Bodily Interventions and Intimate Labour

Gabriele Griffin is Professor of Gender Research at Uppsala UniversityDoris Leibetseder is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow (2017-2019) at Uppsala University

'This edited volume from Griffin and Leibetseder (both, Uppsala Univ., Sweden) addresses bioprecarity, both theoretically and practically, in relation to bodies and notions of embodiment. While feminist scholarship has considered bodies for some time, this volume fills a gap in the literature by thematizing precisely how bodies involved in intimate labor are “made vulnerable.” That is, the volume’s contributors address how societal norms and regulations work to “require individuals to seek or provide bodily interventions of different kinds.” The collection contains 12 chapters organized into 5 parts. Topics considered include kin-making, commercial surrogacy, intimate partner violence, reproductive reconstruction, and histories of medical research as related to indigenous and transgender bodies. Griffin and Leibetseder have given careful attention to the layout of the volume, providing their own opening chapters as an entryway to the text. The book is clearly written and well supported with references. The scholarship is rigorous and links to canonical figures such as Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, as well as many other well-known scholars.'M. K. Bloodsworth-Lugo, Washington State University

• Introduction – Gabriele Griffin and Doris LeibetsederPart I: Theorizing bioprecarity and the body1 Intimate labour and bioprecarity - Gabriele Griffin2 Bioprecarity as categorical framing - Doris LeibetsederPart II: Precarity in the making of kin 3 Precarious labourers of love: Queer kinship, reproductive labour and biopolitics - Ulrika Dahl4 Precarious bodily performances in queer and transgender reproduction with ART - Doris Leibetseder5 Bioprecarity and pregnancy in lesbian kinship - Petra NordqvistPart III: Bioprecarity and bodies as pieces6 Precarious pregnancies and precious products: Transnational commercial surrogacy in Thailand - Elina Nilsson7 ‘It’s just sperm. That’s all you’re giving.’: Men’s views of sperm donation - Gabriele Griffin8 Bodily disrepair: Bioprecarity in the context of humanitarian surgical missions - Nancy WorthingtonPart IV: Bioprecarity in the transgression of boundaries of intimacy9 Transgressing boundaries: Seeking help against intimate partner violence in lesbian and queer relationships - Nicole Ovesen10 Precarious subjectivities: Understanding the intimate labour involved in seeking clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting - Malin JordalPart V: Bioprecarity and eugenicist histories11 ‘My body, my self’: Indigeneity, bioprecarity and the construction of the embodied self – an artist’s view - Katarina Pirak Sikku and Gabriele Griffin12 The intimate labour of non-normative bodies: Transgender patients in early Swedish medical research - Julian HonkasaloConclusions - Gabriele Griffin and Doris LeibetsederIndex