1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910865286503321

Autore

Halden Grace <1983->

Titolo

Cyborg conception : cultural and critical responses to solo motherhood by choice / / Grace Halden

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Palgrave Macmillan, , [2024]

©2024

ISBN

9783031593864

9783031593857

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (168 pages)

Collana

Palgrave pivot

Disciplina

304.6/32

Soggetti

Single mothers

Artificial insemination, Human

Artificial insemination, Human - Moral and ethical aspects

Artificial insemination, Human - Social aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Reflection -- Introduction: Cultural and Critical Responses to Solo Motherhood by Choice -- A Note About Terminology -- References -- Chapter 2: Cyborg Conception: The Solo Mother as a Cyborg Not a Goddess -- Reflection -- Introduction: The 1980s Tripartite Mother: Single, Goddess, and Cyborg -- Cyborg and Solo Motherhood by Choice -- Goddess and Single Mother -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Liminal Experience: The Solo Mother, Fertility Clinics, and Ambiguous Loss -- Reflection -- Introduction: The Liminal Space Between Natural and Unnatural -- Obligation Not to Conceive: SMBC and Anti-donation Discourse -- Liminal Experience: Fertility Clinics -- Liminal Experience: Ambiguous Loss -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4: Reckless Radicals: The Solo Mother in Fiction and Popular Culture -- Reflection -- Introduction: What Is Cyborg Fiction? -- The "Inadequate" Solo Mother in Young-Adult Literature -- Correcting the "Problem" of the Single Mother in Adult Fiction -- Conclusion: What Is To Be Done? -- References -- Chapter 5: Personal Storytelling: The Solo Mother and Lived Experience -- Reflection --



Introduction: Real Experiences -- Choice, Fairy Tales, and Planning Families -- Guides, Educating, and Collaborating -- Conclusion: Theorists for Cyborgs -- References -- Chapter 6: Conclusion -- Introduction: Cyborg Language -- Single, Solo, and Choice: A Language of Difference -- Reflection -- References -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book considers the growing popularity of solo motherhood via gamete donation and how this type of "cyborg conception" is narrated in medicine, bioethics, fiction, and memoir. It identifies solo mothers as radical women who exist in a space beyond binarity (male/female dual-rearing dynamic) and heteronormative discourse; solo mothers represent, among other diverse family constructions (such as same-sex couples and throuples), a critical intervention in the dominant narrative of the nuclear family which defines the "ideal" reproductive model. This book combines memoir and scholarly research to present a deeply nuanced and rigorous overview of the solo motherhood phenomenon. Grace Halden is a Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. She specialises in reproductive health, reproductive technologies, assisted reproduction (IUI and IVF), donor conception, and bioethics. Her work is interdisciplinary and sits in the juncture between literary studies and medical humanities. Grace is also a solo mother by choice and a professional member of the Donor Conception Network (DCN). She has won several funding grants for her donor conception work (two funded by the Wellcome Institute) and is published widely in the field