Freezing Fertility: Oocyte Cryopreservation and the Gender Politics of Aging

Abstract

With the introduction of the reproductive technology of egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation), new cultural and clinical practices of anticipating bodily futurity emerge. The documentary Eggs for Later (Schellart, 2010), which features diverse medical, political and personal discourses on egg freezing, gives insight into the anticipatory terms and affective states through which women's future age-related infertility is conceptualised in relation to the medical possibility of cryopreserving eggs. My analysis of the documentary draws attention to the contesting interpretations of egg freezing as postponement of motherhood, extension of fertility and biopreparedness for future infertility. What is at stake is the potential of various modes of anticipating bodily futurity to reconfigure ideas and practices of what constitutes healthy embodiment, the reproductive process and responsible ageing. From the analysis follows that egg freezing may function not only to potentially achieve future reproduction, but to resolve anticipatory anxiety by maintaining the futurity of potential motherhood.