Comments on: Why is there no official EC fatwa in Egypt? http://savageminds.org/2008/12/15/why-is-there-no-official-ec-fatwa-in-egypt/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Fri, 25 May 2012 22:34:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/12/15/why-is-there-no-official-ec-fatwa-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-549283 L.L. Wynn Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:41:15 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1426#comment-549283 Hey Kathleen, thanks! Yes, globalization and women's reproductive choice, pathologization of pregnancy, absolutely. The pathologization of pregnancy in particular comes from economic models of public health costs: being pregnant is always associated with more morbidity than not being pregnant, and that costs money. But that model is tied to particular imaginations of economic systems. On pathologization of pregnancy and how that comes into conflict with local meanings of pregnancy, and on the "population problem" in general, I'm sure you've seen Kamran Asdar Ali's excellent book, Planning the Family in Egypt. On the "emergency" in emergency contraception: there's an interesting history to that name. For a while, there were some pharmaceutical companies that tried to develop and market in several Asian countries a postcoital hormonal contraceptive to be used by women who were part of the migrant labor economy -- either they or their husbands were migrant laborers, so they saw their partners rarely (and sometimes unexpectedly) and didn't want to take a daily contraceptive pill. The effort fizzled out when it became apparent that it just wasn't very effective. Using high doses of hormones after sex does reduce the risk of pregnancy significantly, but it's still one of the least effective contraceptives you can use. So the "emergency" was borne out of activist efforts to get people to think about it as a last choice contraceptive, not one that should be relied on even irregularly as a first-choice contraceptive (also b/c it does nothing to prevent disease transmission). For a while, activists were marketing it as the "morning after pill," but then they decided to shift to calling it emergency contraception, for 2 reasons: 1) as mifepristone (RU486) started to become known, they wanted to distinguish it from an abortion pill and emphasize that it was a contraceptive (meanwhile, anti-EC activists insist on calling it the "morning after pill" for this very reason, because they contest its status as a contraceptive), and 2) activists worried that the "morning after" part was giving people the wrong idea: that it should be used a day after sex, when in fact it can be used up to 5 days after sex, but the sooner it is taken after sex, the more effective it is. Still, we know just from studying Google searches that "morning after pill" is much more widely known than the term "emergency contraception." Hey Kathleen, thanks! Yes, globalization and women’s reproductive choice, pathologization of pregnancy, absolutely. The pathologization of pregnancy in particular comes from economic models of public health costs: being pregnant is always associated with more morbidity than not being pregnant, and that costs money. But that model is tied to particular imaginations of economic systems. On pathologization of pregnancy and how that comes into conflict with local meanings of pregnancy, and on the “population problem” in general, I’m sure you’ve seen Kamran Asdar Ali’s excellent book, Planning the Family in Egypt.

On the “emergency” in emergency contraception: there’s an interesting history to that name. For a while, there were some pharmaceutical companies that tried to develop and market in several Asian countries a postcoital hormonal contraceptive to be used by women who were part of the migrant labor economy — either they or their husbands were migrant laborers, so they saw their partners rarely (and sometimes unexpectedly) and didn’t want to take a daily contraceptive pill. The effort fizzled out when it became apparent that it just wasn’t very effective. Using high doses of hormones after sex does reduce the risk of pregnancy significantly, but it’s still one of the least effective contraceptives you can use. So the “emergency” was borne out of activist efforts to get people to think about it as a last choice contraceptive, not one that should be relied on even irregularly as a first-choice contraceptive (also b/c it does nothing to prevent disease transmission).

For a while, activists were marketing it as the “morning after pill,” but then they decided to shift to calling it emergency contraception, for 2 reasons: 1) as mifepristone (RU486) started to become known, they wanted to distinguish it from an abortion pill and emphasize that it was a contraceptive (meanwhile, anti-EC activists insist on calling it the “morning after pill” for this very reason, because they contest its status as a contraceptive), and 2) activists worried that the “morning after” part was giving people the wrong idea: that it should be used a day after sex, when in fact it can be used up to 5 days after sex, but the sooner it is taken after sex, the more effective it is. Still, we know just from studying Google searches that “morning after pill” is much more widely known than the term “emergency contraception.”

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]]> By: Kathleen http://savageminds.org/2008/12/15/why-is-there-no-official-ec-fatwa-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-548270 Kathleen Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:43:23 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1426#comment-548270 I am really excited by this research! As a future medical anthropologist hoping to study in Egypt this sounds so intriguing. One aspect I'm sure you've looked into but I thought I'd mention is the effect of globalization on women's reproductive choices. This also brings in the pathologization of pregnancy in the West and how those views influence how we approach medical “problems” elsewhere in the globe. The fact that we term Plan B “emergency contraception” just enforces the idea that pregnancy is a condition that needs to be treated instead of a natural part of life. The visibility and stigmatization of women who use EC in America would be interesting to compare to the reactions in Egypt. The population problem in Egypt also should play a part in contraceptive use and abortions. In a country whose population has doubled in twenty years sparks the debate of the government encouraging family planning to reduce poverty and overcrowding. I can’t wait to read more! I am really excited by this research! As a future medical anthropologist hoping to study in Egypt this sounds so intriguing. One aspect I’m sure you’ve looked into but I thought I’d mention is the effect of globalization on women’s reproductive choices. This also brings in the pathologization of pregnancy in the West and how those views influence how we approach medical “problems” elsewhere in the globe. The fact that we term Plan B “emergency contraception” just enforces the idea that pregnancy is a condition that needs to be treated instead of a natural part of life. The visibility and stigmatization of women who use EC in America would be interesting to compare to the reactions in Egypt.

The population problem in Egypt also should play a part in contraceptive use and abortions. In a country whose population has doubled in twenty years sparks the debate of the government encouraging family planning to reduce poverty and overcrowding.
I can’t wait to read more!

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]]> By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/12/15/why-is-there-no-official-ec-fatwa-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-546673 L.L. Wynn Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:00:51 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1426#comment-546673 Thanks, Cobalt. Yes, the comparison between Egypt and the US on this matter is interesting because most Westerners' assumption is that Egypt would be much more conservative when it comes to women's reproductive rights. But in fact, it's the U.S. that's more conservative when it comes to EC, partly because of different ideas about when life begins, and partly because the U.S. regulatory system is much stricter. We've encountered NGOs where they assume that they shouldn't try to introduce ECPs in the Arab world because they won't be locally acceptable. Why not? Because, they reason, if they're controversial in places like the US and Catholic-dominated countries in South America, then they'll be even more controversial in the Middle East. But the assumption doesn't hold, because different places are conservative in different ways. Thanks, Cobalt. Yes, the comparison between Egypt and the US on this matter is interesting because most Westerners’ assumption is that Egypt would be much more conservative when it comes to women’s reproductive rights. But in fact, it’s the U.S. that’s more conservative when it comes to EC, partly because of different ideas about when life begins, and partly because the U.S. regulatory system is much stricter. We’ve encountered NGOs where they assume that they shouldn’t try to introduce ECPs in the Arab world because they won’t be locally acceptable. Why not? Because, they reason, if they’re controversial in places like the US and Catholic-dominated countries in South America, then they’ll be even more controversial in the Middle East. But the assumption doesn’t hold, because different places are conservative in different ways.

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]]> By: Cobalt http://savageminds.org/2008/12/15/why-is-there-no-official-ec-fatwa-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-546659 Cobalt Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:26:54 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1426#comment-546659 This was a very interesting entry, and an interesting choice to contrast with America, not one most people I know think to use. Definite food for thought here. Thanks! This was a very interesting entry, and an interesting choice to contrast with America, not one most people I know think to use.

Definite food for thought here. Thanks!

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