On Having an Own Child : reproductive technologies and the cultural construction of childhood
by Karin Lesnik-Oberstein
Language: English
[S.l.] : Routledge, 2019.
xxiv, 199 pages ; 23 cm.
ISBN: 9781855755451 ; 1855755459
Summary: "This is the first book ever to consider in-depth why people want children, and specifically why people want children produced by reproductive technologies (such as IVF, ICSI, etc). As the book demonstrates, even books ostensibly devoted to the topic of why people want children and the reasons for using reproductive technologies tend to start with the assumption that this is either simply a biological drive to reproduce or a socially instilled desire. This book uses psychoanalysis not to provide an answer in its own right, but as an analytic tool to probe more deeply the problems of these assumptions. The idea that reproductive technologies simply supply an 'own' child is questioned in this volume in terms of asking how and why reproductive technologies are seen to create this 'ownness'."--Jacket.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Having-Own-Child-Reproductive-Technologies/dp/0367325772
Subjects:
- Parenthood -- Psychological aspects
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects
- Human reproductive technology -- Psychological aspects
- Parenthood -- Social aspects
Reproducing Jews : a cultural account of assisted conception in Israel
by Susan Martha Kahn
Language: English
Durham : Duke Univ. Press, 2006.
227 p.
ISBN: 0822326019 ; 9780822326014
Summary: There are more fertility clinics per capita in Israel than in any other country in the world and Israel has the world's highest per capita rate of in-vitro fertilization procedures. Fertility treatments are fully subsidized by Israeli national health insurance and are available to all Israelis, regardless of religion or marital status. These phenomena are not the result of unusually high rates of infertility in Israel but reflect the centrality of reproduction in Judaism and Jewish culture. In this ethnographic study of the new reproductive technologies in Israel, Susan Martha Kahn explores the cultural meanings and contemporary rabbinic responses to artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, egg donation, and surrogacy. Kahn draws on fieldwork with unmarried Israeli women who are using state-subsidized artificial insemination to get pregnant and on participant-observation in Israeli fertility clinics. Through close readings of traditional Jewish texts and careful analysis of Israeli public discourse, she explains how the Israeli embrace of new reproductive technologies has made Jewish beliefs about kinship startlingly literal. Kahn also reveals how a wide range of contemporary Israelis are using new reproductive technologies to realize their reproductive futures, from ultraorthodox infertile married couples to secular unmarried women. As the first scholarly account of assisted conception in Israel, this multi-sited ethnography will contribute to current anthropological debates on kinship studies. It will also interest those involved with Jewish studies.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Reproducing-Jews-Cultural-Conception-Commodity/dp/0822325985/
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Law and legislation -- Israel
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects -- Israel
- Human reproductive technology -- Religious aspects -- Judaism
Embodied progress : a cultural account of assisted conception
by Sarah Franklin
Language: English
London : Routledge, 2005.
XII, 252 p. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 0415067676 ; 9780415067676
Summary: New reproductive technologies, such as in Vitro fertilization, have been the subject of intense public discussion and debate worldwide. In addition to difficult ethical, moral, personal and political questions, new technologies of assisted conception also raise novel socio-cultural dilemmas. How are parenthood, kinship, and procreation being redefined in the context of new reproductive technologies? Has reproductive choice become part of consumer culture? Embodied Progress offers a unique perspective on these and other cultural dimensions of assisted conception techniques. Based on ethnographic research in Britain, this study foregrounds the experiences of women and couples who undergo IVF, whilst also asking how such experiences may be variously understood.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Embodied-Progress-Cultural-Assisted-Conception/dp/0415067669/
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects
Mommies, daddies, donors, surrogates : answering tough questions and building strong families
by Diane Ehrensaft
Language: English
New York : Guilford Press, ©2005.
xii, 303 pages ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 1593851790 ; 9781593851798
Summary: If you need help having a baby, reproductive technology can supply the answer. But it also raises a host of questions that won’t arise until after the child is born: What will you say to “Where did I come from?” when the answer includes a donor or surrogate? Will knowing the truth about how you conceived to make your child love you less? Will having a baby with someone else strain your relationship with your spouse or partner? What will grandparents, family members, friends, and coworkers think? Dr. Diane Ehrensaft--a developmental and clinical psychologist who’s worked with families formed using assisted reproductive technology for more than 20 years--helps you anticipate the big questions and find solutions that are right for you and your loved ones. Dr. Ehrensaft offers information, support, and straightforward advice for coping with private worries, confronting public prejudices, and raising happy, healthy children. Single or married, straight or gay, anyone looking forward to the joys and challenges of building a family with the help of a donor or surrogate will discover a wealth of thought-provoking ideas and fresh insights in this sensitive, practical, and positive book.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Mommies-Daddies-Donors-Surrogates-Answering/dp/1593851332/
Subjects:
- Parenting -- Psychological aspects
- Surrogate motherhood -- Psychological aspects
- Human reproductive technology -- Psychological aspects
Everything conceivable : how assisted reproduction is changing our world
by Liza Mundy
Language: English
New York : Anchor Books, 2008.
1 vol. (xx-412 p.) ; 21 cm.
ISBN: 9781400095377 ; 1400095379
Summary: Award-winning journalist Liza Mundy captures the human narratives, as well as the science, behind the controversial, multibillion-dollar fertility industry, and examines how this huge social experiment is transforming our most basic relationships and even our destiny as a species. Skyrocketing infertility rates and dizzying technological advances are revolutionizing American families and changing the way we think about parenthood, childbirth, and life itself. Using in-depth reporting and riveting anecdotal material from doctors, families, surrogates, sperm and egg donors, infertile men and women, single and gay and lesbian parents, and children conceived through technology, Mundy explores the impact of assisted reproduction on individuals as well as the ethical issues raised and the potentially vast social consequences. The unforgettable personal stories in Everything Conceivable run the gamut from joyous to tragic; all of them raise questions we dare not ignore.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Conceivable-Assisted-Reproduction-Changing/dp/1400095379/
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects -- United States
- Human reproductive technology -- Economic aspects -- United States
Test tube families : why the fertility market needs legal regulation
by Naomi R. Cahn
Language: English
New York : New York University Press, [2009].
VIII, 295 p. : tablas ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780814716823 ; 0814716822
Summary: The birth of the first test-tube baby in 1978 focused attention on the sweeping advances in assisted reproductive technology (ART), which is now a multi-billion-dollar business in the United States. Sperm and eggs are bought and sold in a market that has few barriers to its skyrocketing growth. While ART has been an invaluable gift to thousands of people, creating new families, the use of someone else’s genetic material raises complex legal and public policy issues that touch on technological anxiety, eugenics, reproductive autonomy, identity, and family structure. How should the use of gametic material be regulated? Should recipients be able to choose the “best” sperm and eggs? Should a child ever be able to discover the identity of her gamete donor? Who can claim parental rights?
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Test-Tube-Families-Fertility-Regulation/dp/0814716822/
Subjects:
- Fertilization in vitro -- Law and legislation -- United States
Beyond expectation : lesbian/bi/queer women and assisted conception
by Jacquelyne Marie Luce
Language: English
Toronto [Ont.] : University of Toronto Press, ©2010.
xv, 278 p.
ISBN: 9781442610088 ; 1442610085
Summary: An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Expectation-Lesbian-Assisted-Conception/dp/1442640634
Subjects:
- Lesbian mothers -- Canada -- Interviews
- Lesbian -- Family relationships -- Canada
- Reproductive technology -- Canada
- Lesbians -- Canada -- Social conditions
- Motherhood -- Political aspects -- Canada
God's laboratory : assisted reproduction in the Andes
by Elizabeth F. S. Roberts
Language: English
Berkeley : University of California Press, 2012.
xxv, 273 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780520270824 ; 0520270827
Summary: Assisted reproduction, with its test tubes, injections, and gamete donors, raises concerns about the nature of life and kinship. Yet these concerns do not take the same shape around the world. In this innovative ethnography of in vitro fertilization in Ecuador, Elizabeth F.S. Roberts explores how reproduction by way of biotechnological assistance is not only accepted but embraced despite widespread poverty and condemnation from the Catholic Church. Roberts’ intimate portrait of IVF practitioners and their patients reveals how technological intervention is folded into an Andean understanding of reproduction as always assisted, whether through kin or God. She argues that the Ecuadorian incarnation of reproductive technology is less about a national desire for modernity than it is a product of colonial racial history, Catholic practice, and kinship configurations. God’s Laboratory offers a grounded introduction to critical debates in medical anthropology and science studies, as well as a nuanced ethnography of the interplay between science, religion, race, and history in the formation of Andean families.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Laboratory-Assisted-Reproduction-Andes/dp/0520270827/
Subjects:
- Medical anthropology
- Human reproductive technology -- Andes Region
- Human reproductive technology -- Ecuador
- Fertilization in Vitro -- Religious aspects -- Catholic Church
Relatedness in assisted reproduction - families, origins and identities
edited by Tabitha Freeman; Susanna Graham; Fatemeh Ebtehaj; Martin Richards
Language: English
Cambridge University Press, 2016.
xi, 319 pages : illustration ; 23 cm.
ISBN: 9781316618028 ; 1316618021
Summary: Assisted reproduction challenges and reinforces traditional understandings of family, kinship and identity. Sperm, egg and embryo donation and surrogacy raise questions about relatedness for parents, children, and others involved in creating and raising a child. How socially, morally or psychologically significant is a genetic link between a donor-conceived child and their donor? What should children born through assisted reproduction be told about their origins? Does it matter if a parent is genetically unrelated to their child? How do experiences differ for men and women using collaborative reproduction in heterosexual or same-sex couples, single-parent families or co-parenting arrangements? What impact does the wider cultural, socio-legal and regulatory context have? In this multidisciplinary book, an international team of academics and clinicians bring together new empirical research and social science, legal and bioethical perspectives to explore the key issue of relatedness in assisted reproduction.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Relatedness-Assisted-Reproduction-Families-Identities/dp/1107038286
Subjects:
- Human reproduction -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Relatedness (Psychology)
- Human reproductive technology
Politics of the womb : the perils of IVF surrogacy and modified babies
by Pinki Virani
Language: English
Gurgaon : Penguin, 2017.
372 p.
ISBN: 9780143429104 ; 0143429108
Summary: Among life s choices is to have children or remain childfree. Yet those who want a child and find themselves unable, live through the trauma of infertility cruelly attributed as their fault to undergo the tribulations of assisted reproductive technology. But how safe is aggressive Ivf, invasive Icsi, exploitative ovarian hyper-stimulation, and commercial surrogacy? Politics of the Womb proves that there can be broken babies and breaking mothers; it rips away the romanticism around uterus transplants, warns of genetic theft and designer babies, and points to the human element being sacrificed, as artificial reproduction uses, reuses and recycles the woman. Pinki Virani combines investigation with analysis to question those who lead the worldwide onslaught on the woman s womb in the name of babies, and squarely confronts what has become the business of baby-making by a chain of suppliers that manufactures on demand.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Womb-Perils-Surrogacy-Modified/dp/0670088722
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Moral and ethical aspects
The right to know one's origins : assisted human reproduction and the best interests of children
by Juliet Ruth Guichon; Ian Mitchell; Michelle Giroux
Language: English
Brussels : ASP, [2012].
352 pages ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9789057182358 ; 9057182351
Summary: This collection of essays addresses the interests and rights of donor-conceived people. The contributors shine light from many directions on the issues of secrecy and donor anonymity. Adults and children who have been donor-conceived offer their varied and sometimes emotion-rich perspectives; health scientists review the literature and assess the health risks of secrecy and anonymity; ethics experts discuss the history and ethics of the issues; and legal scholars consider international and domestic law, and formulate actionable proposals for legislative change. This book puts the child of assisted conception at the center. It makes a significant contribution to the debate about whether people who are donor-conceived should know the circumstances of their conception and the identity of their progenitors.
Available: https://www.amazon.in/Right-Know-Ones-Origins-Reproduction/dp/9057182351/
Subjects:
- Children's rights
- Human reproductive technology -- Law and legislation -- Social aspects -- Canada
- Children of sperm donors -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Canada
Babies of technology : assisted reproduction and the rights of the child
by Mary Ann Mason; Tom Ekman
Language: English
New Haven, Connecticut Yale University Press [2017].
xii, 240 pages ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9780300215878 ; 0300215878
Summary: Examines each aspect of assisted reproductive technology, from the oldest and still most widely used intervention--artificial insemination by sperm donor--all the way to the future of genetically modified human beings. Mason and Ekmann investigate frozen eggs, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and the demographics of who is participating in the assisted reproduction industry in the United States and internationally. They also identify the issues affecting children who are being born as a result of these current and advancing technologies, including health problems, identity confusion, legal status, and potentially superhuman traits and abilities. The authors argue that we need to protect our babies of technology by advocating for a basic International Code of Rights for Children of Assisted Reproductive Technology with principles that could be applied to established and evolving technologies. They also propose creating a federal administrative agency whose primary responsibilities would be monitoring assisted reproduction, instituting guidelines, and maintaining records of all procedures performed across the United States.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Babies-Technology-Assisted-Reproduction-Rights/dp/0300215878/
Subjects:
- Children of assisted reproductive technology
- Human reproductive technology -- Law and legislation
- Human reproductive technology -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Children's rights
Reconfiguring reproduction : feminist health perspectives on assisted reproductive technologies
by Sarojini N.; Vrinda Marwah
Language: English
New Delhi : Zubaan, 2014.
1 volume ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9789383074525 ; 9383074523
Summary: Whether it is in-vitro fertilization, sperm injection, surrogacy, cryopreservation, or intrauterine insemination, assisted reproductive technology (ART) has revolutionized our understanding of pregnancy, birth, infertility, and women’s bodies. Viewed by some as a technological quick-fix for infertility, ARTs create both challenges and opportunities, and responses to them have sought to balance questions of ethics, rights, and politics. With essays by eminent academics and activists, Reconfiguring Reproduction examines the ART industry by bringing a feminist health lens to bear on the experiences of women in countries such as Korea, Canada, the United States, Israel, Australia, India, and others.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Reconfiguring-Reproduction-Perspectives-Reproductive-Technologies/dp/9383074523
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Feminist theory
Art of Making Children : the new world of assisted reproductive technology
by Francois Ansermet
Language: English
[S.l.] : Routledge, 2019.
208 p.
ISBN: 0367327511 ; 9780367327514
Summary: This book explores the issues that surround medically assisted reproduction. It addresses the place of destiny, including how to think about individual destinies in an age of increasingly accessible gene sequencing paired with a growing link between procreation and prediction.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Children-Reproductive-Technology/dp/1782204741/
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology
The assisted reproduction of race
by Camisha A. Russell
Language: English
Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2018.
x, 189 pages ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780253035820 ; 0253035821
Summary: The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART)―in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and gestational surrogacy―challenges contemporary notions of what it means to be parents or families. Camisha A. Russell argues that these technologies also bring new insight into ideas and questions surrounding race. In her view, if we think of ART as medical technology, we might be surprised by the importance that people using them put on race, especially given the scientific evidence that race lacks a genetic basis. However, if we think of ART as an intervention to make babies and parents, as technologies of kinship, the importance placed on race may not be so surprising after all. Thinking about race in terms of technology brings together the common academic insight that race is a social construction with the equally important insight that race is a political tool which has been and continues to be used in different contexts for a variety of ends, including social cohesion, economic exploitation, and political mastery. As Russell explores ideas about race through their role in ART, she brings together social and political views to shift debates from what race is to what race does, how it is used, and what effects it has had in the world.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Assisted-Reproduction-Race-Camisha-Russell/dp/0253035902
Subjects:
- Medical ethics
- Genetics -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Reproductive techniques, Assisted -- Ethics
- Surrogate mothers
The pursuit of parenthood : reproductive technology from IVF to uterus transplants
by Margaret S. Marsh; Wanda Ronner
Language: English
Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2019].
288 p.
ISBN: 9781421429847 ; 1421429845
Summary: Since the 1978 birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in England, more than eight million children have been born with the help of assisted reproductive technologies. From the start, they have stirred controversy and raised profound questions: Should there be limits to the lengths to which people can go to make their idea of family a reality? Who should pay for treatment? How can we ensure the ethical use of these technologies? And what can be done to address the racial and economic disparities in access to care that enable some to have children while others go without? In The Pursuit of Parenthood, historian Margaret Marsh and gynecologist Wanda Ronner seek to answer these challenging questions. Bringing their unique expertise in gender history and women's health to the subject, Marsh and Ronner examine the unprecedented means―liberating for some and deeply unsettling for others―by which families can now be created. Beginning with the early efforts to create embryos outside a woman's body and ending with such new developments as mitochondrial replacement techniques and uterus transplants, the authors assess the impact of contemporary reproductive technology in the United States. In this volume, we meet the scientists and physicians who have developed these technologies and the women and men who have used them. Along the way, the book dispels a number of fertility myths, offers policy recommendations that are intended to bring clarity and judgment to this complicated medical history, and reveals why the United States is still known as the "Wild West" of reproductive medicine.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Parenthood-Reproductive-Technology-Transplants/dp/1421429845/
Subjects:
- Infertility -- History
- Fertilization in Vitro -- History
- Reproductive techniques, Assisted -- History
Infertility and non-traditional family building : from assisted reproduction to adoption in the media
by Rebecca Feasey
Language: English
Cham : Palgrave Macmillan, [2019] ©2019.
ix, 276 pages ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 3030177866 ; 9783030177867
Summary: This book examines the representation of infertility, assisted reproduction, miscarriage, adoption and surrogacy in a wide range of media, including blogs, vlogs, social media posts and factual programming.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Infertility-Non-Traditional-Family-Building-Reproduction/dp/3030177866/
Subjects:
- Infertility -- Social aspects
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects
- Adoption -- Social aspects
- Family planning in mass media
Romancing the sperm : shifting biopolitics and the making of modern families
by Diane Tober
Language: English
New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2019].
xv, 220 pages ; 23 cm.
ISBN: 0813590787 ; 0813590795
Summary: The 1990s marked a new era in family formation. Increased access to donor sperm enabled single women and lesbian couples to create their families on their own terms, outside the bounds of heterosexual married relationships. However, emerging "alternative" families were not without social and political controversy. Women who chose to have children without male partners faced many challenges in their quest to have children. Despite current wider social acceptance of single people and same sex couples becoming parents, many of these challenges continue. In Romancing the Sperm, Diane Tober explores the intersections between sperm donation and the broader social and political environment in which "modern families" are created and regulated. Through tangible and intimate stories, this book provides a captivating read for anyone interested in family and kinship, genetics and eugenics, and how ever-expanding assisted reproductive technologies continue to redefine what it means to be human.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Sperm-Shifting-Biopolitics-Families/dp/0813590795
Subjects:
- Artificial insemination -- Social aspects
- Families
- Single mothers
- Lesbian mothers
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects
Adoption and assisted reproduction in Germany : legal framework and current issues
by Saskia Lettmaier
Language: English
Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2019].
vi, 55 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9789004339811 ; 9004339817
Summary: In Germany, as elsewhere, couples and individuals suffering from unwanted childlessness have two principal means to overcome it. One, adoption, has existed and been quite heavily regulated in Germany for centuries. The other, assisted reproduction, has only recently come into its own with advances in medical technology and has not yet been comprehensively dealt with by the German legislature. This monograph provides a survey of adoption and assisted reproduction as an alternative (non-coital) ways of establishing parent-child relationships in Germany.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Adoption-Assisted-Reproduction-Research-Perspectives/dp/9004339817/
Subjects:
- Adoption -- Law and legislation -- Germany
- Human reproductive technology - Law and legislation -- Germany
Random families : genetic strangers, sperm donor siblings, and the creation of new kin
by Rosanna Hertz; Margaret K. Nelson
Language: English
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019].
296 p. : il. ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780190888275 ; 019088827X
Summary: The ready availability of donated sperm and eggs has made possible an entirely new form of family. Children of the same donor and their families, with the help of the internet, can now locate each other and make contact. Sometimes this network of families forms meaningful connections that blossom into longstanding groups and close friendships. This book is about unprecedented families that have grown up at the intersection of new reproductive technologies, social media and the human desire for belonging. Random Families asks: Do shared genes make you a family? What do couples do when they discover that their children share half their DNA with a dozen or more other offspring from the same sperm donor? What do kids find in common with their donor siblings? What becomes of these chance networks once parents and donor siblings find one another? Based on over 350 interviews with children (ages 10-28) and their parents from all over the U.S., Random Families chronicles the chain of choices that couples and single mothers make from what donor to use to how to participate (or not) in donor sibling networks. Children reveal their understanding of a donor, the donor's spot on the family tree and the meaning of their donor siblings. Through rich first-person accounts of network membership, the book illustrates how these extraordinary relationships -- woven from bits of online information and shared genetic ties -- are transformed into new possibilities for kinship.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Families-Strangers-Siblings-Creation/dp/019088827X/
Subjects:
- Kinship
- Families
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects -- United States
- Children of sperm donors -- United States
