Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Middle Eastern Muslim men have been widely vilified as terrorists, religious zealots, and brutal oppressors of women. This book challenges these stereotypes with the stories of ordinary Middle ...
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Middle Eastern Muslim men have been widely vilified as terrorists, religious zealots, and brutal oppressors of women. This book challenges these stereotypes with the stories of ordinary Middle Eastern men as they struggle to overcome infertility and childlessness through assisted reproduction. Drawing on two decades of ethnographic research across the Middle East with hundreds of men from a variety of social and religious backgrounds, the book shows how the new Arab man is self-consciously rethinking the patriarchal masculinity of his forefathers and unseating received wisdoms. This is especially true in childless Middle Eastern marriages where, contrary to popular belief, infertility is more common among men than women. The book captures the marital, moral, and material commitments of couples undergoing assisted reproduction, revealing how new technologies are transforming their lives and religious sensibilities. And it looks at the changing manhood of husbands who undertake transnational “egg quests”—set against the backdrop of war and economic uncertainty—out of devotion to the infertile wives they love. Trenchant and emotionally gripping, the book traces the emergence of new masculinities in the Middle East in the era of biotechnology.Less
Middle Eastern Muslim men have been widely vilified as terrorists, religious zealots, and brutal oppressors of women. This book challenges these stereotypes with the stories of ordinary Middle Eastern men as they struggle to overcome infertility and childlessness through assisted reproduction. Drawing on two decades of ethnographic research across the Middle East with hundreds of men from a variety of social and religious backgrounds, the book shows how the new Arab man is self-consciously rethinking the patriarchal masculinity of his forefathers and unseating received wisdoms. This is especially true in childless Middle Eastern marriages where, contrary to popular belief, infertility is more common among men than women. The book captures the marital, moral, and material commitments of couples undergoing assisted reproduction, revealing how new technologies are transforming their lives and religious sensibilities. And it looks at the changing manhood of husbands who undertake transnational “egg quests”—set against the backdrop of war and economic uncertainty—out of devotion to the infertile wives they love. Trenchant and emotionally gripping, the book traces the emergence of new masculinities in the Middle East in the era of biotechnology.
Mary Briody Mahowald
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195176179
- eISBN:
- 9780199786558
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195176170.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Cases illustrating variables relevant to the following topics are presented: criteria for patient selection, egg “donation” and “surrogacy”, multiple gestations, and disposition of in vitro embryos ...
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Cases illustrating variables relevant to the following topics are presented: criteria for patient selection, egg “donation” and “surrogacy”, multiple gestations, and disposition of in vitro embryos after infertility treatment. For each topic, empirical and theoretical factors relevant to the cases are discussed from an “egalitarian perspective” that imputes privileged status to the standpoint of those who are “nondominant”. Implications of different positions about the moral status of gametes and embryos are also considered.Less
Cases illustrating variables relevant to the following topics are presented: criteria for patient selection, egg “donation” and “surrogacy”, multiple gestations, and disposition of in vitro embryos after infertility treatment. For each topic, empirical and theoretical factors relevant to the cases are discussed from an “egalitarian perspective” that imputes privileged status to the standpoint of those who are “nondominant”. Implications of different positions about the moral status of gametes and embryos are also considered.
Shane Doyle
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265338
- eISBN:
- 9780191760488
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265338.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This book addresses two of the most important questions in modern African history: the causes of rapid population growth, and the origins of the AIDS pandemic. It examines three societies on the ...
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This book addresses two of the most important questions in modern African history: the causes of rapid population growth, and the origins of the AIDS pandemic. It examines three societies on the Uganda–Tanzania border whose distinctive histories shed new light on both of these phenomena. This was the region where HIV in Africa first became a mass rural epidemic, and also where HIV infection rates first began to decline significantly. The book argues that only by analysing the long history of changes in sexual behaviour and attitudes can the shape of Africa's regional epidemics be fully understood. It traces the emergence of the sexual culture which permitted HIV to spread so quickly during the late 1970s and 1980s back to the middle decades of the twentieth century, a period when new patterns of socialization and sexual networking became established. The case studies examined in this book also provide new insights into the relationship between economic and social development and trends in fertility and mortality during the twentieth century. These three societies experienced the onset of rapid demographic growth at different moments and for different reasons, but in each case study area the key mechanisms appear to have been a decline in child mortality, a shortening of birth intervals, and a marked decline in primary and secondary infertility.Less
This book addresses two of the most important questions in modern African history: the causes of rapid population growth, and the origins of the AIDS pandemic. It examines three societies on the Uganda–Tanzania border whose distinctive histories shed new light on both of these phenomena. This was the region where HIV in Africa first became a mass rural epidemic, and also where HIV infection rates first began to decline significantly. The book argues that only by analysing the long history of changes in sexual behaviour and attitudes can the shape of Africa's regional epidemics be fully understood. It traces the emergence of the sexual culture which permitted HIV to spread so quickly during the late 1970s and 1980s back to the middle decades of the twentieth century, a period when new patterns of socialization and sexual networking became established. The case studies examined in this book also provide new insights into the relationship between economic and social development and trends in fertility and mortality during the twentieth century. These three societies experienced the onset of rapid demographic growth at different moments and for different reasons, but in each case study area the key mechanisms appear to have been a decline in child mortality, a shortening of birth intervals, and a marked decline in primary and secondary infertility.
Marten Stol
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380040
- eISBN:
- 9780199869077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380040.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
This essay is a historical and philological investigation of reproduction as it was understood in ancient Near East societies. It explores the differences in embryology as conceived by various ...
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This essay is a historical and philological investigation of reproduction as it was understood in ancient Near East societies. It explores the differences in embryology as conceived by various cultures in the ancient Near East (primarily among the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Israelites) and their points of similarity. Embryological theories run the gamut from “high” science, with truths still accepted, to superstitions that said that female fetuses were carried on their mother’s left sides, required a longer pregnancy, and drained their mothers’ strength more than did male fetuses.Less
This essay is a historical and philological investigation of reproduction as it was understood in ancient Near East societies. It explores the differences in embryology as conceived by various cultures in the ancient Near East (primarily among the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Israelites) and their points of similarity. Embryological theories run the gamut from “high” science, with truths still accepted, to superstitions that said that female fetuses were carried on their mother’s left sides, required a longer pregnancy, and drained their mothers’ strength more than did male fetuses.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This introductory chapter talks about how infertility impedes reproduction among a disproportionate percentage of Middle Eastern men. This epidemic of male infertility—which many men attribute to ...
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This introductory chapter talks about how infertility impedes reproduction among a disproportionate percentage of Middle Eastern men. This epidemic of male infertility—which many men attribute to their unrelenting life stresses, including war—has led to a recalibration of manhood. The notions of a “childless couple” or “child-free living” have yet to enter the cultural lexicon. This phenomenon of happily married but childless Middle Eastern couples is explored from Middle Eastern men's own perspectives. Many men do not want to be perceived as domineering patriarchs; they do not view fatherhood as the be-all and end-all of masculinity; they value conjugal intimacy and privacy, and they often adore their wives as friends and lovers, having learned sexuality together in the context of dual premarital virginity.Less
This introductory chapter talks about how infertility impedes reproduction among a disproportionate percentage of Middle Eastern men. This epidemic of male infertility—which many men attribute to their unrelenting life stresses, including war—has led to a recalibration of manhood. The notions of a “childless couple” or “child-free living” have yet to enter the cultural lexicon. This phenomenon of happily married but childless Middle Eastern couples is explored from Middle Eastern men's own perspectives. Many men do not want to be perceived as domineering patriarchs; they do not view fatherhood as the be-all and end-all of masculinity; they value conjugal intimacy and privacy, and they often adore their wives as friends and lovers, having learned sexuality together in the context of dual premarital virginity.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter begins with an analysis of Ziad's story, who suffers from a very serious case of male infertility. Because male infertility is not a visible medical condition, most men have no idea that ...
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This chapter begins with an analysis of Ziad's story, who suffers from a very serious case of male infertility. Because male infertility is not a visible medical condition, most men have no idea that they are infertile until they attempt to impregnate their wives. Moreover, Ziad assumes that his infertility problem is unique. He knows no other infertile men and so does not realize the high prevalence of this condition across the Middle Eastern region. Without sophisticated DNA analysis, the causes of most cases of male infertility remain strictly speculative. This conflation of male infertility with problems of virility (i.e., sexual potency) is common. Ziad's story is interesting in that it conveys a full range of masculine responses to male infertility, including shifts in subjectivity over the course of a man's lifetime.Less
This chapter begins with an analysis of Ziad's story, who suffers from a very serious case of male infertility. Because male infertility is not a visible medical condition, most men have no idea that they are infertile until they attempt to impregnate their wives. Moreover, Ziad assumes that his infertility problem is unique. He knows no other infertile men and so does not realize the high prevalence of this condition across the Middle Eastern region. Without sophisticated DNA analysis, the causes of most cases of male infertility remain strictly speculative. This conflation of male infertility with problems of virility (i.e., sexual potency) is common. Ziad's story is interesting in that it conveys a full range of masculine responses to male infertility, including shifts in subjectivity over the course of a man's lifetime.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses how husbands' loving commitments toward their wives are a major part of Middle Eastern conjugality and an important feature of emergent masculinities in the region. Even ...
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This chapter discusses how husbands' loving commitments toward their wives are a major part of Middle Eastern conjugality and an important feature of emergent masculinities in the region. Even seemingly traditional men such as Hatem—a farmer from a “closed” rural Syrian community—defy masculine stereotypes. Although conventional wisdom suggests that Middle Eastern men routinely divorce their infertile wives, Hatem's case provides evidence to the contrary. His story suggests that enduring conjugal commitments are a key feature of emergent masculinities in the Middle East, even in the face of intractable infertility. According to studies, this is as true among lower-class Middle Eastern couples, both urban and rural, as it is among cosmopolitan elites.Less
This chapter discusses how husbands' loving commitments toward their wives are a major part of Middle Eastern conjugality and an important feature of emergent masculinities in the region. Even seemingly traditional men such as Hatem—a farmer from a “closed” rural Syrian community—defy masculine stereotypes. Although conventional wisdom suggests that Middle Eastern men routinely divorce their infertile wives, Hatem's case provides evidence to the contrary. His story suggests that enduring conjugal commitments are a key feature of emergent masculinities in the Middle East, even in the face of intractable infertility. According to studies, this is as true among lower-class Middle Eastern couples, both urban and rural, as it is among cosmopolitan elites.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter illustrates Abbas' story which speaks to the importance of family—not only Abbas' desire to create a family of his own but also the support he receives from his natal family members. ...
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This chapter illustrates Abbas' story which speaks to the importance of family—not only Abbas' desire to create a family of his own but also the support he receives from his natal family members. Like many other young Middle Eastern men, Abbas chose to marry his female cousin Fatima out of love and affection, as well as family expectations. However, cousin marriage (known more formally as consanguineous marriage) may perpetuate life-threatening genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, and may be the single-most important reason why male infertility rates across the region are so high. When impediments to childbearing occur, families are often called upon to assist reproduction through various kinds of material and emotional support.Less
This chapter illustrates Abbas' story which speaks to the importance of family—not only Abbas' desire to create a family of his own but also the support he receives from his natal family members. Like many other young Middle Eastern men, Abbas chose to marry his female cousin Fatima out of love and affection, as well as family expectations. However, cousin marriage (known more formally as consanguineous marriage) may perpetuate life-threatening genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, and may be the single-most important reason why male infertility rates across the region are so high. When impediments to childbearing occur, families are often called upon to assist reproduction through various kinds of material and emotional support.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explores the tragic story of Shaykh Ali—a story of a devout Muslim man struggling with his infertile body, his attitudes toward sperm donation, and his unrequited sexuality. Shaykh Ali ...
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This chapter explores the tragic story of Shaykh Ali—a story of a devout Muslim man struggling with his infertile body, his attitudes toward sperm donation, and his unrequited sexuality. Shaykh Ali suffers from a preventable form of male infertility—namely, uncorrected, undescended testicles—which have stopped him from being able to produce sperm. Not all Middle Eastern men are as religiously pious as Shaykh Ali, nor have they suffered the same physical and emotional pain. Nonetheless, Shaykh Ali's story speaks in a powerful way to many of the themes in this study; including the role of Islam in shaping the uses of assisted reproductive technologies, Muslim men's general unwillingness to consider sperm donation as a solution to male infertility, and emerging areas of dissonance and dissent to the prevailing religious discourse.Less
This chapter explores the tragic story of Shaykh Ali—a story of a devout Muslim man struggling with his infertile body, his attitudes toward sperm donation, and his unrequited sexuality. Shaykh Ali suffers from a preventable form of male infertility—namely, uncorrected, undescended testicles—which have stopped him from being able to produce sperm. Not all Middle Eastern men are as religiously pious as Shaykh Ali, nor have they suffered the same physical and emotional pain. Nonetheless, Shaykh Ali's story speaks in a powerful way to many of the themes in this study; including the role of Islam in shaping the uses of assisted reproductive technologies, Muslim men's general unwillingness to consider sperm donation as a solution to male infertility, and emerging areas of dissonance and dissent to the prevailing religious discourse.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter analyzes how the vast majority of Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, reject both sperm donation and adoption as solutions to male infertility and childlessness. In the Arab countries, sperm ...
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This chapter analyzes how the vast majority of Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, reject both sperm donation and adoption as solutions to male infertility and childlessness. In the Arab countries, sperm donation is practiced only in Lebanon, but there, too, it meets with ardent resistance on the part of most men. The chapter narrates the story of Hasan, a police officer in southern Lebanon, who believes that he cannot regard a child conceived through donor sperm as his legitimate son. Hasan's reaction is not surprising in that assisted reproductive technologies evoke strong feelings about kinship. Of all of the anthropological work that has been written about the assisted reproductive technologies, the most substantial and most foundational is that which explores the effects of these technologies on kinship and family life.Less
This chapter analyzes how the vast majority of Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, reject both sperm donation and adoption as solutions to male infertility and childlessness. In the Arab countries, sperm donation is practiced only in Lebanon, but there, too, it meets with ardent resistance on the part of most men. The chapter narrates the story of Hasan, a police officer in southern Lebanon, who believes that he cannot regard a child conceived through donor sperm as his legitimate son. Hasan's reaction is not surprising in that assisted reproductive technologies evoke strong feelings about kinship. Of all of the anthropological work that has been written about the assisted reproductive technologies, the most substantial and most foundational is that which explores the effects of these technologies on kinship and family life.
Cynthia Tucker
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390209
- eISBN:
- 9780199866670
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390209.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This biography follows three generations of ministers' mothers, daughters, and wives as their family—one of America's foremost Unitarian dynasties—spreads out across the continent and their liberal ...
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This biography follows three generations of ministers' mothers, daughters, and wives as their family—one of America's foremost Unitarian dynasties—spreads out across the continent and their liberal denomination evolves. The oldest Eliot women remember its quickening in the early 1800s, and the youngest, its formal consolidation in 1961 with the kindred Universalist Church of America. Shifting the focus from pulpits to parsonages, and from sermons to doubting pews, Tucker lifts up a long‐ignored female perspective and humanizes a famously staid and cerebral religious tradition. The narrative organizes itself as a series of stories, all shaped by defining experiences that are interrelated and timeless. These range from the deaths of young children and the anguish of infertility to the suffocation of small parish life, loneliness, doubt, and financial distress. One woman survives with the help of a rare female confidant in the parish. Another is braced by the unmet friends who read magazines that publish her poems. A third escapes from an ill‐fitting role by succumbing to neurasthenia, leaving one wasting condition for another. It is left to the matriarch's granddaughters to script larger lives for themselves by bypassing marriage and churchly employment to follow their hearts into same‐sex unions and major careers in public health and preschool education. Thematically, these stories are linked by the women's continuing battles to make themselves heard through the din of clerical wisdom that contradicts their reality.Less
This biography follows three generations of ministers' mothers, daughters, and wives as their family—one of America's foremost Unitarian dynasties—spreads out across the continent and their liberal denomination evolves. The oldest Eliot women remember its quickening in the early 1800s, and the youngest, its formal consolidation in 1961 with the kindred Universalist Church of America. Shifting the focus from pulpits to parsonages, and from sermons to doubting pews, Tucker lifts up a long‐ignored female perspective and humanizes a famously staid and cerebral religious tradition. The narrative organizes itself as a series of stories, all shaped by defining experiences that are interrelated and timeless. These range from the deaths of young children and the anguish of infertility to the suffocation of small parish life, loneliness, doubt, and financial distress. One woman survives with the help of a rare female confidant in the parish. Another is braced by the unmet friends who read magazines that publish her poems. A third escapes from an ill‐fitting role by succumbing to neurasthenia, leaving one wasting condition for another. It is left to the matriarch's granddaughters to script larger lives for themselves by bypassing marriage and churchly employment to follow their hearts into same‐sex unions and major careers in public health and preschool education. Thematically, these stories are linked by the women's continuing battles to make themselves heard through the din of clerical wisdom that contradicts their reality.
Cynthia Grant Tucker
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390209
- eISBN:
- 9780199866670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390209.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
For Etta's daughter Dorothea Dix Eliot (1871‐1957), who marries her father's associate pastor, Earl Morse Wilbur (1866‐1956), in 1898, a major challenge is teaching her husband to stay in tune with ...
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For Etta's daughter Dorothea Dix Eliot (1871‐1957), who marries her father's associate pastor, Earl Morse Wilbur (1866‐1956), in 1898, a major challenge is teaching her husband to stay in tune with his family's needs and the politics of his profession. Taken first to a small, stingy parish in Meadville, PA, and then to Berkeley, CA, where Earl tries to run a new Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry—today's Starr King—with almost no budget, Dodie must live with the poverty Etta had only imagined. More protective of her inherited caste because of their insufficiency, she lectures Earl on how to keep low‐paid domestics busy and humble. After struggling with infertility before a daughter is born, her dependency on a lower‐class midwife is further mortification. Later, the tragic death of her college‐age son dislodges her faith, and she dies a confessed agnostic.Less
For Etta's daughter Dorothea Dix Eliot (1871‐1957), who marries her father's associate pastor, Earl Morse Wilbur (1866‐1956), in 1898, a major challenge is teaching her husband to stay in tune with his family's needs and the politics of his profession. Taken first to a small, stingy parish in Meadville, PA, and then to Berkeley, CA, where Earl tries to run a new Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry—today's Starr King—with almost no budget, Dodie must live with the poverty Etta had only imagined. More protective of her inherited caste because of their insufficiency, she lectures Earl on how to keep low‐paid domestics busy and humble. After struggling with infertility before a daughter is born, her dependency on a lower‐class midwife is further mortification. Later, the tragic death of her college‐age son dislodges her faith, and she dies a confessed agnostic.
Abdulaziz Sachedina
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195378504
- eISBN:
- 9780199869688
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195378504.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The chapter deals with the beginning of life by probing in greater detail the ethics of sexual and asexual procreation in the light of certain reproductive technologies that transgress the boundaries ...
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The chapter deals with the beginning of life by probing in greater detail the ethics of sexual and asexual procreation in the light of certain reproductive technologies that transgress the boundaries of normal sexual reproduction. Today scientists speak about the possibility of noncoital production of human embryos through somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT or the “Dolly technique”) or using the cells from in vitro human embryos that have lost their capacity to form a new individual. The advent of new reproductive technologies made possible what is impossible in nature. These new technologies also challenge respect for life and human dignity in radical ways, raising difficult ethical issues for all societies. Some of these ethical concerns form the core of this chapter and are conveyed in the questions like, “What is the moral status of the embryo?” and “What kind of respect for its life does that require from society?”Less
The chapter deals with the beginning of life by probing in greater detail the ethics of sexual and asexual procreation in the light of certain reproductive technologies that transgress the boundaries of normal sexual reproduction. Today scientists speak about the possibility of noncoital production of human embryos through somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT or the “Dolly technique”) or using the cells from in vitro human embryos that have lost their capacity to form a new individual. The advent of new reproductive technologies made possible what is impossible in nature. These new technologies also challenge respect for life and human dignity in radical ways, raising difficult ethical issues for all societies. Some of these ethical concerns form the core of this chapter and are conveyed in the questions like, “What is the moral status of the embryo?” and “What kind of respect for its life does that require from society?”
Rebecca Krawiec
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195129434
- eISBN:
- 9780199834396
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195129431.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
I argue that in terms of both language and function, the White Monastery becomes a monastic family that replaces, in an idealized form, the families the monks are to have renounced. The use of ...
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I argue that in terms of both language and function, the White Monastery becomes a monastic family that replaces, in an idealized form, the families the monks are to have renounced. The use of kinship language allows Shenoute to stress egalitarian relationships, where all monks including Shenoute are “brethren,” even as he also uses particularly female metaphors of childbirth and infertility to define the proper monastic life. In addition, Shenoute's use of familial imagery allows him to create a genealogy that traces the monks’ “ancestry” to past biblical figures. I then move to an investigation of points of comparison between the Egyptian family and the monastery – that both provide food, clothing, shelter, and emotional support – to show how the family was a model for the monastery. Of particular importance is the shared expectation that the women's role in both was to provide clothing, thus allowing gendered, indeed patriarchal, aspects of the nonmonastic family to affect the monastery.Less
I argue that in terms of both language and function, the White Monastery becomes a monastic family that replaces, in an idealized form, the families the monks are to have renounced. The use of kinship language allows Shenoute to stress egalitarian relationships, where all monks including Shenoute are “brethren,” even as he also uses particularly female metaphors of childbirth and infertility to define the proper monastic life. In addition, Shenoute's use of familial imagery allows him to create a genealogy that traces the monks’ “ancestry” to past biblical figures. I then move to an investigation of points of comparison between the Egyptian family and the monastery – that both provide food, clothing, shelter, and emotional support – to show how the family was a model for the monastery. Of particular importance is the shared expectation that the women's role in both was to provide clothing, thus allowing gendered, indeed patriarchal, aspects of the nonmonastic family to affect the monastery.
Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231170949
- eISBN:
- 9780231544580
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170949.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
How does one make decisions today about in vitro fertilization, abortion, egg freezing, surrogacy, and other matters of reproduction? This book provides the intellectual and emotional intelligence to ...
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How does one make decisions today about in vitro fertilization, abortion, egg freezing, surrogacy, and other matters of reproduction? This book provides the intellectual and emotional intelligence to help individuals make informed choices amid misinformation and competing claims. Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia speak to the couple trying to become pregnant, the woman contemplating an abortion, and the student searching for sound information about human sex and reproduction. Their book is an enlightening read for men as well as for women, describing in clear terms how babies come into existence through both natural and assisted reproductive pathways. They update “the talk” for the twenty-first century: the birds, the bees, and the Petri dishes.
Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of Reproductive Biotechnology first covers the most recent and well-grounded scientific conclusions about fertilization and early human embryology. It then discusses the reasons why some of the major forms of assisted reproductive technologies were invented, how they are used, and what they can and cannot accomplish. Most important, the authors explore the emotional side of using these technologies, focusing on those who have emptied their emotions and bank accounts in a valiant effort to conceive a child. This work of science and human biology is informed by a moral concern for our common humanity.Less
How does one make decisions today about in vitro fertilization, abortion, egg freezing, surrogacy, and other matters of reproduction? This book provides the intellectual and emotional intelligence to help individuals make informed choices amid misinformation and competing claims. Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia speak to the couple trying to become pregnant, the woman contemplating an abortion, and the student searching for sound information about human sex and reproduction. Their book is an enlightening read for men as well as for women, describing in clear terms how babies come into existence through both natural and assisted reproductive pathways. They update “the talk” for the twenty-first century: the birds, the bees, and the Petri dishes.
Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of Reproductive Biotechnology first covers the most recent and well-grounded scientific conclusions about fertilization and early human embryology. It then discusses the reasons why some of the major forms of assisted reproductive technologies were invented, how they are used, and what they can and cannot accomplish. Most important, the authors explore the emotional side of using these technologies, focusing on those who have emptied their emotions and bank accounts in a valiant effort to conceive a child. This work of science and human biology is informed by a moral concern for our common humanity.
Cynthia R. Daniels
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195148411
- eISBN:
- 9780199850990
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195148411.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter explores the third element of reproductive masculinity—the assumption of male virility—through the history and practices of the sperm-banking industry in the United States. It analyzes ...
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This chapter explores the third element of reproductive masculinity—the assumption of male virility—through the history and practices of the sperm-banking industry in the United States. It analyzes the social, technological, and economic forces that pushed male infertility into public light at the end of the twentieth century and led to the commodification of sperm. The chapter traces the processes of social deflection that come into play to reinstate ideals of masculinity in the face of the public exposure of male infertility. It also assesses the paradoxical nature of masculine privilege that valorizes sperm as the carrier of ideal human traits but still measures a man by his fertility.Less
This chapter explores the third element of reproductive masculinity—the assumption of male virility—through the history and practices of the sperm-banking industry in the United States. It analyzes the social, technological, and economic forces that pushed male infertility into public light at the end of the twentieth century and led to the commodification of sperm. The chapter traces the processes of social deflection that come into play to reinstate ideals of masculinity in the face of the public exposure of male infertility. It also assesses the paradoxical nature of masculine privilege that valorizes sperm as the carrier of ideal human traits but still measures a man by his fertility.
Ruth Deech and Anna Smajdor
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199219780
- eISBN:
- 9780191713002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219780.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter explores the ethical issues raised by reproductive technologies. The authors discuss the idea that relief of infertility is in itself a worthy ethical goal. They evaluate the concept of ...
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This chapter explores the ethical issues raised by reproductive technologies. The authors discuss the idea that relief of infertility is in itself a worthy ethical goal. They evaluate the concept of autonomy in the context of reproduction, and evaluate the role of law and regulation in constraining people's reproductive desires. The risks associated with reproductive technology are discussed, and the effects of individual reproductive decisions on the public are considered. The importance of consent in the context of fertility treatment is explored, and the idea that reproduction is inherently private is analysed. Ethical considerations related to children born as a result of reproductive children are also considered.Less
This chapter explores the ethical issues raised by reproductive technologies. The authors discuss the idea that relief of infertility is in itself a worthy ethical goal. They evaluate the concept of autonomy in the context of reproduction, and evaluate the role of law and regulation in constraining people's reproductive desires. The risks associated with reproductive technology are discussed, and the effects of individual reproductive decisions on the public are considered. The importance of consent in the context of fertility treatment is explored, and the idea that reproduction is inherently private is analysed. Ethical considerations related to children born as a result of reproductive children are also considered.
Ayo Wahlberg
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520297777
- eISBN:
- 9780520969995
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520297777.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
From crude and uneasy beginnings, sperm banking has become a routine part of China’s pervasive and restrictive reproductive complex within the space of thirty years. It covers the introduction of ...
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From crude and uneasy beginnings, sperm banking has become a routine part of China’s pervasive and restrictive reproductive complex within the space of thirty years. It covers the introduction of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to China to address infertility, the expansion of the use of donor sperm in cases in which the male partner suffers from a genetic disease, and other issues, such as the availability and screening of potential sperm donors.Less
From crude and uneasy beginnings, sperm banking has become a routine part of China’s pervasive and restrictive reproductive complex within the space of thirty years. It covers the introduction of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to China to address infertility, the expansion of the use of donor sperm in cases in which the male partner suffers from a genetic disease, and other issues, such as the availability and screening of potential sperm donors.
Richard W. Norman and David C. Currow (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198529415
- eISBN:
- 9780191730344
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198529415.001.0001
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making, Pain Management and Palliative Pharmacology
This book provides a practical, evidence-based overview of the supportive care of patients with urological failure, focusing on chronic symptoms such as chronic prostatitis. It begins by looking at ...
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This book provides a practical, evidence-based overview of the supportive care of patients with urological failure, focusing on chronic symptoms such as chronic prostatitis. It begins by looking at quality of life measurements, self-help strategies, the role of the interdisciplinary team, and psychological and social support. It then moves on to clinical chapters which cover issues such as patients who present with hematuria, urinary retention, urinary incontinence, neurological disease affecting the urinary tract, chronic prostatitis, and infertility; ending with a chapter on supportive care for the urology patient and family in the future. The book places a special emphasis on symptomatic interventions, particularly in the setting where the course of the illness cannot be modified.Less
This book provides a practical, evidence-based overview of the supportive care of patients with urological failure, focusing on chronic symptoms such as chronic prostatitis. It begins by looking at quality of life measurements, self-help strategies, the role of the interdisciplinary team, and psychological and social support. It then moves on to clinical chapters which cover issues such as patients who present with hematuria, urinary retention, urinary incontinence, neurological disease affecting the urinary tract, chronic prostatitis, and infertility; ending with a chapter on supportive care for the urology patient and family in the future. The book places a special emphasis on symptomatic interventions, particularly in the setting where the course of the illness cannot be modified.
Susan Starr Sered
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195104677
- eISBN:
- 9780199853267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The most conspicuous similarities among women's religions emerge in the realm of suffering and healing. Whereas all religions deal in some way with explanations of and solutions to suffering, women's ...
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The most conspicuous similarities among women's religions emerge in the realm of suffering and healing. Whereas all religions deal in some way with explanations of and solutions to suffering, women's religions are characterized by the particular emphasis placed on illness and curing. This emphasis is manifested theologically (elaborate explanations for suffering), ritually (key rituals are often healing rituals), in terms of membership (members often join because of illness), and in terms of leadership (a history of illness is typically part of the path to leadership). Almost all the women's religions devote a great deal of attention to suffering—especially illness—to the extent that some of the religions have been “accused” of being not much more than healing cults. Why do women create or join religions that deal with healing? One reason is that women bear the brunt of culturally assigned responsibility for infertility and all the physical consequences of pregnancy and childbirth. A more direct way in which motherhood figures into the religion-illness equation concerns the key biological transitions in women's lives: menarche, pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause.Less
The most conspicuous similarities among women's religions emerge in the realm of suffering and healing. Whereas all religions deal in some way with explanations of and solutions to suffering, women's religions are characterized by the particular emphasis placed on illness and curing. This emphasis is manifested theologically (elaborate explanations for suffering), ritually (key rituals are often healing rituals), in terms of membership (members often join because of illness), and in terms of leadership (a history of illness is typically part of the path to leadership). Almost all the women's religions devote a great deal of attention to suffering—especially illness—to the extent that some of the religions have been “accused” of being not much more than healing cults. Why do women create or join religions that deal with healing? One reason is that women bear the brunt of culturally assigned responsibility for infertility and all the physical consequences of pregnancy and childbirth. A more direct way in which motherhood figures into the religion-illness equation concerns the key biological transitions in women's lives: menarche, pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause.
