Feminism, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Postmodernism: Politics, Theory and Me

Abstract

Is postmodernism debilitating for feminists approaching science? Is the actor-network approach, which rejects dualisms and universalism, politically impotent? Or is such a critique epistemologically conservative? I explore these questions by drawing on empirical research examining the UK Cervical Screening Programme (CSP). Specifically, I attempt to answer the question of whether or not women should participate in the CSP and undertake a cervical smear test. Because the CSP is constantly changing as participants' identities multiply in negotiation, I propose that there is no stable point from which a single decision about lay participation can be made, however politically useful it may be to do so. I demonstrate my discomfort with talking about whether women should or should not participate. Given the dynamic nature of the Programme, a `should' discourse is inappropriate, and can also be guilt-inducing and oppressive to women. My preference is for a discourse which emphasizes that women could participate.