Surveillance, Biopower, and Unsettling Intimacies in Reproductive Tracking Platforms

Lindsay Balfour

doi:10.3138/topia-2023-0025

Surveillance, Biopower, and Unsettling Intimacies in Reproductive Tracking Platforms

Lindsay Balfour

Research Centre in Postdigital Cultures

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

33 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article turns to the relationship between bodies and selves and the phenomenon of feminine health technologies such as menstruation and ovulation trackers (known as “FemTech”) as a particularly fraught domain of the platform economy. The author explores three interrelated critiques of platform intimacy in FemTech. The author begins with a discussion of biometric surveillance, which takes on new resonance in a post–Roe v. Wade society, where news and social media have been flooded with calls for women to delete their reproductive apps. Next is a discussion of intimacy and estrangement in FemTech platforms, whereby the body no longer registers, through our own interpretation, how we “feel” but how the machine feels us. The author concludes by considering the material dangers of platform intimacy, particularly forms of tracking and violence that are potentialized through digital intimate platforms.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	58-75
Number of pages	18
Journal	TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies
Volume	48
Early online date	15 Apr 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3138/topia-2023-0025
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 15 Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

© University of Toronto Press, 2024.
Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

Keywords

intimacies
FemTech
menstruation
surveillance
violence

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.3138/topia-2023-0025

Balfour2024AAMAccepted author manuscript, 529 KB

Cite this

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abstract = "This article turns to the relationship between bodies and selves and the phenomenon of feminine health technologies such as menstruation and ovulation trackers (known as “FemTech”) as a particularly fraught domain of the platform economy. The author explores three interrelated critiques of platform intimacy in FemTech. The author begins with a discussion of biometric surveillance, which takes on new resonance in a post–Roe v. Wade society, where news and social media have been flooded with calls for women to delete their reproductive apps. Next is a discussion of intimacy and estrangement in FemTech platforms, whereby the body no longer registers, through our own interpretation, how we “feel” but how the machine feels us. The author concludes by considering the material dangers of platform intimacy, particularly forms of tracking and violence that are potentialized through digital intimate platforms.",

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Surveillance, Biopower, and Unsettling Intimacies in Reproductive Tracking Platforms

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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