Datafied body projects in India
Femtech and the rise of reproductive surveillance in the digital era
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12499161 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paro Mishra (0000-0002-1104-1022, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, India, corresponding author), Yogita Suresh (Shiv Nadar University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 597-606 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Journal of Women s Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1225-9276 • E-ISSN: 2377-004X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/12259276.2021.2002010 |
| OpenAlex | W3215876548 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 14 |
This article examines the growing industry of digital self-tracking technologies designed for the female body, popularly known as femtech. Focusing mainly on reproductive technologies and applications, it situates femtech within the broader historical context of excluding women from research on medicine and clinical trials. Approaching femtech as datafied body projects, we argue that, even though these digital reproductive health technologies enhance user capacity for self-knowledge by quantifying reproduction, they raise apprehensions about issues of reproductive surveillance. These datafied body projects are not only technology-driven, but are also shaped by the neo-liberal ethos in which the state-corporate nexus shifts the onus of health management to participatory individuated forms, deemed as “empowering,” while simultaneously harnessing this user-generated data for control and profit. Finally, we argue that merely representing women in all spheres of health and procuring data on the female body is insufficient to address the larger concerns of gender in health. A more close-grained approach that addresses the structural embeddedness of exploitation of the female body for profit and the masculine epistemology around which these technologies are built is necessary
Context (archaeology · Embeddedness · Ethos · Geography · Political science · Public relations · Reproduction · Reproductive health · Social science · Sociology · Technoscience · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Law · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
Self-Tracking
Digital health and the biopolitics of the Quantified Self
Are You There, Law? It's Me, Semen
The quantified self
The Body and Social Theory
Quantifying the body
Critical Perspectives on Digital Health Technologies
M-health and health promotion
Power/freedom on the dark web
Leaks, Lumps, and Lines
Prosumption
Periods for Profit and the Rise of Menstrual Surveillance
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |