Infertility and Non-Traditional Family Building: From Assisted Reproduction to Adoption in the Media [Paperback]

This book examines the representation of infertility, assisted reproduction, miscarriage, adoption and surrogacy in a wide range of media, including blogs, vlogs, social media posts and factual programming. In so doing, it illustrates how pregnancy loss, involuntary childlessness and non-traditional mothering are being depicted across the media landscape. Whilst the topic of motherhood has emerged as a significant area of academic debate, narratives of unsuccessful or unconventional mothering have remained largely absent, even at a time when there is a growing conversation about infertility online. Timely, pertinent and original, the book demonstrates the importance of a broader and more informed cultural discussion about fertility and family building.

1. Introduction: infertility and non-traditional family building.-2. Infertility: private confessions in a public arena.-3. Assisted reproduction: family, fortunes and fertility clinics.-4. Pregnancy loss: shame and silence over a shared experience.-5. Adoption: eligibility, assessment and selection.-6. Conclusion: future research directions.

Rebecca Feasey is Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Communications at Bath Spa University, UK. She is the author of Mothers on Mothers: Maternal Readings of Popular Culture (2016), From Happy Homemaker to Desperate Housewives: Motherhood and Popular Television (2012) and Masculinity and Popular Television (2008).

This book examines the representation of infertility, assisted reproduction, miscarriage, adoption and surrogacy in a wide range of media, including blogs, vlogs, social media posts and factual programming. In so doing, it illustrates how pregnancy loss, involuntary childlessness and non-traditional mothering are being depicted across the media landscape.&nbsplÓC