L. L. Wynn & Angel M. Foster 
Abortion Pills, Test Tube Babies, and Sex Toys 
Emerging Sexual and Reproductive Technologies in the Middle East and North Africa

From Viagra to in vitro fertilization, new technologies are rapidly changing the global face of reproductive health. They are far from neutral: religious, cultural, social, and legal contexts condition their global transfer. The way a society interprets and adopts (or rejects) a new technology reveals a great deal about the relationship between bodies and the body politic. Reproductive health technologies are often particularly controversial because of their potential to reconfigure kinship relationships, sexual mores, gender roles, and the way life is conceptualized. This collection of original ethnographic research spans the region from Morocco and Tunisia to Israel and Iran and covers a wide range of technologies, including emergency contraception, medication abortion, gamete donation, hymenoplasty, erectile dysfunction, and gender transformation.






Table of Contents




Acknowledgments



Introduction |
Setting the Context: Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Medical Technologies in the Middle East and North Africa

Angel M. Foster and L. L. Wynn



Part I |
Preventing and Terminating Pregnancy




Is There an Islamic IUD? Exploring the Acceptability of a Hormone-Releasing Intrauterine Device in Egypt

Ahmed Ragaa A. Ragab




Introducing Emergency Contraception in Morocco: A Slow Start after a Long Journey

Elena Chopyak




Mifepristone in Tunisia: A Model for Expanding Access to Medication Abortion

Angel M. Foster




Navigating Barriers to Abortion Access: Misoprostol in the West Bank

Francoise Daoud and Angel M. Foster



Part II |
Achieving Pregnancy and Parenthood




‚Worse comes to worst, I have a safety net‘: Fertility Preservation among Young, Single, Jewish Breast Cancer Patients in Israel

Daphna Birenbaum-Carmeli, Efrat Dagan, and Suzi Modiano Gattegno




The ‚ART‘ of Making Babies Using In Vitro Fertilization: Assisted Reproduction Technologies in the United Arab Emirates

Shirin Karsan




Wanted Babies, Excess Fetuses: The Middle East’s In Vitro Fertilization, High-Order Multiple Pregnancy, Fetal Reduction Nexus

Marcia C. Inhorn




Birthing Bodies, Pregnant Selves: Gestational Surrogates, Intended Mothers, and Distributed Maternity in Israel

Elly Teman




C-Sections as a Nefarious Plot: The Politics of Pronatalism in Turkey

Katrina Mac Farlane



Part III |
Engaging Sex and Sexuality




HPV Vaccine Uptake in Lebanon: A Vicious Cycle of Misinformation, Stigma, and Prohibitive Costs

Faysal El-Kak




Hymenoplasty in Contemporary Iran: Liminality and the Embodiment of Contested Discourses

Azal Ahmadi




‚Viagra Soup‘: Consumer Fantasies and Masculinity in Portrayals of Erectile Dysfunction Drugs in Cairo, Egypt

L. L. Wynn




Sex Toys and the Politics of Pleasure in Morocco

Jessica Marie Newman




Narratives of Gender Transformation Practices for Transgender Women in Diyarbakir, Turkey

M. A. Sanders



Conclusion |
Individual, Community, Religion, State: Technology at the Intersection

Donna Lee Bowen




Acronyms and Abbreviations




Glossary of Foreign Terms




Bibliography




Contributors




Index

Über den Autor

Angel M. Foster holds an endowed chair of women’s health research at the University of Ottawa. She is a cofounder of Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants.