This thesis explores how fertility clinics engage in various textual and visual
strategies to locate nature and kinship in the context of the assisted conception
technologies they offer. In particular, competing paradigms of modern technology
solving problems of the body versus the “naturalness” of having a baby means that
fertility clinics must mobilize particular understandings of nature and technology to
bridge this gap. Additionally, fertility clinics draw upon culturally meaningful themes
such as “birds and bees” to structure relationships among assisted conception technology
participants. I argue that fertility clinic websites are public sites of discourse through
which clinics both attempt to attract potential clients and shape understanding of assisted
conception technology by offering particular explanations as real and natural.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/1252 |
| Date | 12 November 2008 |
| Creators | Pender, Lisa Jane |
| Contributors | Mitchell, Lisa Meryn |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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