Teodora Brnovic, Alyson K Spurgas
"Previvors"-individuals who develop an identity around cancer-related genetic mutations they carry and come together in biosocial community-challenge conventional notions of illness by inhabiting a unique pre-diagnosis space. This study seeks to understand how previvors navigate their new biomedicalized identities and their relationships to gender, family, and reproduction while they undergo genetic testing, counseling, and preventative surgeries. By analyzing 41 semi-structured in-depth interviews with previvors, we explore their liminal pre-disease status. Gendered labor, reproductive imperatives, and care strategies are discussed in relation to previvors' experiences with family planning and prophylactic treatment. Critically engaging with broader healthcare and socioeconomic disparities that impact previvors' lives, this study amplifies previvors' voices-while simultaneously considering how this biopolitical population is shaped by stratified reproduction, technologized regimes for self-optimization, and white women's wellness cultures under neoliberalism.