Doctoral Dissertation Research: Anticipating Infertility: The Emergence of a Medical Market for Fertility Preservation

本项目探讨了生育保护作为一种针对健康妇女的新的医疗干预措施的社会意义和影响。卵子冷冻是最重要的生育力保存技术，通过将妇女的生育力保存到超过其生育年龄的极限来延长生育寿命。卵子冷冻不是治疗女性不孕症，而是预测健康育龄女性的年龄相关性不孕症。目前正在开发和销售卵子冷冻等技术，通过调整妇女的生育时间表，使其与职业轨迹同步，从而有可能调和母性和专业工作。虽然卵子冷冻似乎通过改变生育时间使妇女对自己的生活有更多的控制权，但在强调母性的社会背景下，专业工作的条件往往在职业发展和家庭形成之间造成不可调和的时间冲突。这种新技术也出现在通过侵入性生物医学干预促进健康和预防疾病的医疗领域。这个项目审查了辩论的核心，一方面是关于妇女不断扩大的机构的主张，另一方面是关于母亲身份对其身份至关重要的持续信息。 该项目的调查结果将使医疗和公共卫生专业人员，特别是生殖医学领域的专业人员了解他们利用新技术开展的工作。此外，该项目将有助于政策制定者关注的资格和获得卵子冷冻提供洞察妇女的动机，经验和观点的生育力保存战略。研究结果也将告知社会对话关于生育保存，性别不平等在工作场所和工作家庭conflict.This问题之间的复杂关系采用了定性的混合方法设计来解决两个研究问题。首先，该项目将研究自1980年以来在生殖医学领域的临床期刊，流行的女性和商业杂志以及报纸上发表的文章，以追踪专业和媒体的说法如何帮助建立卵子冷冻作为一种选择，社会或生活方式的选择，从而将最初为因疾病或其他医疗问题而生育能力受损的妇女开发的新技术扩展到新的人群。第二，该项目将在旨在促进保持生育率的教育和营销活动中进行人种学观察。 第三，该项目将对生殖医学领域的专家、使用卵子冷冻的妇女以及在作为生育服务主要目的地的美国三个城市推广生育力保存技术的一系列行为者进行80次深入的定性访谈。 该项目将使用开放式和结构化编码分析所有数据。 该项目的研究成果将为社会学中有关性别、家庭和工作场所的理论提供信息，特别是有关21世纪工作-家庭冲突和女性生命历程的理论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates the social meaning and implications of fertility preservation as a new medical intervention directed at healthy women. Egg freezing, the foremost fertility preservation technology, extends the reproductive life span by preserving a woman's fertility beyond the limits of her reproductive years. Rather than treat the condition of infertility in women, egg freezing anticipates age-related infertility in otherwise healthy women of reproductive age. Techniques such as egg freezing are now being developed and marketed as a potential reconciliation of motherhood and professional work by adjusting women's reproductive timelines to synchronize with career trajectories. While egg freezing appears to give women more control over their lives by altering the timing of reproduction, it does so in a social context that emphasizes motherhood and where the conditions of professional work often create irreconcilable time conflicts between career advancement and family formation. Such new technologies also appear in a medical context that promotes health and the prevention of illness through invasive biomedical interventions. This project examines this tension at the crux of debates regarding, on the one hand, claims about women's expanding agency, and on the other, the persistent messaging suggesting motherhood as essential to their identity. Findings from this project will inform the medical and public health professions, particularly in the field of reproductive medicine, regarding their work using new technologies. In addition, this project will be useful to policy-makers concerned with eligibility for and accessibility to egg freezing by providing insight into women's motivations, experiences, and perspectives on fertility preservation strategies. Findings will also inform societal conversations regarding the complex relationships between fertility preservation, gender inequality in the workplace and the issue of work-family conflict.This dissertation employs a qualitative mixed-methods design to address two research questions. First, the project will examine articles published in clinical journals in the field of reproductive medicine, popular women's and business magazines, and newspapers since 1980 to trace how professional and media claims have helped establish egg freezing as an elective, social or lifestyle choice, thus extending to a new population technologies originally developed for women with compromised fertility due to illness or other medical issues. Second, the project will conduct ethnographic observation at educational and marketing events aimed at promoting fertility preservation. Third, the project will conduct 80 in-depth, qualitative interviews with experts in the field of reproductive medicine, women who use egg freezing, and a range of actors who promote fertility preservation techniques in three United States cities that are major destinations for fertility services. The project will analyze all data using both open and structured coding. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories related to gender, family, and the workplace, particularly those theories concerning work-family conflict and women's life course in the 21st century.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.