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The Biological Clock: Age, Risk, and the Biopolitics of Reproductive Time

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Yopo Díaz, Martina  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5886-8211

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe present article explores the social and subjective dimensions of the biological clock and its implications for reproductive time through a qualitative study based on 40 life story interviews of women from Santiago de Chile. Although the narrative of the biological clock has become a prevalent frame for addressing reproductive time in the context of late childbearing, age-related infertility, and the use of assisted reproductive technologies, few studies engage in an in-depth analysis of the biological clock—its boundaries, dynamics, and the particular ways in which it shapes women’s views and experiences of reproductive time. The present article aims to advance current knowledge on the intersection of time, reproduction, and biopolitics by arguing that the biological clock regulates reproductive time by shaping the boundaries and dynamics of female fertility through the clock. By determining reproductive time as quantitative, standardised, linear, and irreversible and by outlining the passing of time through pressure, risk, and burden, the biological clock determines when it is possible and desirable to have children and regulates reproduction, gender, and the female life course. These findings highlight the importance of critically addressing the narrative of the biological clock and its implications for women’s views and experiences of reproductive time.</jats:p>

Description

Funder: Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002848


Funder: Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003343

Keywords

44 Human Society, 4405 Gender Studies, 4403 Demography, Infertility, Women's Health, Contraception/Reproduction, Reproductive health and childbirth, 3 Good Health and Well Being, 5 Gender Equality

Journal Title

Sex Roles

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0360-0025
1573-2762

Volume Title

84

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC