Egg freezing, an emerging form of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), allows women to postpone motherhood by freezing and preserving their oocytes. Whereas the technology has been marketed as offering women reproductive choices, it has also been criticized for its commercial narrative that sells hope and incites fear of regret. Despite such concerns, my ethnographic research suggests that egg freezers are not necessarily exploited by the fertility industries’ markteting strategies but rather satisfied with their decision of undergoing egg freezing, finding it necessary and worth the cost. Based on the ethnographic accounts of egg freezers’ experiences and narratives collected through interview research in Japan, this paper conceptually explores what they are buying through undergoing egg freezing. In discussing the gap between the publicly assumed role of egg freezing and how its users define and actually benefit from it, this paper aims to highlight underexplored aspect of the contemporary egg freezing expereience and offer better understandings of social challenges and issues that women are facing today in negotiating their life course.

Authors:
Sachiyo Yagi, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Sachiyo Yagi is a University Doctoral Student at Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland

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