"Married, Single, or Gay?" Queerying and Trans-forming the Practices of Assisted Human Reproduction Services

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dc.contributor.advisorDippo, Donald A
dc.creatorEpstein, Rachel
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-31T16:21:02Z
dc.date.available2014-07-31T16:21:02Z
dc.date.copyright2014-04-22
dc.date.issued2014-07-28
dc.date.updated2014-07-28T16:20:28Z
dc.degree.disciplineEducation
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractLesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people in North America have historically been categorized as “disfavoured reproducers” and, through various legal, social, and political means, have been denied the right to parent. The past 30 years, however, have been marked by staggering social, legal, and political change in relation to LGBTQ families and people across the LGBTQ spectrum in Canada are increasingly making use of Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) services as part of their family-building processes. However, despite significant gains in social and legal recognition for LGBTQ people in Canada, LGBTQ people are often unhappily marginalized when they seek reproductive assistance and are brought under the rubric of a highly medicalized, profit-making system within which their bodies, and families, most often do not fit. Drawing on 40 qualitative interviews from the CIHR-funded Creating Our Families project, which was designed to explore the experiences of LGBT people with AHR services in Ontario, this dissertation explores the ways that LGBTQ identities and kinship structures are often misrecognized and, in many cases, unintelligible in the fertility clinic context. The assumptions of the heterosexual matrix, in alliance with the culture of the fertility industry, can result in violations or ruptures to the personhood of queer and trans people as they make their way through the clinic. The strategies that people adopt in order to enhance their flow through the clinic can at times contribute to these violations. The dissertation explores the contours of a more ethical relation between LGBTQ people and fertility clinics, and finally, considers some pedagogical issues related to what is at stake when health care providers are asked to adopt a stance of “not-knowing” that recognizes the radical alterity of the Other.  en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/27697
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectGender studiesen_US
dc.subjectGLBT studiesen_US
dc.subjectAdult educationen_US
dc.subject.keywordsEthicsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsAssisted human reproductionen_US
dc.subject.keywordsFertility clinicsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLGBTQ parentingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsGay parentingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbian parentingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbianen_US
dc.subject.keywordsTrans parentingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsTrans pregnancyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsSemen regulationsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsNormative familiesen_US
dc.subject.keywordsQueer kinshipen_US
dc.subject.keywordsReproductive technologiesen_US
dc.subject.keywordsAdministrative blockagesen_US
dc.subject.keywordsSperm donorsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsRadical alterityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsEmpathyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsNot-knowingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsObjectificationen_US
dc.subject.keywordsGender labouren_US
dc.title"Married, Single, or Gay?" Queerying and Trans-forming the Practices of Assisted Human Reproduction Servicesen_US
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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