Social inequalities, reproductive bodies, and technological interventions

ABSTRACT

In this commentary, I argue that attention to intersecting social inequalities is crucially important for any scholarly analysis of the relationship between transhumanism, markets, and consumption. Drawing on my sociological research about egg and sperm donation, genetic testing, and men’s reproductive health, I discuss how social beliefs – particularly those around gender, race, class, and sexuality – become embedded in biological, technological, and medical approaches to human bodies, profoundly shaping how they are categorised, studied, treated, and commodified. On their own and in combination, these social processes both reflect and produce devastating inequalities. This is where futuristic flights of transhumanist fancy meet sociological realities, and debates about transhumanism must grapple with the persistence of such inequalities.

KEYWORDS:

• Gendered bodies
• medical markets
• reproductive technologies
• social inequalities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rene Almeling

Rene Almeling is associate professor of sociology at Yale University.