Gendering the beginning of life

Taiwanese gay fathers' navigation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis-assisted sex selection in transnational third-party reproduction

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2250331
AutoresJung Chen (0000-0002-4036-0962, Department of Sociology University of Cambridge Free School Lane Cambridge UK, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen46
Número5
Páginas907-925
Fecha de publicación2024-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.13747
PMID38149776
OpenAlexW4390267552
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas36

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been used not only to avoid genetic diseases and increase conception success rates but also to perform non-medical sex selection, particularly in the surging cross-border reproductive care (CBRC). In the context of commercialised biomedicine, assisted reproductive technologies, such as lifestyle sex selection, have been tailored to meet intended parents' preferences. However, there is a lack of analysis on how individuals' reproductive decisions on PGD-assisted sex selection were shaped within the sociocultural norms and CBRC. This article explores Taiwanese gay fathers' navigations on sex selection while seeking third-party reproduction overseas because of local legal constraints. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 53 gay fathers (to-be), I analysed how 'individual preferences' were dynamically shaped by local sociocultural norms and embedded within transnational settings of routinising PGD in chosen repro-destinations. The findings showed that gay fathers mobilised strategic discourses on non-medical sex selection from both the local and the global to negotiate their decisions in coherence with their LGBTQ+ identity and their role as sons carrying familial responsibility to procreate male heirs. This article proposed a nuanced understanding of gay fathers' reproductive practices of 'gendering the beginning of life' through PGD-assisted sex selection

Biology · Context (archaeology · Egg donation · Gynecology · Negotiation · Pregnancy · Preimplantation genetic diagnosis · Reproduction · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sex selection · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Gender Studies · Genetics · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies