This paper's purpose is tohighlight key sociological issues, that come to light when ‘the body’ becomes a theoretical site in reproductive genetics.Bypositioning the body as a central feature in this analysis, the paper: (1) describes how a mechanistic view of the body continues to be privileged in this discourse and the effects of this view; (2) examines how reproductive limits are practised on the gendered body through a feminised regime of reproductive asceticism andthe discourse on shame; and (3) explores the social effects andlimitations ofreproductive genetics in relation to disability as a cultural representation ofimpaired bodies.The central assumptions concerningreproductive genetics are that it appears within surveillance medicine as part of a disciplinary process in society's creation of a genetic moral order, that it is mobilised by experts for the management ofreproductive bodies and that it constructs a limited view of the body. Thus, the way reproductive genetics operates tends to hide the fact that what may appear as ‘defective genes’ is a result of a body's interaction not only with the environment but also gendered social practices valorised by difference as well as rigid definitions of health and illness. The research is from a 1995–96 European study of experts interviewed in four countries.