Abstract
A sociologist examines contemporary engagements of queer bodies and identities with fertility biomedicine. Drawing on social science, media culture, and the author’s own empirical research, three questions frame the analysis: 1. In what ways have queers on the gendered margins moved into the center and become implicated or central users of biomedicine’s fertility offerings? 2. In what ways is Fertility Inc. transformed by its own incorporation of various gendered and queered bodies and identities? And 3. What are the biosocial and bioethical implications of expanded queer engagements and possibilities with Fertility Inc.? The author argues that “patient” activism through web 2.0 coupled with a largely unregulated free-market of assisted reproduction has included various queer identities as “parents-in-waiting.” Such inclusions raise a set of ethical tensions regarding how to be accountable to the many people implicated in this supply and demand industry.
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Notes
Since the attention emerged, Thomas Beale published his own book, authored a blog, and in 2011 following the birth of his and his partners' third child, media attention focused again on Beale and his body to report his "returned" muscular physique as he lost the pregnancy pounds.
This same period, Patrick Califia - a queer cultural icon, wrote about his new family in "Family Values: Two Dads with a Difference, Neither of us were born male" published in the New York City, Village Voice. In this article, Patrick explains that my boyfriend is my baby's mother, referring to his partner Matt Rice who became pregnant with a friend's sperm and insemination (Califia 2009). Here, gender fluidity marks the story with a deliberate identification and gender position of men as mothers. What do these lived experiences tell us about gender, sexuality, and reproduction in the twenty-first century? Specifically, in what ways do these intersect with contemporary biomedical practices and considerations?
Gender and sexuality are understood as interactional, dynamic practices that occur within social relations of power. While identifications consolidate around gender and sexual categories, these are understood as ‘built-up’ through social interactions and social structures.
While these have each contributed to my reflection on and reconsideration of my earlier research, they are neither systematically reviewed nor comprehensive of research at the intersection of queer lives and intimacies in the 21st century. There are many scholars who research and write in the field of assisted reproduction have also been instrumental in my rethinking and reflection (see especially Marcia Inhorn, 2006; there are too many others to name here).
The Donor Sibling Registry represents a central example of new social forms, "donor families" as recipients, children, reproductive collaborators meet in cyberspace. The DSR website (https://www.donorsiblingregistry.com) states that DSR was designed to provide a means “to assist individuals conceived as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation who are seeking to make mutually desired contact with others with whom they share genetic ties.” DSR's primary goal is “Educating, Connecting and Supporting Donor Families.” A stated core value of the DSR is the “ conviction that people have the fundamental right to information about their biological origins and identities” and “to acknowledge the humanity and rights of the donor-conceived.” As a result, this on-line community begins with the offspring, children conceived and born with the gametes from a reproductive collaborator (someone who sold or donated their sperm or eggs for a third party's reproduction) and not the parents-in-waiting.
These blogs are searchable by title and, therefore, citations are not provided.
As described in the seventh edition of WPATH, studies of women with polycystic ovarian disease suggest that the ovary can recover in part from the effects of high testosterone levels (Hunter & Sterrett 2000). Stopping the testosterone briefly might allow for ovaries to recover enough to release eggs; success likely depends on the patient’s age and duration of testosterone treatment. While not systematically studied, some FtM individuals are doing exactly that, and some have been able to become pregnant and deliver children (More 1998).
See the documentary film Made in India for a thoughtful depiction of the lived experiences and ethical complexities of the global infertility marketplace (www.madeinindiamovie.com).
Other important areas of debate continue such as the heath consequences of egg donations, issues of agency and exploitation of third part donors, payments, and other issues of regulation.
The medical group denied services based on “personal religious beliefs about gay people.” The California Medical Association (CMA) and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA) filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the doctors. Fifteen civil rights, medical and community health organizations joined together supporting Benitez and opposing religiously motivated discrimination in health care (Lambda Legal Defense Fund, 2012). The case was settled in favor of Benitez.
Examples include scenarios in which both members of a gay male couple procreate using their DNA and a woman surrogate and both members of a lesbian couple procreate using one partner as the birth mom and the other as the DNA donor. Such possibilities were announced in the first years of this century. The possibility of “two biological dads” (e.g., Kelly 2001); “babies without fathers” (Zonneveldt 2001); and human cells [not sperm][ will fertilize a woman’s eggs (Nationwide News Party Limited 2001).
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the editors of this special issue, Autumn Fiester and Lance Wahlert for spearheading this important area of scholarship. I am grateful for opportunities to discuss preliminary ideas with the Center for Genetics and Society, Tarrytown Meetings, 2011 and with my colleague and friend, Sonja MacKenzie. Appreciation is also extended to my colleagues in the Health Equity Institute writing group at San Francisco State University.
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Mamo, L. Queering the Fertility Clinic. J Med Humanit 34, 227–239 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-013-9210-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-013-9210-3