An Algorithm for Ovulation

Millions of women around the world control their fertility using hormonal methods, which include the oral contraceptive pill, the patch, the implant, injections and certain types of interuterine devices. Some women use these devices to prevent pregnancy; some to control the menstrual cycle. Now a new mobile application offers a unique method of achieving both ends, using algorithms instead of hormones.

This new application, called “Natural Cycles”, simply requires the user to measure her basal temperature every morning, which the app will use to calculate whether that day is a “green day” (when unprotected sex will not result in pregnancy), or a “red day” (when unprotected sex is to be avoided). Temperature is monitored because progesterone levels, which fluctuate throughout the website, affect the body’s basal temperature.

Natural Cycles is an interesting phenomenon, because it markets the idea of greater understanding of one’s own body and one’s menstrual cycle, rather than the pursuit of “control” over it. Many of the testimonials featured on its website mentioned the idea of letting the body be in a “natural state”, as opposed to altering the menstrual cycle with hormones. “Healthy” was a term that frequently appeared, as several users felt that gaining a better insight into their “natural” menstrual cycle meant that they could use it as an indicator of good overall health.

A word cloud of Natural Cycles’ testimonials (www.naturalcycles.com)

The use of the term “natural” by the makers of the application may seem like an odd choice, given that its use requires constant access to a smartphone device. In this way, the smartphone is treated as an extension of the body and the reproductive system, monitoring and enabling its negotiation. Yet this is far from a novel phenomenon; in fact, Natural Cycles is merely following a growing trend in using digital technologies to monitor the body. MyFitnessPal, an app that allows users to track their food intake, exercise habits and weight, is 12 years old and is used by millions of people. Pedometers are even older, although a more recent development in step-tracking is the incorporation of pedometer data into smartphone applications, which integrate it with other datasets to provide a detailed picture of the user’s health and fitness status.

As an anthropologist, the rise of self-monitoring technologies interests me because of the ways in which they shape users’ understandings of the body. Natural Cycles treats the body as a carefully balanced system that is to be understood, but not tampered with. MyFitnessPal and other dieting or fitness apps focus upon a desired body not yet in existence – they are future-oriented apps as opposed to the present-oriented Natural Cycles app. Furthermore, the act of self-monitoring, as discussed by Deborah Lupton (2014), relates to neoliberalism’s emphasis on the individual’s (rather than the state’s) responsibility for one’s own health, while situating such acts within a capitalist, information-driven economy in which data is a commercial resource.

References:

Lupton, D. (2014). Self-Tracking Modes: Reflexive Self-Monitoring and Data Practices. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2483549 orhttp://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2483549

Myfitnesspal.com. (2017). Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com. [online] Available at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].

Naturalcycles.com. (2017). Natural Cycles. [online] Available at: https://www.naturalcycles.com [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].

Human Cloning on TV

In 2013, a daring new sci-fri thriller series premiered in Canada and the United States. Four years and four seasons later, Orphan Black has attracted a global following and continues to fascinate audiences with its exploration of the ethical implications of human cloning. The series focuses on a young woman named Sarah Manning, who discovers that she is one of several clones bred in an illegal medical experiment. As she finds and bonds with her sister clones, Sarah finds herself becoming further and further embedded within a network of biotech corporations, genetics researchers, religious fanatics and even the military – all of whom have a claim on the clones as artificial creations. In the face of multiple threats, the sisters have to fight for the recognition of their personhood.

While Orphan Black is of course a work of fiction, the questions that the series raises touch upon issues relevant to current debates within the biosciences. For example, in one episode the sisters find out that their genome has a code encrypted within it that reads: “this organism and derivative genetic material is restricted intellectual property” (1). The horror that the clones experience at the revelation that they have been patented links to wider discourses about the commercialisation and marketing of human biology. In the famous case of Henrietta Lacks, the progenitor of one of the most important cell lines in medical research, cells were taken without Lacks’ knowledge and consent, and were used in medical research and for commercial purposes (2). As genetic technologies continue to progress, to what extent will biotech companies be able to patent genetic material used in therapies?

Another shocking episode that occurs in Orphan Black shows one of the clones having her eggs harvested and fertilised without her knowledge or consent. This is an extreme scenario, but thematically connects to work by anthropologists like Kalindi Vora, who conducted fieldwork in a surrogacy clinic in India (3). Vora examined how women’s bodies were potentialised and commodified, and their wombs conceptually separated from their persons. Although the surrogate mothers received large sums of money for undergoing gestational surrogacy, the “renting out” of their wombs left them with little choice over having multiple pregnancies or opting for an open surrogacy.

In the light of these examples, the questions I have are: who does genetic material belong to? What are the ethical implications of renting out body parts, especially in a system of economic inequality as described in the Indian example?

I love Orphan Black because it is entertaining and thrilling, but I also appreciate the way in which it brings ethical discussions about biotechnology and genetics into the realm of popular culture. It portrays an exaggerated world, but presents audiences with potential consequences of unchecked experimentation and the commercialisation of bodies. This is not a world that is entirely removed from our own; in fact, in some ways we are already living in it.

Sources:

1. “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”. Orphan Black. Temple Street Productions. 1 June 2013.
2. Grady, Denise (2010-02-01). “A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn’t Really a Gift”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
3. Vora, K. (2013). Potential, risk, and return in transnational Indian gestational surrogacy. Current Anthropology, 54(S7), S97-S106.

“Everyone but you has done it”: Cosmetic surgery in South Korea

In 2015, there were 1,156,234 cosmetic procedures carried out in South Korea. Per capita, South Koreans have more cosmetic surgery than any other nation.

The nation’s taste for cosmetic surgery has been linked with a idealization of Western ideas of beauty, a highly competitive jobs market, and a certain cultural attitudes surrounding femaleness and femininity.The most popular form of surgery is eyelid surgery, which arguably creates a more “Western”-looking eye, and fits the popular argument that Caucasian features are highly sought after. The overwhelming tendency for cosmetic surgery patients to be female also seems to support the notion that patriarchal values are the driving force behind this trend.

However, not everyone agrees that cosmetic surgery in South Korea wholly operates within  patriarchal and Western systems of beauty . An interesting article by Holliday and Elfving-Hwang (2012) argues that the so-called “Western” ideal of beauty is just as unattainable for Westerners as it is for non-Westerners. In this globalized, media-saturated world, accepted notions of beauty around the world embody ideals originating from both Western and non-Western cultures. What’s more; Korean beauty standards have been affected by ideas surrounding national identity and traditional aesthetics, not just Euro-American trends. This is evidenced in discourses around successful surgeries, which give a “natural” Korean appearance – as opposed to unsuccessful surgeries, which produce unnaturally “Western” features. Furthermore, Holliday and Elfving-Hwang argue that focusing entirely on patriarchal values fails to account for the many men who also undergo cosmetic surgery.

Ideals surrounding the forms of surgery that are performed are certainly affected by many socio-historical influences, and it is difficult to pin-point why and how certain surgical trends have arisen. However, when considering why so many South Koreans undergo surgery, it is certainly interesting to examine the highly competitive jobs market. Employment already features in discussions around the issue of suicide in South Korea, but it is not difficult to imagine that fierce competition for desirable jobs could also affect the extent to which young people will “improve” their appearance in order to have a fighting chance. Photos are included in CVs, so one’s external appearance is one of the first things that a prospective employer will see. Advertisements emphasise this sense of competition: posters on commuter trains advertising cosmetic clinics nag the viewer, “everyone but you has done it”. There is a great deal of pressure on South Koreans to keep up with the beautiful and well-qualified, who will inevitably be getting the jobs.

This is an interesting documentary that shows the dark side to cosmetic surgery:

Sources:

Holliday, R., & Elfving-Hwang, J. (2012). Gender, globalization and aesthetic surgery in South Korea. Body & Society, 18(2), 58-81.
International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. (2015). Retrieved February 07, 2017, from https://www.isaps.org/news/isaps-global-statistics

Japan Times (2013). Plastic surgery craze takes dangerous turn. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/28/asia-pacific/science-health-asia-pacific/plastic-surgery-craze-takes-dangerous-turn/

“The Vampire Project”

What is a population?
What is meant by race?
Who benefits from medical research?

Are populations really so genetically discrete?

All of these thought-provoking questions are raised when discussing the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) – a study conducted by Stanford University scientists aiming to “understand genetic diversity in human populations”. The researchers analysed the genomic DNA of over 1000 people, representing 51 different populations from across the globe.Although named similarly, the HGDP is separate from the Human Genome Project, and has been far more controversial since its launch in the early 1990s.

In 1993, the World Council of Indigenous People’s criticised the HGDP, calling it “the Vampire Project”, and it has been deeply unpopular with several indigenous groups around the world. With apparently noble objectives such as gaining a better understanding of pathology, and developing new treatments for disease, what could be so terrible about the HGDP?

One of the Project’s practical drawbacks is its focus on different “populations”. The researchers used culturally defined groups as their population categories, but the reality is that often there is much more inter-mixture between populations than is acknowledged by group members. It is extremely difficult to use DNA data to determine the boundaries of a population unambiguously, which raises the question: why focus on populations at all?

The other stance that critics of the HGDP take, is that it exploits indigenous people for commercial gain. Following a narrative that seems to have continued seamlessly from the colonial era, indigenous groups are not being treated as full human beings with their own agency. Instead, some groups complained that they were being treated like “living fossils”, from which to collect samples out of curiosity or conservation. Researchers fully admitted that they did not always obtain full consent for sample collection – claiming that “the tribal peoples involved would not understand DNA research, so there was no use providing explanations”.

The “Vampire Project” has collected its DNA from participants – all 1043 of them. Will those same individuals, or the groups that they belong to, benefit from the medical developments that so require their blood samples? Or will it be the same story that so often plays out when Western biomedicine and indigenous peoples collide – that the former takes and the latter only gives? It remains to be seen.

Explore this matter further: 

A video interview with Dr. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza

“Patenting Indigenous DNA” video

‘The Scientist’ article about HGDP

Sources:

Dodson, M., & Williamson, R. (1999). Indigenous peoples and the morality of the Human Genome Diversity Project. Journal of Medical Ethics, 25(2), 204-208.

Human Genome Diversity Project. (2007). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.hagsc.org/hgdp/

Reardon, J. (2001). The human genome diversity project a case study in coproduction. Social studies of science, 31(3), 357-388.