Reproducing genes : a feminist analysis of genetic ties in the age of high-tech parenthood

Abstract

The social construction of familial relationships in Western society tends to value the genetic relationship between parents and children. This belief has been central in assigning normative status to the genetically related nuclear family. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a recent reproductive technology that allows infertile heterosexual couples the chance to create a genetically related child. This feminist analysis of the social construction of IVF reveals that the contemporary use of this technology both reflects and reinforces the dominance of the genetically related nuclear family as the normative family form. While the experiences and consequences related to IVF can be both positive and negative for individual women who use this technology, feminists have identified the privileging of the nuclear family as being problematic for women as a social group.