Eggs on Ice. Imaginaries on Eggs and Cryopreservation in Denmark

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

While Denmark is widely known as a global exporter of cryopreserved sperm, Danish women’s eggs follow very different trajectories. This paper combines legal and rhetorical analyses with the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries (Jasanoff, 2015). In establishing the genealogy of the sociotechnical imaginaries that shaped the Danish regulation on the cryopreservation of eggs, we analyze the relevant Acts, Bills, preparatory work and readings in Parliament along with the concurrent public and ethical debates that in time relaxed the legal limit for the cryopreservation of eggs to the current 5 years and today continue to ignite discussions on elective egg freezing. We rely on welfare state perspectives to discuss why reproduction, in the Danish context, is seen as a legitimate and appropriate sphere to regulate and we turn to feminist theorizing to discuss their gendered implications captured in the sociotechnical imaginaries of the “Moral State,” “technologies to be tamed,” “the nuclear family,” and “technology as equality and hope.” We end by discussing how an interdisciplinary approach enriches our understanding of the legal, cultural and political entanglements related to putting eggs on ice.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research
Volume26
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)19-35
Number of pages17
ISSN0803-8740
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

ID: 187080074