Contested conceptions : a cultural account of assisted reproduction

Franklin, Sarah (1992). Contested conceptions : a cultural account of assisted reproduction. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis addresses the changing cultural construction of reproduction at a key period in its negotiation in the context of the new reproductive technologies. These changes, occurring during the mid-to late 1980s in Britain, are analysed using materials from four separate domains of cultural production. Part One introduces feminist debates concerning the new reproductive technologies and their implications for women's reproductive rights. Using approaches developed within cultural studies, Part Two addresses the popular media construction of infertility and its treatment. Part Three presents the results of an interview-based study of women's experience of IVF. In Part Four, the focus returns to public culture by analysing recent public debate of the new reproductive technologies using extracts from parliamentary proceedings.
The main argument of the thesis concerns the contrasting representational operations at work in these different domains, which also serve as contexts for one another. Throughout, the aim is to demonstrate the means through which the technology of IVF, and women's encounters with it, are made sense of through specific representational practices. It is argued the material and analysis presented in the thesis confirm the importance of what is described as a representational politics of reproduction, through which the terms of public debate concerning the new reproductive technologies can be more effectively challenged.

Type of Work:	Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)
Award Type:	Doctorates > Ph.D.
Licence:	All rights reserved
College/Faculty:	Faculties (to 1997) > Faculty of Arts
School or Department:	Department of Cultural Studies
Funders:	Other
Other Funders:	Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Overseas Research Award scheme
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
URI:	http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/14168

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