La donna bolla e il feto bambino: problemi e discorsi pubblici sul corpo riproduttivo delle donne. Spunti sul dibattito italiano

Abstract

The bubble-woman and the fetus-child: problems and public discourses on the reproductive body of women. Ideas on the Italian debate At what point in history the concept of birth begins to affect the State? The research identifies the 18th Century as a time when the social role of women was considered both a public interest and progressively marginalized and confined to the private sector. This same moment can also be considered the beginning of the process of personification and, consequently, of the attribution of rights to the fetus. Moreover, two important points in the history of the last three centuries intertwines this process: namely: a) when science, in it progresses, allows man to ascertain the presence of “something” in the womb of the women before the physical act of birth; b) when the care for people, for each individual citizen, becomes a priority for the governments. Reconstructing part of the debate that has accompanied in the past and is still accompanying today the issue of the maternity’s choice in Italy (assisted reproduction and surrogacy included), the research highlights how the question of the presence of many “guests” with the right to speak in the intimate scene of the reproductive body continues to make the only true protagonists of this scene – the women – still invisible and mute.

Keywords

• fetus
• body
• italian debate