Wired, 1998

Cloning may still be a few years away, but in Cyborg Babies: from Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots, a collection of essays edited by Robbie Davis-Floyd and Joseph Dumit (Routledge, 1998), we see how technology is increasingly intervening in every aspect of birth and child rearing.

Several authors, the most notable being Sherry Turkle and Mizuko Ito, examine the complex relationships that evolve around in-vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood, and coin terms such as “techno-semen” (the offering of an artificial insemination donor). Ultrasound imaging, abortion, biotechnology, electronic fetal monitoring, fertility drugs, amniocentesis, techno-toys for tots, and anesthesia are also hot topics deconstructed in essays that are one part medical reporting, one part Foucaultian culture theory, and two parts futuristic medical anthropology.

R.U. Sirius recently spoke with Davis-Floyd and Dumit about their book and their views on technologically assisted birth and childhood.