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Procreative Technologies, Popular Media, and the Culture of Infertility

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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Sociology Dissertations Department of Sociology Spring 5-10-2013 From No Hope to Fertile Dreams: Procreative Technologies, Popular Media, and the Culture of Infertility Evelina W. Sterling Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss Recommended Citation Sterling, Evelina W., "From No Hope to Fertile Dreams: Procreative Technologies, Popular Media, and the Culture of Infertility." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss/68 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Sociology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FROM NO HOPE TO FERTILE DREAMS: PROCREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, POPULAR MEDIA, AND THE CULTURE OF INFERTILITY by EVELINA WEIDMAN STERLING Under the Direction of Wendy S. Simonds ABSTRACT Throughout history, both popular and scholarly literature depicted infertility as a devastating experience in a woman’s life. Infertility was unbearable, filled with stigma, and a perpetual state of conflict between those who cannot have children and the rest of the world who can. Until recently as treatments for infertility developed, families assumed childlessness as hopeless. While the process of overcoming infertility is still arduous, unpleasant and unpredictable, many options are available today to overcome infertility and have children. As a result, the portrayal of involuntary childlessness and infertility especially by popular media, changed significantly over the years. Current procreative technologies encouraged families to believe that the dream of having a baby was achievable for all. Using social constructionist and feminist theories, I analyzed the culture of infertility between 1960 and 2010. I used a mixed-method approach to the historical study of the infertility culture tracing the way the public became aware of the various medical treatments for infertility. First, I utilized a modified grounded theory approach to analyze the norms, values, beliefs, attitudes, and goals pertaining to infertility and the treatment of infertility as reflected in popular magazines. Next, I interviewed six fertility specialists who practiced reproductive medicine and the treatment of infertility between 1960 and 2010 to gain their perspectives regarding how the expectations about infertility and treatments changed over time from the medical point-of-view. Finally, I analyzed data available from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s population-based National Survey of Family Growth describing public attitudes and behaviors with regard to infertility, infertility diagnoses, and the utilization of infertility treatments over all the years that the survey was conducted. Shaped heavily by issues related to power, patriarchy, gendered expectations, social stratification, and heteronormativity, the cultural story of infertility between 1960 and 2010 was much more complex and diverse than typically told by social science researchers. Overall, I found that although the increased media attention and the availability of procreative technologies changed the landscape of family building, the underlying social forces influencing decisions about procreation did not. INDEX WORDS: Infertility, Fertility, Procreation, Medicalization, Procreative technologies, Reproduction, Women’s Health FROM NO HOPE TO FERTILE DREAMS: PROCREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, POPULAR MEDIA, AND THE CULTURE OF INFERTILITY by EVELINA WEIDMAN STERLING A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2013 Copyright by Evelina Weidman Sterling 2013 FROM NO HOPE TO FERTILE DREAMS: PROCREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, POPULAR MEDIA, AND THE CULTURE OF INFERTILITY by EVELINA WEIDMAN STERLING Committee Chair: Wendy Simonds Committee: Elisabeth Burgess Ralph LaRossa Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2013 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to acknowledge my own experience with infertility that brought me many unexpected opportunities and fulfilling experiences, both personally and professionally. I would like to thank my dissertation committee: Wendy—thank you for chairing my committee, for the invaluable guidance and encouragement, and especially for sparking my sociological imagination at all the right times; Ralph—thank you for teaching me that art and science of qualitative research and providing me with valuable tools that I now use each and every day; and Elisabeth—thank you for broadening my perspective to appreciate the sociological significance of every age. I could not have done this without the mentorship and support from my stellar committee. Thank you to my family for inspiring me to keep going and going and going. I am forever indebted to my husband, Dan, who selflessly allowed me the flexibility to pursue my (probably seemingly endless) intellectual goals. I am forever grateful, and I have no idea how to make it up to you. I thank my children, Ben and Ellie, for helping me balance work and home life and emphasizing what is truly important in life. I am so proud of both of you, and I now look forward to supporting you on your own exciting journeys into adulthood. Thank you to my parents, Steve and Donna Weidman, for supporting me from the very beginning and creating a home in which learning never ended. I also appreciate all the colleagues and friends I gained through my time at GSU, from classes to qualifying exams to dissertation. I could not have asked for a better program. The faculty is top-notch, and I am so honored to have learned from all of you. Thanks especially to Josie, Mark and Pam for traveling this road along with me. Without you, this research could not have been possible and certainly not as much fun. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..iv LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………….……………………………………….…………………………………………ix LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...1 1.1 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 1.2 Importance of the Study…………………………………………………………………………………………….3 1.3 Overview of Chapters………………………………………………………………………………………………...4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…6 2.1 The Significance of 1960-2010…………………………………………………………………………………….7 2.2 A Social and Historical Context …………………………………………………………………………………10 2.3 Social Structures……………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 2.4 Women and Procreation in the Media……………………………………………………………………...20 2.5 Media Images and Social Behavior……………………………………………………………………………22 2.6 Infertility and Culture……………………………………………………………………………………………….24 CHAPTER 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND METHODOGY…………………………………………………………………..28 3.1 Theoretical Background……………………………………………………………………………………………28 3.2 Popular Media Analysis—Sampling and Coding…………………………………………..……………32 3.3 Physician Interviews—Sampling and Coding……………………………………………………………..37 3.4 National Survey of Family Growth………………………………………………………………………….…38 3.5 A Mixed Methods Approach………………………………………………………………………………..……40 vi CHAPTER 4 DEFINING INFERTILITY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..43 4.1 The Occurrence of Infertility………………………………………………………………………………….….44 4.2 Causes of Infertility……………………………………………………………………………………………….….47 4.3 Age…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..58 4.4 The New Infertile………………………………………………………………………………………………….….70 4.5 The Role of Men……………………………………………………………………………………………………....75 4.6 Race and Infertility…………………………………………………………………………………………………..82 4.7 Emotional Impact and Identity………………………………………………………………………………….86 4.8 Stigma………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………93 4.9 Fertility Specialists’ Perspectives about Defining Infertility…………………………………….100 CHAPTER 5 CONTROLING FERTILITY………………………………………………………………………………………………………108 5.1 To Procreate or Not…………………………………………………………………………….………………….108 5.2 Procreative Choices………………………………………………………………………………………..………118 5.3 Medicalizing Conception…………………………………………………………………………………………121 5.4 The Business of Infertility………………………………………………….……………………………………123 5.5 Science or Miracle…………………………………………………………………………………………………..136 5.6 Devil or God…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...138 5.7 Religious Narratives……………………………………………………………………………………..…………142 5.8 The Status of Embryos…………………………………………………………………………….………………147 5.9 Fertility Specialists’ Perspectives about Controlling Fertility……………………………………152 vii CHAPTER 6 PROCREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES…………………………………….………………………………………………………160 6.1 Treating Infertility…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….165 6.2 Manipulating Biology and In Vitro Fertilization………………………………………………………170 6.3 Artificial Insemination and the Value of Sperm……………………………………………………….176 6.4 Egg Donation and Preserving Fertility…………………………………………………………………..…186 6.5 Redefining Motherhood and Surrogacy…………………………………………………………………..193 6.6 Protecting Embryos through Embryo Adoption……………………………………………………….201 6.7 What Makes a Family?.............................................................................................204
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