Freezing time? The sociology of egg freezing

In the past decade, social scientists and bioethicists have produced a significant body of work tracking the technical, legal, ethical, and sociocultural development and implications of human egg freezing. What began as a treatment to “preserve” the fertility of cancer patients has transformed into a technology enabling delayed childbearing. We provide an overview of four research areas that have received the most attention in the sociological and anthropological literature of egg freezing: medicalization, gender, temporality and risk, and markets. What emerges from much of the research is the sense that egg freezing has become entangled with cultural imperatives to take future-oriented responsibility for one's own health, financial, social, and reproductive needs through self-management, risk reduction, calculation, and optimization. Throughout, we consider the implications of this novel reproductive technology within national and transnational “reproflows” that stratify reproduction along raced and classed lines.

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Work Title Freezing time? The sociology of egg freezing
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Kit C. Myers
  2. Lauren Jade Martin
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Sociology Compass
Publication Date April 1, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12850
Deposited July 23, 2021

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  • Added Creator Lauren Jade Martin
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