Transparency and selfhood:: Utopia and the informed body

One aspect of the development of a health-orientated consumer culture is the growth of self-screening and self-diagnosis among the lay public—e.g. over-the-counter diagnostic tests, computerized health assessments, DIY genetic tests. This trend is interpreted as the expression of a distinctively postmodern ‘utopian’ impulse. Postmodernityʹs inwardly directed gaze has replaced the communitarian vision of modernity. In the absence of overarching visions, the postmodern utopian telos becomes the attainment of a perfect, imperishable body. Somatopia is the collective expression of these privatized and personalized body projects. The accomplishment and authentication of these body projects necessitates the creation of a ‘transparent body’. This ‘transparent body’ is enabled and constructed by developments in information and medical technologies. The political and health implications of the transparent, ‘informed’ body are explored.