Women's lives and temporalities of fertility treatment

This paper explores women’s temporal experiences of using Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). The demand for such treatment has increased since the first IVF birth. ART involves invasive procedures in women’s bodies, uncertain outcomes, and temporal challenges. A sample of 11 professional women was drawn from a larger sample recruited for interviews from online infertility forums. Analysis was carried out using a biographical life course approach to draw out the temporal elements of experiences. Four themes were identified: biographical timing and temporalities of fertility treatment; biographical timing and a/synchronicity with friends; temporalities of everyday life when using ART; and 'public issue’ or ‘private trouble’ in relation to silences around ART. Undergoing ART treatment sets these women apart from friends who conceive without treatment, and they faced challenges for the rhythms of everyday life during this period. Using ART highlighted public taboos about women’s bodies. Thus for many, this critical phase had to be kept secret. Understanding women’s temporal experiences of ART and the challenges involved are important for developing context sensitive theories and concepts that can contribute to deeper insight into the intersecting temporalities of reproductive processes in general and using ART in particular.