Communicative crises in the age of anxious reproduction and fertility preservation

ABSTRACT

In the current context of anxious reproduction and a global fertility crisis women may feel they are running out of time, racing against the biological clock and are now able to take advantage of fertility preservation technologies that include the freezing of eggs or oocyte cryopreservation (OC). I briefly explore how anxiety has become a significant feature of social egg freezing consumption and the advertising discourses around it that accentuate consumer perceptions of reproductive bioprecarity and future infertilities. This commentary argues that the overlooked crisis within this context is the lack of consumer-driven campaigning calling for more transparency about the necessity of oocyte cryopreservation and for increased critical interrogation with regards to dubious messaging in assisted reproductive technology markets.

KEYWORDS:

• Elective egg freezing
• reproductive crises
• fertility anxiety
• fertility marketing
• assisted reproductive technologies
• consumer movements
• bioprecarious advertising

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/fertility-preservation#:~:text=What%20is%20fertility%20preservation%3F,tissue%2C%20sperm%20and%20testicular%20tissue.

2 https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/egg-freezing-fertility

3 https://www.fertilityiq.com/egg-freezing/the-costs-of-egg-freezing#breaking-down-the-likely-costs

4 https://uscfertility.org/egg-freezing-faqs/

5 https://uscfertility.org/egg-freezing-faqs

6 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/parenting/freezing-your-eggs-ads.html

7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3cswgr7

8 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freezing-time/id1530807259, https://www.heyreprotech.com/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Takhar

Jennifer Takhar is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Communication at ISG Business School. Her research interests lie in Consumer Culture, digital identity politics, transhumanisms, biotechnologies, innovative research methods and articulating marketing dynamics through novel representational forms. Her work is attentive to the rhetorical and literary strategies used to persuade consumers.