DOCSLIB.ORG

Life Itself’: a Socio-Historic Examination of FINRRAGE

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Life Itself’: a Socio-Historic Examination of FINRRAGE CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by White Rose E-theses Online From ‘Death of the Female’ to ‘Life Itself’: A Socio-Historic Examination of FINRRAGE Stevienna Marie de Saille Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy September 2012 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2012, The University of Leeds and Stevienna Marie de Saille The right of Stevienna Marie de Saille to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people who made this thesis possible in a number of different, fantastically important ways. My deepest thanks to: - My supervisors, Prof. Anne Kerr and Dr. Paul Bagguley, for their patience, advice, editorial comments, and the occasional kickstart when the project seemed just a little(!) overwhelming, and my examiners, Prof. Maureen McNeil and Dr. Angharad Beckett for their insight and suggestions. - The School of Sociology and Social Policy, for awarding me the teaching bursary which made this possible, and all the wonderful faculty and support staff who made it an excellent experience. - The archivists in Special Collections at the University of Leeds, and to the volunteers at the Feminist Archive North for giving me an all-access pass. - The women of FINRRAGE, for their generosity, hospitality, and for being alternately a twenty-four person thesis committee and cheering squad. - The Worldwide Universities Network for awarding me the Research Mobility Grant which allowed me to carry out fieldwork while studying bioethics at the University of Sydney, and Anoushka for all her help in achieving the grant. Many more thanks to Dr. Catherine Mills and to Lindy Gaze for making sure I had a home at VELiM, and to Prof. Catherine Waldby for taking me on as a temporary supervisee. - The Postgraduate Forum in Genetics and Society for leading me into STS, and especially to Rachel Douglas-Jones for sticking it out till the end. - Sally Hines, Zowie Davy and Maria do Mar Pereira for reminding me why I am still a feminist. - The many other people who, unwittingly or not, gave me books, papers and ideas which nudged my thinking in completely unexpected directions: Fiona Philip and Penny Rivkin, Bice Maiguashca, Prof. Donna Dickenson and the members of the IAS/WUN Biopolitics Symposium, Olivia Harvey, Catherine Carroll, Nicola Marks, Melinda Cooper, LeeAnn and Stuart Mawler, and Linzi, Sam, Leon, Gen, Cassandra, Angelica and the rest of 14th floor postgraduate posse. - And last but not remotely least, to Imona Haninger for putting up with the madwoman in the attic; to Noemie Bouhana for invaluable academic advice in between marathon bouts of critters, zombies, and things that go boom in the night; and to all my friends and family in the US, UK, Germany and Czech Republic, who accepted being ignored for months (years!) on end with grace and affirmations of confidence. I hope to make it up to all of you soon… iv ABSTRACT Although questions about the production of knowledge are finally beginning to be asked within social movements studies, these tend to rely on a very vague definition of 'knowledge', obscuring activists' engagement with informal and formal research, as well as social forms of knowledge. This thesis employs an analytic framework in which social movements are theorised as producing a distinctive cognitive praxis, in order to examine the ways in which movements emerge, develop, and operationalise their knowledge in pursuit of their goals. In order to do this, I will create a contextualised case study of the Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering (FINRRAGE), examining the ways it sought to develop a knowledge project around new reproductive technologies and present itself as a network of credible knowers. Beginning as a reaction to a 1984 conference panel on new reproductive technology entitled 'Death of the Female', in its strongest phase (1984-1997) FINRRAGE comprised over a thousand women in thirty-seven countries. Although identified as an instance of radical opposition, its strategy relied upon knowledge generation, rather than protest. Employing a textual analysis of archival documents, published writings and lifecourse interviews with an international selection of twenty-four women, the thesis explores the processes by which the network pursued a project of creating an evidence-based position of resistance to the development of reproductive and genetic technologies through empirical research, publication, and continuous negotiation between women from very different social contexts. As such, the study also provides an opportunity to (re)consider feminist engagement with a specific area of technology over an historical period. It is hoped that the result will be a contribution to the academic literature on the development of collective knowledge and expertise for both social movements theory and science and technology studies, as well as to feminist history and theory. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... VIII INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Background to the work.............................................................................................1 Choice of this case................................................................................................................ 3 Aims and Structure of the Thesis ..............................................................................4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................. 6 A brief history of social movements theory ..............................................................7 Resource mobilisation – reinscribing 'rational' .................................................................... 8 New Social Movements – European perspectives ............................................................... 9 The knowledge turn in SMT .............................................................................................. 11 Knowledge as process: cognitive praxis........................................................................ 12 Frames as organisers of meaning.................................................................................. 13 Oppositional and other forms of 'raised' consciousness................................................ 15 STS through a social movements lens .....................................................................20 'Lay' knowledge as a form of expertise .............................................................................. 24 Expertise beyond the binary of 'expert' and 'lay' ................................................................ 27 Conclusion..................................................................................................................31 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 33 PART I: Devising the approach...............................................................................33 Methodological considerations for feminist research......................................................... 35 Empowerment ................................................................................................................ 35 Reflexivity....................................................................................................................... 37 Objectivity...................................................................................................................... 38 Methodological innovation ............................................................................................ 39 PART II: Constructing the case ..............................................................................40 Gathering the data ..............................................................................................................41 Macro - The external context......................................................................................... 42 Meso – internal documents of the network .................................................................... 42 Micro -- Interviews with members ................................................................................. 43 Analysis.............................................................................................................................. 45 The history of FINRRAGE ............................................................................................. 45 The women of FINRRAGE............................................................................................. 46 Expert Roles in FINRRAGE........................................................................................... 49 Methodological reflections........................................................................................50 Conclusion..................................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 4
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gender Neutrality and the Definition of Rape: Challenging the Law’S Response to Sexual Violence and Non-Normative Bodies
    GENDER NEUTRALITY AND THE DEFINITION OF RAPE: CHALLENGING THE LAW’S RESPONSE TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND NON-NORMATIVE BODIES ELISABETH MCDONALD* In 2005 the legislature of Aotearoa New Zealand chose for the second time, the first occurring in 1986, to retain the offence of rape as one of the ways in which the crime of sexual violation may be committed. The current definition of rape means that only those with a penis can be guilty of this offence, and only those with female genitalia can be a victim of such a crime. Despite use of the term in public vernacular being wider than the legal definition, little advocacy has been focussed on reforming this law, although those in the trans and intersex communities recognise their experiences are not reflected in the description of rape. In this piece I note the importance, and difficulty, of making visible within the legislative framework both the gendered nature of sexual offending as well as the vulnerabilities of those who have non-normative bodies. By considering the theory and critical analysis which informed the debates and law reform undertaken in other jurisdictions, I conclude that it is time to reconsider the actus reus of rape in Aotearoa New Zealand, with the aim of extending its scope so as to be responsive to all communities’ experiences of sexual violence. I INTRODUCTION Beginning with reform which took shape primarily in the mid-1970s, most common law jurisdictions have now adopted revised definitions of varying types of sexual offences. Early advocates for change were primarily concerned with the limited scope of the traditional crime of rape, including the requirement for force and the marital exemption.1 Feminists also agitated for * Professor, School of Law, University of Canterbury.
    [Show full text]
  • Kate Millet— Women, Aids & Choice
    THE JOURNAL OF SUBSTANCE FOR PROGRESSIVES VOL X1988 $2.95 •KATE MILLET— An Exclusive Interview •a Prostitute and a Ph.D. speak out on WOMEN, AIDS & CHOICE •THE TEEN WHO REFUSED TO KILL THE TEEN WHO JUST SAID "NO!" 15 • New York Pro-Choice Coalition How a 15-Year-Old Woman demonstrator puts her politics on the Turned A School front line at rally in front of St. Patrick's System Upside Down FEATURES Cathedral during "Operation Rescue"- INTERVIEW BY Photo by Bettye Lane BREAKING THE BARRIERS ROBERTA KALECHOFSKY Merle Hoffman Interviews Kate Millet DEPARTMENTS Cover Photography NO MANDATORY TESTING! 10 Bettye Lane A Feminist Prostitute Speaks Out Editorial: Merle Hoffman 1 BY CAROL LEIGH ON THE ISSUES HIV-POSITIVE WOMEN HAVE We've Come A Long Way??? 4 RIGHTS TOO— 11 Feedback 25 and They're Often Denied BY BARBARA SANTEE, Ph.D. Choice Books 18 of nightsticks, sawhorses being shoved into my face, the mounting tension of the crowds around ON THE ISSUES me and the palpable smell of danger—was something quite different from anything I had ever experienced. "Where are your troops, Hoffman?" [ON THE My questioner had verbalized one of my private intellectual dialogues. But really not so private— | THE JOURNAL OF SUBSTANCE FOR PROGRESSIVES I after all, the question of just where the feminist VOL. X, 1988 movement is now, where the feminist movement is going and is the feminist movement alive or dead, ad infinitum—has become the intellectual staple, PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Merle Hoffman the core issue around which media, feminists, politicians and anyone who feels like it can instantly MANAGING EDITOR pontificate.
    [Show full text]
  • CEDAW Opening Statement 19.6.2018
    CEDAW Opening Statement Madam Chair, distinguished members of the Committee. Before I begin I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners on whose land we meet today and pay my respects to elders past and present. It is a great pleasure to meet with you today, to engage in a constructive dialogue about Australia’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Being here, I am humbled by the great Australian women who have come before me, trailblazers like feminist and activist, Jessie Street. 90 years ago Jessie Street came to this very building to advocate for Australian women’s economic independence as a key to their advancement: the right for women to divorce, women’s fair custody of their children, birth control for women, equal pay for women and equal inclusion of Aboriginal women in Australian society. She understood the power of working with women throughout the world. Among her many accomplishments, Jessie Street championed the creation of the Commission on the Status of Women as a permanent United Nations body to deal with women’s rights. We’re proud she did. Australia has continued its meaningful engagement in international fora. In particular, we demonstrate our commitment and leadership on gender equality at home and abroad. 1 CEDAW OPENING STATEMENT As a long-standing signatory to CEDAW, current member of the Human Rights Council, and member of the Commission on the Status of Women starting next year, Australia places great importance on meeting our obligations under the Convention, and our delegation will do our best to answer your questions today.
    [Show full text]
  • Reproductive Rights
    Reproductive Rights Oxford Handbooks Online Reproductive Rights Véronique Mottier The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics Edited by Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and S. Laurel Weldon Print Publication Date: Mar 2013 Subject: Political Science, Comparative Politics Online Publication Date: Aug 2013 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199751457.013.0008 Abstract and Keywords This article discusses feminist scholarship on three specific areas of the politics of reproduction. It first defines the concept of reproduction as the production of offspring; reproduction is also considered as a key theme of feminist theory and political practice before and after Simone de Beauvoir. The article then studies state control over the procreative choices of the citizens, specifically the eugenic population policies introduced during the first few decades of the twentieth century. The next section focuses on feminist mobilization around abortion and contraceptive rights and outlines the ways reproductive rights have been included in the political arena due to women’s movements. The article concludes with a study of the impact of the latest reproductive technologies on modern politics of gender along with the feminist responses to the challenges posed by recent improvements in this area. Keywords: reproduction, feminist scholarship, feminist theory, Simone de Beauvoir, procreative choices, feminist mobilization, abortion, reproductive rights, reproductive technologies, feminist responses Introduction Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, first published in 1949, famously blamed women’s reproductive bodies and activities for their subordinate social status. Writing at a time when marriage and motherhood constituted the main horizon of female social respectability, de Beauvoir portrayed marriage, housework, and childcare as mutually reinforcing women’s dependence on men.
    [Show full text]
  • Improving on Nature: Eugenics in Utopian Fiction
    1 Improving on Nature: Eugenics in Utopian Fiction Submitted by Christina Jane Lake to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, January 2017 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright materials and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approve for the award of a degree by this or any other university. (Signature)............................................................................................................. 2 3 Abstract There has long been a connection between the concept of utopia as a perfect society and the desire for perfect humans to live in this society. A form of selective breeding takes place in many fictional utopias from Plato’s Republic onwards, but it is only with the naming and promotion of eugenics by Francis Galton in the late nineteenth century that eugenics becomes a consistent and important component of utopian fiction. In my introduction I argue that behind the desire for eugenic fitness within utopias resides a sense that human nature needs improving. Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) prompted fears of degeneration, and eugenics was seen as a means of restoring purpose and control. Chapter Two examines the impact of Darwin’s ideas on the late nineteenth-century utopia through contrasting the evolutionary fears of Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (1872) with Edward Bellamy’s more positive view of the potential of evolution in Looking Backward (1888).
    [Show full text]
  • Jessie Street 1889-1970
    Source: Discovering Democracy Lower Secondary Units – Political Life Biographies of four Australians who were politically active outside parliament http://www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/units/ls4fq3acts.htm#Street Jessie Street 1889-1970 Some major achievements • Founder and President of the United Association of Women, 1929 • Only female member of the Australian delegation to the conference that set up the United Nations, 1945 • Drafter of the petition for a referendum to remove from the Australian Constitution the clauses that discriminated against Aboriginal people, 1964 Memorials and monuments • Jessie Street Women’s Library, Sydney • Jessie Street Garden, Sydney Lady Jessie Street Photograph by Falk. Courtesy National Library of Australia. Background and experience Jessie Lillingston came from a family of wealthy landowners in northern New South Wales. When she was a girl she loved horse riding but she did not like the fact that she was expected to ride side-saddle. So when nobody was looking, Jessie would swing her leg across the horse and ride the same way men did. All her life she behaved in ways that people from her background were not expected to behave. When she was a schoolgirl, Jessie met members of the suffragette movement in England and, on a visit to New York in 1915, she volunteered to help in a reception centre for young women arrested as prostitutes. In 1916, Jessie married Kenneth Street, who later became the highest judge in New South Wales. When he was knighted, she became Lady Jessie Street. • Ride side-saddle means to ride a horse with both feet on the same side of the horse.
    [Show full text]
  • Victorian Honour Roll of Women — Inspirational Women from All Walks of Life
    + + — — 2011 Victorian Honour Roll of Women — Inspirational women from all walks of life + — Published by: the Office of Women’s Policy Department of Human Services 1 Spring Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Telephone. (03) 9208 3129 Online. www.women.vic.gov.au — March 2011. ©Copyright State of Victoria 2011. This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. — Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne 2011 ISBN 978-0-7311-6346-5 — Designed by Studio Verse www.studioverse.com.au Printed by Gunn & Taylor Printers www.gunntaylor.com.au — Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, such as large print or audio, please telephone 03 9208 3129. This publication is also published in PDF and Word formats on www.women.vic.gov.au — — 2011 Victorian Honour Roll of Women — — — Contents Inductee profiles — — — 03 05 17 Minister’s Foreword Professor Muriel Bamblett AM Aunty Dot Peters — — — 06 18 Terry Bracks Dr Wendy Poussard — — — 07 19 Cecilia Conroy Brenda Richards — — — 08 20 Sandie de Wolf AM Jane Scarlett AM — — — 09 21 Dale Fisher Carol Schwartz AM — — — 10 22 Dr Paula Gerber Virginia Simmons AO — — — 11 23 Tricia Harper AM Dr Diane Sisely — — — 12 24 Chris Jennings Dame Peggy van Praagh — — OBE, DBE 13 Jill Joslyn — — — 14 Betty Kitchener OAM — — — 15 Professor Jayashri Kulkarni — — — 16 Victorian Honour Roll Marion Lau OAM of Women 2001-2011 — — — Foreword Mary Wooldridge MP 03 Minister for Women’s Affairs — — — Professor Muriel Bamblett AM ‘ Aboriginal people constantly seek to make a difference in the lives of their community.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Women, Past and Present
    Diversity in Leadership Australian women, past and present Diversity in Leadership Australian women, past and present Edited by Joy Damousi, Kim Rubenstein and Mary Tomsic Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Diversity in leadership : Australian women, past and present / Joy Damousi, Kim Rubenstein, Mary Tomsic, editors. ISBN: 9781925021707 (paperback) 9781925021714 (ebook) Subjects: Leadership in women--Australia. Women--Political activity--Australia. Businesswomen--Australia. Women--Social conditions--Australia Other Authors/Contributors: Damousi, Joy, 1961- editor. Rubenstein, Kim, editor. Tomsic, Mary, editor. Dewey Number: 305.420994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2014 ANU Press Contents Introduction . 1 Part I. Feminist perspectives and leadership 1 . A feminist case for leadership . 17 Amanda Sinclair Part II. Indigenous women’s leadership 2 . Guthadjaka and Garŋgulkpuy: Indigenous women leaders in Yolngu, Australia-wide and international contexts . 39 Gwenda Baker, Joanne Garŋgulkpuy and Kathy Guthadjaka 3 . Aunty Pearl Gibbs: Leading for Aboriginal rights . 53 Rachel Standfield, Ray Peckham and John Nolan Part III. Local and global politics 4 . Women’s International leadership . 71 Marilyn Lake 5 . The big stage: Australian women leading global change . 91 Susan Harris Rimmer 6 . ‘All our strength, all our kindness and our love’: Bertha McNamara, bookseller, socialist, feminist and parliamentary aspirant .
    [Show full text]
  • Alison Bartlett, Maryanne Dever, Margaret Henderson : Outskirts Online Journal : the University of Western Australia
    9/3/2015 Alison Bartlett, Maryanne Dever, Margaret Henderson : Outskirts online journal : The University of Western Australia Outskirts online journal Alison Bartlett, Maryanne Dever, Margaret Henderson F U R T H E R Notes Towards an Archive of Australian Feminist Activism I N F O R M A T I O N In recent years scholars have begun the work of tracing the history of the Australian women’s movement, ABOUT THE AUTHOR particularly in its second wave form.1 As Vera Mackie argues in Mapping the Women’s Movement (1996), this phase of reflective “stocktaking” is essential if the history of what has been done and Alison Bartlett is Senior Lecturer in achieved is to be passed on (277) and we are to escape the ever­present threat of amnesia or Women's Studies at the University of forgetfulness that often troubles those social movements that lack formal structures for the passing down Western Australia. She is currently of memory (Rowbotham, 13). But the production of any history of the second wave Australian women’s researching the 1983 Pine Gap movement, that is, as a political movement and a new social movement – and in particular accounts of Women's Peace Camp before it the role of activists within that movement – is intimately connected to the movement’s archival legacy; in disappears from archived memory. short, the possibilities for writing that history depend on the nature and quality of the records and sources Maryanne Dever is Director of the that have been preserved. However, as Deborah Cherry notes, ‘what is recorded, preserved, or printed Centre for Women’s Studies & depends on the interest, politics and prejudices of those who control and determine what is of historical Gender Research at Monash value’.
    [Show full text]
  • What Counts As Feminist Theory?
    What counts as feminist theory? [May-July 2003/2009:] This is one of the papers referred to in ‘Introduction to the refereed papers’. I wrote the paper in 1999, in response to the pre-publicity for the journal, Feminist Theory, which had asked for submissions on the question of what counts as feminist theory (among others). I sent it off in time for the inaugural issue of the journal, which appeared in 2000. It was sent to three reviewers, two of whom argued against publishing it. The third recommended publication despite some disagreements she had with it, but the majority prevailed and I received a letter telling me my paper had been rejected. I wrote a reply to the letter and to the readers’ reports, pointing out a number of problems with the reasons given for the rejection. (This reply is included below, at the end of the paper). When the first issue of the journal appeared, the editorial referred approvingly to ‘feminist theory in all its many and diverse forms’, and contained the following statement: ‘We intend this journal to be … a place where all shades of feminist opinion can be aired … we neither wish to impose any form of theoretical orthodoxy nor any single definition of what counts as feminist theory. This theoretical heterodoxy is central to our project’ (Griffin et al, 2000: 5). In the light of the rejection of my paper and the inadequacy of the reasons given, this statement rang somewhat hollow. It sounded to me like an example of what Herbert Marcuse referred to as ‘repressive tolerance’ (Marcuse, 1969), the claim to be all- inclusive and accepting that functions to reduce everything to the lowest common denominator of irrelevance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Incredible Woman: Power and Sexual Politics by Jocelynne a Scutt
    897 BOOK REVIEWS THE INCREDIBLE WOMAN: POWER AND SEXUAL POLITICS BY JOCELYNNE A SCUTT Sandra Petersson* Jocelynne A Scutt The Incredible Woman: Power and Sexual Politics (Artemis Publishing, Melbourne, 1997) (vol 1, 336 + xiv pages, $AUS34.95; vol 2, 354 + xvii pages, $AUS34.95). The Incredible Woman: Power and Sexual Politics is an anthology of scholarship by Jocelynne Scutt, Australian barrister and law reformer. While stated to cover 25 years of Scutt's activism, over three quarters of the articles are from the period 1990 to 1996, a fact that lends currency to the collection. The articles are arranged thematically under four headings. Volume One consists of "Part I — 'Judicial Wisdom', Patriarchal Power", a general examination of sexual politics in the legal system, and "Part II — Medicine, Power and the Politics of Health", a particular examination of sexual politics in the area of health law. Volume Two focuses on the wider equality issues of economics and power in "Part III — The Economic Politics of 'A Woman's Place'" and "Part IV — Power and the Woman". The cover of each volume bears the image of a diver, an athlete of visible strength captured in mid-flight. Behind her, there is a faint horizon that marks the division between air and water, the diver's twin media. The image is ideal for the work presented in this collection, work reflecting Scutt's strong presence in both oral and written media, facilitating both public and private dissemination of legal scholarship. * Lecturer in Law, Victoria University of Wellington. 898 (2000) 31 VUWLR The cover image also resonates on a personal level, bringing to mind my childhood swimming lessons.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminism and the 'Woman As Mother' Discourse in Reproductive Politics In
    Feminism and the ‘Woman Equals Mother’ Discourse in Reproductive Politics in Australia A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Gender, Work and Social Inquiry School of Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Adelaide April 2012 Angella Duvnjak BA(Hons) (Adelaide University) BSW (Flinders University) i ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... v Declaration ........................................................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background: The journey to ‘here’ 1 1.2 Time, Context and Structure of the Thesis 5 1.2.1 Situating the research questions .................................................................................................. 7 1.2.2 Research questions ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]