作者 ｜
吳燕秋(中央研究院人社中心)
摘要 ｜
本研究擬從婦女的驗孕觀、驗孕技術之發展引進與應用，及技術背後的性別意涵等方面入手，說明戰後婦女如何成為積極的驗孕者，以及家用驗孕劑引進台灣後呈現的性別政治。本文發現戰後婦女的教育程度、生育自主性、產檢意識和消費能力均提升，並與醫普知識的傳播及產檢、驗孕技術之改善等因素交互作用，促成了驗孕觀的改變。戰後到1990年代晚期，婦女多從身體反應確認懷孕。雖然仍有人基於不同理由去醫院診所驗孕，但對打算正常生產、無特殊需求的婦女，驗孕是不必要的選項與家庭支出。1990年代晚期，婦女教育程度提升，益加仰賴衛教書籍和醫學權威，消費能力也提高，對於驗孕的態度已與先前不同。1 0 年代晚期，家用驗孕劑市場日益興盛，其普及使婦女提早進入醫療體系，加速生產的醫療化。在醫師叮嚀和媒體宣傳下，重複檢驗及驗後找醫師確認成為婦女驗孕的金科玉律。檢驗結果中「可見」「客觀」的陽性標記與胚胎影像，成為最具說服力的懷孕依據。過早驗孕也使婦女更早陷入懷孕的焦慮與流產的傷感中。方便婦女使用的家用驗孕劑，並未挑戰傳統性別規範下的使用腳本。社會認可的驗孕者仍以符合婚姻規範、為求傳宗接代的婦女為主，未婚、未成年女性則易被貼上性污名。
關鍵字 ｜
驗孕、家用驗孕劑、產檢、月經規則術、墮胎
Title ｜
Seeing is Believing: A History of Pregnancy Testing in Taiwan (1945-1990s)
Author ｜
Yan-Chiou Wu(Program of Hygiene in Asian Societies Research Center for Humanities and Social Science, Academia Sinica)
Abstract ｜
This research explores how women became active users of pregnancy tests in Taiwan from 1945 to the 1990s. Women’s attitudes toward pregnancy testing were influenced and changed by many factors, including education, reproductive rights, consumption capacity, popular medical knowledge, and the technologies of prenatal checking and pregnancy testing. In the early period after WWII, most women judged for themselves whether they were pregnant based on bodily changes, without any extra testing. In the late 1 0s, because of their higher educational level and greater consumption capacity, women trusted medical authorities and popular medical books more, and were willing to spend more money on prenatal care. Moreover, the ease and convenience of pregnancy tests and the need for prenatal checkups pushed women to take tests in order to confirm pregnancy early. Since the late 1990s, the market for home pregnancy tests has thrived, and such testing has gotten women into hospitals earlier than ever before. However, women who took tests too early became aware of miscarriages, which often happen early in pregnancy, and were saddened at the pregnancy loss even when it occurred earlier than bodily changes. That is, without the pregnancy tests, they would not have been aware of those pregnancies, and so, would not have been saddened by their termination. Due to not trusting women’s ability to administer the pregnancy test, doctors and the media persuaded women to take tests repeatedly, which resulted in women overspending on pregnancy tests, or visiting doctors afterwards. Instead of pregnancy tests, doctors used screening technologies to see inside the female body, to prove the existence of the fetus convincingly. ‘Seeing is believing’ became the golden rule for women, and thus women’s perception of their bodies lost its former priority role in creating awareness of their pregnancy.
Keywords ｜
pregnancy testing, home pregnancy test, prenatal checkup,menstrual regulation, abortion