Books on Reproduction

Queering Reproduction:Achieving Pregnancy in the Age of TechnosciencePublished in 2007, Laura Mamo covers the history of “reproduction without sex” and the technologies that advanced in the field. Using research and interviews with American same sex couples navigating their own fertility, Mamo argues that lesbians have “destabilized the dichotomy between heterosexual and homosexual experience and the institution of family” (3). This is a great resource in learning about the ways that lesbians and bisexuals in the past and present have become mothers, and how Fertility Inc., a phrase explained by Mamo as an umbrella term covering the rapidly growing industry of fertility doctors, sperm banks, pharmaceutical companies, etc., has become markedly more popular for lesbians and bisexuals who want to become parents. Mamo also addresses the issues of access, arguing that access to reproductive technologies in the United States is both class based and sexuality based, and that the way institutions organize their reproductive services perpetuates the rise of middle class, often white, heterosexual families (Mamo 72).
Biological Relatives : IVF, Stem Cells and the Future of KinshipSarah Franklin wrote this book in 2013, and it expands on the idea of IVF being about more than just biological reproduction. For instance, with genetic testing and sperm donors, women have some say in what is reproduced, based on genetic traits and even personality traits. Franklin challenges the reader to reconcile the limitless appeal of IVF, despite its enormous financial, physical, and emotional demands, as well as its high failure rate (222).
Born and Made: An Ethnography of Preimplantation Genetic DiagnosisPublished in the UK in 2006, Sarah Franklin and Celia Roberts have authored an in depth look at PGD in its various forms, and the repercussions of the technologies. This is geared more toward heterosexual couples, but does provide some information about PGD.

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