The Other Machine: Discourse and Reproductive Technologies by Dion Farquhar

Review by: Charis Cussins

Isis, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Jun., 1998), pp. 370-371
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society
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370

BOOKREVIEWS-ISIS,89: 2 (1998)

material deprivationand the hardeninggrip of

the suppressors.The Norwegianmerchantnavy,
however, a backbone of the national economy,
went into Allied service and suffered great
losses.
During the war most Norwegians had their
hands full just to keep life going. On the ideological level, the Germansand their Norwegian
sympathizersskillfully played on some prewar
sentimentspresentin variouspartsof Norwegian
society, hailing a sort of romanticnationalism.
An active resistance emerged, but many people
who were morally against the Germantakeover
had few practicaloptions. They had to adjustto
the situation that had been forced upon them.
There were, however, also some Nazi fanatics,
as well as political opportunistswho exploited
Germanand local Nazi contacts to pursue personal means.
As time went on, the ugly face of the Nazi
regime gradually came to light. Jews were arrested and deported.Retaliations,terrorand torture, execution of hostages, and other cruelties
turnedthe tide of public sentiment.The Nazi ideology was exposed as differentfrom what many
Norwegians had thought it to be. The underground resistance movement rapidly gained in
importance.More Norwegianscommittedthemselves to political and militaryresistance,though
many had done so from the very first day. Several centralpositions in the resistancemovement
were held by physicians; this book is about an
importantgroup of these doctors.
The Norwegian physicians in general were
among those citizens who had the task of keeping society runningduringthe war. Maintaining
public health was in the interest of the Norwegian populationitself, of course, but it was also
in the interestof the Germanoccupiers.Most of
the practicingphysicians and the hospital doctors therefore found themselves in an increasingly difficult and delicate situation,where loyalty was constantlyan issue.
Maynard Cohen's interviewees were dedicated patriotsand prominentmembersof the resistance. They worked for the liberationof Norway, also preparingfor the reconstructionand
reorganizationof the country after the anticipatedGermandefeat. (Whenthe surrenderof the
Third Reich was broadcaston 7 May 1945, between three and four hundredthousandwell-organized, well-equipped, and well-trained German troops were still deployed throughout
Norway; thus "FestungNorwegen" was one of
the last German strongholds.How the Norwegians were to reclaim their country peacefully

became an issue of paramountimportance,as the

alternativepresenteda frighteningprospect.)
Many of Cohen's informantslater held vital
positions in Norwegian society, in academic
medicine, andin the medical services.They were
a quite special group.Theirstoriesareinteresting
and provide new information, even to readers
who are well acquaintedwith wartimehistoryor who have known some of the informantspersonally. The interview materialhas lasting historical value, for it sheds new light on existing
knowledge.
But although the book is vividly written and
presents itself as exciting reading, Cohen is not
always as successful as one could wish in introducing the interviewmaterialinto its propercontext. Many historical events are described primarily in relation to the actions of the
interviewees. Although their actions often were
remarkable, Cohen's choice of narrative approachmay to a certaindegree blur the reader's
perspective. The general view, therefore, will
perhapsappearoversimplified,presentedalmost
exclusively in the light of the difficult situation
faced by many Norwegians before, during, and
after the Second World War.
0IVIND LARSEN

Dion Farquhar. The OtherMachine:Discourse

and ReproductiveTechnologies.(ThinkingGender.)xii + 258 pp., bibl., index. New York/London: Routledge, 1996. $59.95 (cloth); $17.95
(paper).
The Other Machine: Discourse and Reproductive Technologiesis a well-writtenand readable
book. It is a study of what Dion Farquharcalls
"the two principaldiscursive representationsof
science in general, and ARTs [assisted reproductive technologies] in particular:liberal and
fundamentalistdiscourse" (p. 2). In this statement lies the book's greatestcontribution-and
also what I see as its limitation.
Assisted reproductivetechnologies, as scholars in the field have often noted, tend to be portrayed in print media in two conflicting ways.
On the one hand, popularjournalisticphotos of
miracle babies, delighted parents, and "lab father" white-coated doctors fit well with judiciously favorablevaluationsfound in the majority of scientific writings. From this positive
perspective, the possibility of producing testtube babies and the like increases reproductive
choice, is pro-family,signifies technologicaland
scientific progress, and has the potential to free
women in particularfrom the despairof infertil-

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BOOKREVIEWS-ISIS,89: 2 (1998)
ity. On the other hand, certain groups have denounced reproductivetechnologies in ways that
recall the antimodemistand romantictraditions
(what Farquharrefers to as "secularfundamentalism"). Among the most vocal critics have
been the Catholic Churchand the radical feminists. (For canonical statements of these positions, see the document issued in 1987 by the
CatholicChurch'sCongregationfor the Doctrine
of the Faith, Instructionon Respectfor Human
Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation, reprintedin EdmundD. Pellegrino, John
Collins Harvey, and John P. Langan, eds., Gift
of Life: Catholic Scholars Respond to the Vatican Instruction[Washington,D.C.: Georgetown
University Press, 1990], pp. 1-41; and "Resolution from the FINRRAGEConference,July 38, 1985, Vallinge, Sweden,"in PatriciaSpallone
and DeborahLynn Steinberg,eds., Made to Order: The Myth of Reproductive and Genetic
Progress [New York: Pergamon Press, 1987],
pp. 211-212.) The Catholic Churchrejects the
reproductivetechnologies on the grounds that
they alienate humans from their own reproduction. The feminist denunciationpoints to the objectificationof women duringtreatment,the poor
success rates of most procedures,the technological imperativethat compels women to seek expensive treatmentsto overcome infertility, differential access to treatment depending on a
woman's class, race, and country of residence,
and the fact that reproductivetechnologies typically reinforce the idea of the heterosexualnuclear family as the desired norm. Farquharcaptures these "sides" of the cultural debate over
reproductivetechnologies with clarity and subtlety.
Farquhar,however, does more than simply
present the "pro"and "con"sides of these controversial technologies. Labeling the pro discourses "liberal"and the con discourses "fundamentalist,"she sets the oppositionbetweenthe
two at the heart of her book, then devotes individual chapters to representativewritings from
both perspectives, discussing in-vitro fertilization, surrogatemotherhood,and prenataldiagnostic technologies. Farquharsuccessfully illustrates that writings on assisted reproductive
technologies exist in an agonisticdiscursivefield
that replicates a patternof debate widespreadin
Western liberal democracies. Conversely, she
shows that studying the special case of reproductive technologies can illuminate the general
tendency toward liberal/fundamentalistpolarization of discursive fields. This double claim is
what makes me confidentthat the book will be

371

of general interest to historiansof science; it is

also what makes it a good text to teach.
In the first chaptersof her book Farquharargues that neitherliberal nor fundamentalistdiscourses can capture the intricacies, ambivalences, and multiple meanings of the new
reproductivetechnologies. In her final chapter
she explores the idea of "(m)otherdiscourses,"
discourses that would transcendthe limitations
of both valorizingprogressivistliberaldiscourse
and victimizing, Luddite fundamentalist discourse. Because she has restricted her data to
what she calls "writtentextual productions"(p.
14; emphasisin the original),Farquharis unable
to drawon the materialand experientialcultures
of reproductivetechnologies. But most of the
people who are actually involved with these
technologies do have "(m)otherdiscourses" as
their mother tongue, as, depending on circumstances, their attitudes are sometimes positive,
sometimes negative. The discourses Farquhar
examines are relatively stable end-productsof
many elements. Had she consideredthe practice
and materialculture of these technologies, and
the ways in which patients and practitionersintegratethese technologies with otherdemandsin
their lives, she might have been able to understand both the contingency of-and the interconnections between-the fundamentaland liberal discoursesand the recalcitranceand solidity
of these narratives.
CHARISCUSSINS

Desley Deacon. Elsie Clews Parsons: Inventing

Modern Life. (Women in Cultureand Society.)
xviii + 520 pp., frontis., bibl., index. Chicago/
London: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
$29.95.
Bom into the New York elite in 1874, independent-mindedElsie Clews earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbiain 1899, enteredinto an
"experimental"marriagewith Republicanpolitician HerbertParsons in 1900, and then taught
at Barnard College and did settlement house
work while producing six children, of whom
four survived.Between 1905 and 1916 she wrote
five popular books on sex roles, morality, and
the family, using bits of ethnographicdata to
challenge contemporaryAmerican beliefs and
practices, particularlywith regard to women's
roles. What she sought was rationalityin social
relationshipsandthe freedomfor each individual
to develop her or his potential. She argued for
trial marriage,divorce by mutual consent, and
reliable contraception,ideas so controversialat

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