Ringvorlesung: Reproduktive Gerechtigkeit / Reproductive Justice

At times when capitalist logics increasingly shape health care, queer and trans lives are under threat, so-called “traditional family values” and anti-gender movements are gaining ground, genocide is being live streamed, and far-right governments and movements are on the rise, reproductive justice and sexual autonomy remain central and ongoing feminist concerns.

The framework of Reproductive Justice, coined by Black feminists, is essential to feminist discussions of bodily autonomy, care, and social justice. Racism, social class, ableism, and cisheteronormativity are key dimensions of the Reproductive Justice framework. Moving beyond the binary of pro-choice and pro-life, it centers the experiences of marginalized groups and offers an intersectional and anti-essentialist approach to reproduction. It also draws attention to the ways in which reproductive control has historically been used against marginalized populations.

This lecture series approaches reproduction as a feminist concern. Questions of inclusion and exclusion will be central: Who is included in reproductive care, and who is left out? Who has the right to choose and make decisions about reproduction? How do governments interfere with reproductive rights, technologies, and decision making? And what might a feminist world of reproductive care look like?