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Answers the question: Why are women freezing their eggs?
Why are women freezing their eggs in record numbers? Motherhood on Ice explores this question by drawing on the stories of more than 150 women who pursued fertility preservation technology. Moving between narratives of pain and empowerment, these nuanced personal stories reveal the complexity of women’s lives as they struggle to preserve and extend their fertility.
Contrary to popular belief, egg freezing is rarely about women postponing fertility for the sake of their careers. Rather, the most-educated women are increasingly forced to delay childbearing because they face a mating gap—a lack of eligible, educated, equal partners ready for marriage and parenthood. For these women, egg freezing is a reproductive backstop, a technological attempt to bridge the gap while waiting for the right partner. But it is not an easy choice for most. Their stories reveal the extent to which it is logistically complicated, physically taxing, financially demanding, emotionally draining, and uncertain in its effects.
In this powerful book, women share their reflections on their clinical encounters, as well as the immense hopes and investments they place in this high-tech fertility preservation strategy. Race, religion, and the role of men in the lives of single women pursuing this technology are also explored. A distinctly human portrait of an understudied and rapidly growing population, Motherhood on Ice examines what is at stake for women who take comfort in their frozen eggs while embarking on their quests for partnership, pregnancy, and parenting.
"Marcia Inhorn, an anthropology professor at Yale University, embarked on a decade-long study to understand what drives healthy women to freeze their eggs. In her recent book, Motherhood on Ice, Inhorn notes that it is often men, not women, who want to delay child rearing."
— Matilda Hay
"The stories in Motherhood on Ice raise deeper questions about heterosexual relationships today, ones that have implications for overall fertility rates, the U.S. economy, and the future of the family. Most of all, this book captures the pain of women who struggle to fulfill the human desires for companionship and parenthood, pain that has been too long overlooked in the broader discussions about egg freezing."
— Anna Louie Sussman
"It is comforting to relate to so many stories as you realize how universal our struggles and worries are. [Motherhood on Ice] also helps remove any stigma or shame around this process. Egg freezing is empowering, not embarrassing and certainly shouldn’t have any shame attached to it."
""Contrary to stereotype, these potential mothers haven’t powered through their careers and forgotten to marry; they just haven’t been able to find suitable men to partner with. The men they believe would make good fathers — “eligible, educated and equal” — are nowhere to be found.""
— Christine Emba
"Inhorn provides a provocative inquiry into a contemporary subject of interest to many."
"As women reach the end of their most fertile years, those who want to keep their biological motherhood options open may find hope and a sense of community in these pages."
"Extremely rich in nuanced analysis, Motherhood on Ice vividly portrays the experiences of women—of various racial and religious backgrounds—at every stage of this oftentimes fraught process. Inhorn addresses a critical societal issue with conviction and grace."
— Chantal Collard, Concordia University
"Passionate, empathic, and rigorously researched, this book will be popular amongst audiences ranging from single, well-heeled thirty-something professional women considering egg freezing to public health, medical anthropology, and gender studies academic audiences."
— Rayna Rapp, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, New York University
"Simply outstanding. Inhorn exposes how the lack of suitable partners, not career ambition, has resulted in egg freezing. This book will surely garner attention and cultivate widespread appeal."
— Rosanna Hertz, author of Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings, and the Creation of New Kin
"Digging through the avalanche of publications and media portrayals of the kinds of women who turn to egg freezing, Professor Marcia Inhorn centres the lived experiences of over 100 egg freezers, to successfully dispel the inaccuracies of prevalent stereotypes."
"A provocative glimpse into the current state of the fertility industry and a harbinger of shifting marital and family gender relations to come."
"As Motherhood on Ice shows, detailed histories tend to vindicate women [who freeze their eggs]: it’s not that they are particularly poor decision makers, but that they’ve found themselves casualties of profound changes in mating trends."
Marcia C. Inhorn is the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Yale University. She is the author or coeditor of twenty-one volumes, including Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global Dubai and Motherhood on Ice: The Mating Gap and Why Women Freeze Their Eggs.