Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Featured article
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Featured article
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Oncofertility
T2 - beyond biological motherhood, towards reproductive justice
AU - Porroche-Escudero, Ana
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - The field of oncofertility -- a word that combines the terms oncology (the study of cancer) and fertility (the capacity to produce offspring) -- has done much to put reproductive health on the international cancer agenda and to expand fertility options for cancer survivors. Before the field took hold, women’s reproductive concerns were ignored or disregarded as secondary to cancer treatment. However, the field's exclusive focus on helping women to become mothers post-cancer may have inadvertently (re)created constraining norms surrounding women's reproductive health. It also masks at least two societal forces contributing to the cancer/infertility equation. I propose moving beyond an emphasis on biological reproduction towards a more inclusive redefinition of oncofertility that links motherhood to wider struggles for reproductive justice.
AB - The field of oncofertility -- a word that combines the terms oncology (the study of cancer) and fertility (the capacity to produce offspring) -- has done much to put reproductive health on the international cancer agenda and to expand fertility options for cancer survivors. Before the field took hold, women’s reproductive concerns were ignored or disregarded as secondary to cancer treatment. However, the field's exclusive focus on helping women to become mothers post-cancer may have inadvertently (re)created constraining norms surrounding women's reproductive health. It also masks at least two societal forces contributing to the cancer/infertility equation. I propose moving beyond an emphasis on biological reproduction towards a more inclusive redefinition of oncofertility that links motherhood to wider struggles for reproductive justice.
KW - women's health
KW - oncofertility
KW - breast cancer
KW - Anthropology
KW - SOCIOLOGY
KW - medical anthropology
KW - environmental health
KW - feminism
KW - gender
KW - FERTILITY
KW - cancer prevention
M3 - Featured article
VL - 3
JO - Breast Cancer Consortium Quarterly
JF - Breast Cancer Consortium Quarterly
ER -