Suchergebnisse

Though greatly routinized over the past two decades, assisted reproductive technologies still invoke an occasional public debate around a dilemma that is constituted as unprecedented. This paper examines one such case that took place in Israel—that of a legal dispute between estranged partners over the right to have their fertilized eggs implanted in a surrogate mother's womb. The paper probes the political repercussions of the case in terms of the impact on the pronatalist local order and gender relations. It shows that certain subjects, mostly those of a more " female" domestic character, received exceptional public attention and indeed called into question prevailing ideas and power relations. At the same time, in other contexts of the debate, the status quo was reaffirmed within an updated framework. On the whole, the dilemma at hand and the innovative options enabled by technology were largely contained within the established gender order. Still, the case did contribute, if modestly, to women's rights and autonomy. The paper's conclusion suggests that public debates regarding reproductive disruptions may become a vehicle for both patriarchal gender relations and social transformation.

This paper assesses the prevalence of 569 population groups in mutation-related research literature by means of prevalence scores, calculated on the basis of a systematic search of the PubMed database. The main finding is that Mediterranean and Muslim populations are mentioned more often than other groups. The observed overrepresentation is attributed to the pervasiveness of hemoglobin disorders in these populations, the early decoding of hemoglobin and the relative commonness of consanguineous marriage in some of these populations. The paper points at potential benefits as well as predicaments that the intensive targeting of these populations for mutation research may entail.

Cites collectivism as an element within Israeli culture from its inception. Explores the intricate mosaic of individualism/collectivism as expressed in a middle class Tel‐Aviv neighbourhood. Uses a three years of fieldwork and a neighbourhood survey to describe the residents as active individuals, aiming to advance their private interests and eager to interact with each other and participate in organized local activities. Shows how some modes of collectivist action were directed towards individual interests. Shows the collectivist tendency as still strong and influenced by the dominance of social parties in Israel.

Participant observation of three in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles in metropolitan national health care clinics, 1990-1992, underpin a self-reflexive comparative case study of IVF procedures in Israel & Canada. Feminist critiques of infertility treatments as the epitome of male domination & a means to objectify women are discussed. IVF method & organization are detailed, noting that procedures in both countries were physician-dominated, highly technological, low in cost, & woman friendly. Israeli doctors were more patronizing, but also more personal & sympathetic, than their Canadian counterparts. Organizational & economic differences resulting from the smaller size & lower affluence of the Israeli clinic are described. A gender politics perspective suggests that the greater marginalization of women in Israeli society is reflected in uncritical acceptance of the control & dominance of male physicians. In contrast, Canada has more women on the medical staff, & paternalism is discouraged. How cultural differences are mirrored in clinic programs is explored. 48 References. J. Lindroth

Western countries have invested considerable resources in efforts aimed at reducing the amount of cigarette smoking in their countries, along with its accompanying hazards. Canada is no exception to this challenge and takes pride in its participation in the global quest:

PURPOSE: Gestational surrogacy (GS) has been researched in multiple qualitative studies. In contrast, quantitative aspects of the practice are conspicuously understudied. The present article assesses and compares the incidence of GS in the USA and Israel, two industrialized countries that have maintained active commercial surrogacy practice, for over two decades. METHOD: The article is a secondary analysis of GS figures published by the Israeli Parliament's Centre for Research and Information (2018) and by the USA's Centers for Disease Control (2016) and related professional publications. Each dataset is analyzed in reference to the respective country, so as to devise local incidence scores that are then juxtaposed in inter-country comparison. RESULTS: The incidence of GS rises steeply in both countries. Though US surrogates are contracted by local and international, heterosexual and gay, and partnered and single intended parents, the relative incidence of GS is lower in the USA than in Israel, where only local heterosexual couples could contract a gestational surrogate. An exceptionally high rate of multiple births was observed in both settings, suggesting some overlooking of professional recommendations for elective single-embryo transfer. CONCLUSION: GS incidence appears to resemble the ratio between the countries' respective fertility rates. The paper underscores two main risks facing gestational surrogates: the risk of not conceiving and not being paid and the risk of carrying a multiple pregnancy, which is extremely prevalent in GS pregnancies, and sustaining the short- and long-term health complications that are more prevalent in such pregnancies.

Male infertility, which contributes to roughly 60–70% of infertility cases in the Middle East, is especially agonizing in this region, where fatherhood is crucial to achieving masculine adulthood and community standing. In this paper, we compare the infertility experience of two groups of Palestinian men, one living in Israel and the other in Lebanon. The study is based on ethnographic interviews conducted with 24 men between 2003 and 2007. The findings cluster at three levels of daily experience. At the subjective level, men express a sense of "asynchronization," namely, feeling as if they are lagging behind or deviating from the normal masculine life trajectory. At the community level, men vary greatly in their disclosure practices, but all are preoccupied with monitoring the flow of infertility-related information. We attribute the centrality of this gate-keeping activity to the stigma of infertility and related treatments. At the societal level, the state's role acquires heightened significance, owing to the marginalized minority status of Palestinian men in both countries. Our comparison reveals two contrasting situations: In Lebanon, the high cost of treatment places it beyond the reach of many Palestinians, thus epitomizing their civil marginality and poverty. In Israel, where fertility treatment is state-funded, eligibility on the grounds of one's Israeli citizenship comprises a relatively positive experience for Palestinian men, who are otherwise routinely discriminated against in crucial life domains. More generally, the study illustrates how advanced fertility treatments, in their global spread, serve to entrench ideas of reproductive normalcy, individuality, and citizenship.

In 1978, the world's first "test-tube" baby was born via in vitro fertilization (IVF). The past 30 years have seen the rapid evolution of many other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs)—some are simple variants of IVF, whereas others bridge the fields of assisted reproduction and human genomics. As ARTs have evolved over time, so have social, cultural, legal, and ethical responses to them. Indeed, ARTs are a key symbol of our times, representing the growing prominence of biotechnologies in the configuration of individual, familial, and collective identities around the globe. This review highlights the scholarship of more than 50 anthropologists who are studying the effects of ARTs in many areas of social life, including the traditional anthropological domains of kinship, marriage, and the family, gender, religion, and biomedicine. Their research bespeaks both the destabilizing and the generative impacts of ARTs at the interface between science and society.

Provides a comparison of the press coverage of the introduction of IVF in different contexts, giving a vantage point for examining the variability and the context‐dependence of the issue. Sheds some light on the cultural‐political‐social problems that the new technology entails. Contrasts the differences between Canada and Israel, showing that both countries endorse modern technology in the field of medidine: in both countries, IVF was imported about the same time and both used the US and Britain as a frame of reference and model rather than local developments. Shows the cultural differences of how each culture embraced the new technology.