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Gendering the beginning of life: Taiwanese gay fathers' navigation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis-assisted sex selection in transnational third-party reproduction.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Change log

Abstract

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been used not only to avoid genetic diseases and increase conception success rates but also to perform non-medical sex selection, particularly in the surging cross-border reproductive care (CBRC). In the context of commercialised biomedicine, assisted reproductive technologies, such as lifestyle sex selection, have been tailored to meet intended parents' preferences. However, there is a lack of analysis on how individuals' reproductive decisions on PGD-assisted sex selection were shaped within the sociocultural norms and CBRC. This article explores Taiwanese gay fathers' navigations on sex selection while seeking third-party reproduction overseas because of local legal constraints. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 53 gay fathers (to-be), I analysed how 'individual preferences' were dynamically shaped by local sociocultural norms and embedded within transnational settings of routinising PGD in chosen repro-destinations. The findings showed that gay fathers mobilised strategic discourses on non-medical sex selection from both the local and the global to negotiate their decisions in coherence with their LGBTQ+ identity and their role as sons carrying familial responsibility to procreate male heirs. This article proposed a nuanced understanding of gay fathers' reproductive practices of 'gendering the beginning of life' through PGD-assisted sex selection.

Description

Publication status: Published


Funder: Ministry of Education Taiwan


Funder: Cambridge Trust; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003343

Keywords

Taiwan, gay fathers, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), sex selection, transnational reproduction, Humans, Male, Preimplantation Diagnosis, Taiwan, Fathers, Adult, Sex Preselection, Female, Homosexuality, Male, Reproductive Techniques, Assisted, Interviews as Topic, Sexual and Gender Minorities, Middle Aged

Journal Title

Sociol Health Illn

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0141-9889
1467-9566

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley