Narrative futures of pregnancy sickness: reproduction, disability, animality.

IF 1.2 3区 社会学 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Sophie A Jones
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Abstract

In Sarah Hall's short story 'Mrs Fox', a man wakes to find his wife, Sophia, vomiting. When Sophia's nausea continues, he imagines her wasting from a rare cancer; instead, she mutates into a fox and, after a brief captivity at their home, leaves him for the woods, only to reappear months later with a litter he claims as his progeny. Sophia's sickness is belatedly revealed as nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), and her metamorphosis from human into fox seems to have been triggered by conception. NVP, or 'morning sickness' as it is colloquially known, tends to appear in culture as plot reveal or punchline but rarely as experience. This narrative marginalisation parallels the condition's medical status. In its most severe form, hyperemesis gravidarum, NVP can lead to malnutrition and other serious health complications. However, the condition often goes untreated, a situation that has been linked to cultural fears of congenital disability in the wake of thalidomide. Long assumed to derive from the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, NVP is the subject of new genetic research that may hold the potential for new therapeutic interventions. Yet this research may also reinforce the theory that NVP is an evolutionary mechanism designed to isolate pregnant people from pathogens during the first trimester. In this article, I draw on this context to read 'Mrs Fox' as an ironic allegory of the 'evolutionary safety net' explanation for NVP. Drawing on work at the intersection of disability justice and reproductive justice, I argue that the therapeutic futures opened up by new research into NVP spotlight the need for closer attention to narratives of gestational sickness.

妊娠病的叙事未来:繁殖、残疾、兽性。
在莎拉·霍尔的短篇小说《狐狸夫人》中,一个男人醒来时发现他的妻子索菲亚在呕吐。当索菲亚的恶心继续,他想象她从一种罕见的癌症消瘦;相反,她变异成了一只狐狸,在他们家被囚禁了一段时间后,离开他去了森林,几个月后才带着一窝他声称是自己后代的幼崽再次出现。索菲亚的病被揭示为怀孕的恶心和呕吐(NVP),她从人类变成狐狸的变形似乎是由怀孕引发的。NVP,俗称“晨吐”,在文化中往往作为情节揭示或笑点出现,但很少作为经历出现。这种叙事边缘化与这种疾病的医疗状况相对应。NVP最严重的形式是妊娠剧吐,可导致营养不良和其他严重的健康并发症。然而,这种情况往往得不到治疗,这种情况与沙利度胺后对先天性残疾的文化恐惧有关。长期以来,人们一直认为NVP源于妊娠激素人绒毛膜促性腺激素,它是新的基因研究的主题,可能会有新的治疗干预措施的潜力。然而,这项研究也可能加强了一种理论,即NVP是一种进化机制,旨在使孕妇在怀孕的前三个月与病原体隔离。在这篇文章中,我利用这一背景来解读《Fox夫人》,作为对NVP的“进化安全网”解释的讽刺寓言。根据残疾正义和生殖正义交叉领域的工作,我认为,对NVP的新研究开辟了治疗的未来,这表明需要更密切地关注妊娠疾病的叙述。
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来源期刊
Medical Humanities
Medical Humanities HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-
CiteScore
2.60
自引率
8.30%
发文量
59
期刊介绍: Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) is an international peer reviewed journal concerned with areas of current importance in occupational medicine and environmental health issues throughout the world. Original contributions include epidemiological, physiological and psychological studies of occupational and environmental health hazards as well as toxicological studies of materials posing human health risks. A CPD/CME series aims to help visitors in continuing their professional development. A World at Work series describes workplace hazards and protetctive measures in different workplaces worldwide. A correspondence section provides a forum for debate and notification of preliminary findings.
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