Key texts and my theoretical framework:
This research paper will incorporate legal journals and quantitative research to ground qualitative research, stories, and reports of domestic violence and reproductive coercion. The law is always struggling, at best, and failing to adequately protect victims of intimate partner violence, and this extends to reproductive coercion and newly-criminalized sex crimes like stealthing. The legal journals and writings come from attorneys and law professors who see where the laws currently come up short, why it is hard to create new and effective legal protections, and predictions based on legal precedent and their experience in the field of family law.
My position as a researcher (past work, subjectivity, etc.):
My position as a researcher is personal and impassioned, with most of my background/experience coming from my current work in the nonprofit domestic violence field, along with internship and part-time work as an undergraduate student that included safe sex and relationships. Domestic violence statistics (and anything related to “data”) are relatively easy to find with a history of research that goes back many decades. Reproductive coercion writings, research, and other data are mostly qualitative and look at the factors that contribute to the existence and social acceptance of such violence.
What I have found in both my personal and professional life is that there is little to no institutional interest in better understanding, and improving the conditions of, the factors that go into the choices a person makes for their reproductive health.
This project matters to me and may matter to some others because:
The rhetoric around reproductive medical treatment, choice, autonomy, freedom, and justice is largely slogan-based and lacking in nuance. It is often seen as code for “abortion- would you do it?” or an attempt to sanitize the conversation and minimize the role that abortion has in it.
The moralizing of reproductive health decisions is an extension of misogyny, of course, but its larger purpose is as a tool to protect capitalism. The hyper feminized, 501(c)(3)-approved talking points about reproductive health and justice should serve as a starting point for those trying to genuinely end reproductive health-related violence and injustice.
Research question:
TBD/toying with exact wording
