This interview on the talk show ‘Loose Women’ discusses IVF and the connection of reproductive technologies to the workplace productivity. From 0:32 to around 2:00, panellist Saira Khan reflects on her IVF journey in relation to the workplace and her feelings of embarrassment and lack of ‘womanhood’ due to needing IVF treatment. Firstly, Saira notes how she felt her body was not, ‘functioning as a woman’, feeling that she had, ‘let her husband down’ in her fertility struggles. Ideas of ‘complete’ personhood and womanhood are clear in Saira’s explanation, especially with the explicit link to what she felt was the expectation of women’s reproductive roles. Gammeltoft recognises this expectation of personhood for women, highlighting that women, their bodies, and their societal position become ‘complete’ and ‘fulfilled’ through reproduction (Gammeltoft, 2013). Saira’s connection in relation to marital expectations and reproduction similarly is noted by Gammeltoft, who highlights that, ‘only with the birth of a child’ does, ‘a newly married woman become fully integrated into her husband’s family’ (Gammeltoft, 2013, 163).

Moreover, Saira links her reproduction with the workplace, connecting to Van De Weil’s ethnography through discussions of the, ‘separation of reproduction and production’ (Van de Weil, 2020, 308) within capitalistic societies, where there is a priority of ‘productive’ work before reproduction. Saira recognised how her concept of productivity was engrained into 21st century values, with her setting aside children until she had excelled in her career. Within this, Saira was accustomed to achieving, and as such, when it came to fertility troubles, felt she had ‘failed’. The language Saira uses is highly important to note, as the connection of success and failure in relation to women’s reproduction is symptomatic of the expectations of productive and reproductive societal citizens.

Comparatively, in the above clip, the Kardashian sisters speak of egg freezing as a reproductive technology surrounding fertility insurance for the future, not connecting to narratives of shame unlike Saira. The focus on the ‘future of fertility’ (Van De Weil, 2020, 307) in celebrity culture surrounding egg freezing has become largely known and even encouraged, being described as ‘investments’ in a capitalistic descriptor. Not only does this clip highlights the modern-day narrative of choice and control through the innovation of reproductive technologies, but similarly, seems to frame such technologies as a luxury to be aspired towards. With, ‘major publications, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal urging women to freeze their eggs’ (Mohapatra, 2014, 381), and, ‘celebrity endorsements from the likes of the Kardashians’ (Waldby, 2019, 126) it seems as though egg freezing may be becoming the latest ‘trend’ in reproductive technologies, being an avenue for those who can afford it to protect future fertility. Unlike in ‘Loose Women’ where Saira detailed her shame at needing fertility assistance, technologies such as egg freezing are spoken by the Kardashians without shame and embarrassment, instead being framed as a logical and sensible step in providing future insurance and tending to the capitalistic ideologies of productivity before reproduction.

Reproductive Technologies / Jasmin Frost / Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction (2020-2021)[SEM2] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0