clomiphene citrate has a chemical structure similar to DES there may be as yet unknown long-term adverse effects similar to those from DES. Given the fact that all these “side-effects” have stirred considerable debate in the medical and scientific literature, we are shocked to learn that (a) the women taking the drug are not informed of its possible detrimental effects; and (b) that researchers continue to state, contrary to scientific evidence, that the drug has no side effects. We posit that the potential risks from the drug are too great to administer it to any women and demand the development of a different science that places values on womens lives instead of using them as “living test-sites.”

The childfree experience in the aging context: An investigation of the pro‐natalist bias of life‐span developmental literature

Abstract This paper reveals the pro-natalist bias of life-span developmental psychology which leads to theories of aging marked by transition points embedded in a family context. Psychology has stressed that child-rearing and parenting are «normal» for healthy adults. In doing this the literature assumes that people marry and have children, then age within that context. Those who choose a childless, single or homosexual lifestyle are necessarily excluded from life-span developmental theory. It is argued here that although children may create transition or stress points for parents, there may be many other experiences which also create these potential growth periods and which are relevant to all adults as they age. At present, the family life-cycle and the individual life-cycle are so strongly correlated that stage theories of mature development do not clarify whether aging itself or the family experience present people with «crisis» or transition periods in adulthood.

What are the key questions which could be addressed in women's studies?☆

Abstract As part of a panel session on the state and status of womens studies, this discussion paper addresses the aims of womens studies and feminist scholarship, stressing their links with, and accountability to, the womens liberation movement. It considers the politics of staffing in womens studies, issues of content, and the place of theory. It challenges us to remember the revolutionary intent of womens studies.