1987/01/01 by Rosalind Pollack Petchesky · 8 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Autobiographical and Biographical Writing #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Rhetoric and Communication Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/3177802
crossref issued 1987/01/01 · crossref published 1987/01/01 · crossref published-print 1987/01/01 · openalex publication_date 1987/01/01 · crossref created 2006/05/07 · crossref deposited 2018/05/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Antiabortionists in both the United States and Britain have long applied the principle that a picture of a dead fetus is worth a thousand words. Chaste silhouettes of the form, or voyeuristic-necrophilic photographs of its remains, litter the background of any abortion talk. This chapter explores the overlapping boundaries between media spectacle and clinical experience when pregnancy becomes a moving picture. It attempts to understand the cultural meanings and impact of like those in The Silent Scream. The chapter examines the effect of routine ultrasound imaging of the fetus not only on the larger cultural climate of reproductive politics but also on the experience and consciousness of pregnant women. Finally, it considers some implications of fetal images for feminist theory and practice. Fetal imagery epitomizes the distortion inherent in all photographic images: their tendency to slice up reality into tiny bits wrenched out of real space and time.