WOMB UNDER WATCH: SURVEILLANCE, REPRODUCTIVE CONTROL, AND CHEMICAL WOMANHOOD IN FAY WELDON’S PUFFBALL
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Abstract
This article provides a feminist, biopolitical interpretation of Fay Weldon's Puffball (1980), examining how the novel questions the medical, emotional and ideological control of the female body. By means of the figure of Liffey, Weldon presents the notion of chemical womanhood—a condition in which womanliness is neither inherent nor instinctive, but hormonally constructed and socially demanded. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway, Emily Martin, Julia Kristeva and Sandra Bartky, the article discusses important themes such as domestic surveillance, bodily alienation and grotesque reproduction. Rather than presenting pregnancy as a sacred or natural condition, Puffball portrays it as a biologically manipulated and culturally imposed experience. Characters such as Mabs and Richard do not merely shape Liffey’s environment; they also influence her biochemical state and emotional responses, making her a passive participant in her own transformation. The female body is shown as a place where power is fought over, and where people are controlled by drugs, relationships, and ideas. By portraying the maternal body as abject, unstable, and constantly monitored, idealised narratives of womanhood are reframed by Weldon through a lens of resistance and discomfort. Ultimately, the article argues that Puffball functions as a feminist intervention in reproductive discourse. It questions the medicalisation and politicisation of female embodiment while encouraging a reclamation of agency through narrative awareness, particularly in contexts influenced by hormonal control, emotional surveillance and social expectation.
