Rethinking ‘Risk’ in Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy: the Value of the Reproductive Justice Framework
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Date
2019-12
Open Access Location
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Rights
Abstract
Using the case of Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy in Aotearoa (New Zealand), this article interrogates the dominant risk discourse in sexual and reproductive health policy. It highlights the tensions between risk discourse and broader equity goals, which are increasingly seen as significant within sexual and reproductive health. Working within a poststructuralist perspective,discursive methodology is used to explore the positioning of youth in ten (10) policy documents. The analysis shows how the risk discourse, along with a developmental discourse, creates three common youth subject positions: youth as at risk and vulnerable, as not-yet citizens, and as especially vulnerable relative to other young people. It demonstrates how these positions may be associated with ‘new’ or covert forms of morality and stigmatisation. Detailing the implications for ethnic minorities in particular, it adds to prior analyses of gender- and class-based inequities. The Sexual and Reproductive Justice framework, which encompasses notions of rights and justice, is discussed as an alternative to risk-based policy development that can attend to sexual and reproductive health inequities.
Description
Pre-print version
Keywords
Risk, Sexual and reproductive health policy, Youth, Social inequities, Sexual and reproductive justice
Citation
SEXUALITY RESEARCH AND SOCIAL POLICY, 2019, 16 (4), pp. 434 - 445