Synnytinelinten poliittinen talous: Biologisen uusintamisen kustannuksista poliittisen talouden vaginaalisilla rajapinnoilla

Abstract

Drawing on feminist political economy literature and health economics research on the costs of incontinence, this article analyses the political economy of the female re­productive organs at the vaginal boundaries of the economy. Focusing on postpartum incontinence, the article analyzes the depletion through biological reproduction (DBR), and its embodied economic costs for the individual and the public economy. The biolo­gical reproduction of the economy depends on vaginas, and thus the economy always has its biological, vaginal boundaries. What happens at these boundaries is a political issue. Vaginas are not just instruments of economic reproduction, however. Their well­being and ill­being are intimately linked not only to the well­being of persons who have vaginas, but also to the sustainability of public finances. It is politically and economically important to ask: How are the vaginal boundaries of the economy cared for—on what terms and at whose expense? The article seeks to direct political economy analyses to­ward such questions, while looking at how postpartum incontinence shapes the political economies of care in the Finnish context.