Good article on the construction of the concept of the 'biological clock' as a phenomenon* unique to women and based on exceeding problematic evidence (I am reminded of the woezery about the decline in male sperm counts since some point in time when no-one was checking, it was hard enough to get the bloke tested if a couple presented for fertility ( Read more... )

Men have all the time in the world to have a baby, right? Not according to the latest research.
Though on the 'freezing sperm' thing, is this about ticking biological clocks or about having other health-related things going on?
I find it interesting that there's a misleading narrative of (rich, celebrated) men achieving fatherhood at very advanced ( Read more... )

Okay, I've ranted a bit about the whole egg-freezing thing before:
But this: Egg freezing is the tempting option if you’re desperate for a child: but can women be sure it’s the right choice? seemed to me to be full of unasked questions.
Surely there is something a bit dodgy about those clinics which are letting women in their late 30s/40s pony up ( Read more... )

An oldie (2013) but an apposite goodie:
Matt Haig, 30 things to tell a book snob. Go Mr Haig, such good sense.
***
More on male contraception, which comes to conclusions that, given the remarkable takeup of vasectomy in the 70s, seems surprising, even though they are the sort of thing that seems to make intuitive sense. (And as I have commented in ( Read more... )

(I think this is my first feminist rant of the New Year?)
In Silicon Valley ovum-freezing parties are all the rage as high-flying women rush to insure their future fertility: and apparently they're coming to the UK.
The horror. The horror. 'Attendees of her parties get 10 per cent off the cost of egg-freezing; party hosts pocket a “significant” ( Read more... )

Apparently - I haven't saved link, which was to op-ed column about rather than the source - someone has just committed another It's All In The Genes book.

In which I am given to understand that a claim is made about the British aristocracy having large families...

Which is deeply curious, because Sir Francis Galton, founder of the 'science' of ( Read more... )

Though, this is annoying, an intriguing article on mythmaking around women's fertility decline and ticking biological clocks in the Observer Magazine 410s with this message: 'Sorry - the page you are looking for has been removed. This may be because of a legal objection, a rights consideration or for another reason.' Because I thought it was making ( Read more... )

I was not going to pick up on
( Read more... )

I don't know who this guy is, or whether he's right about mitochrondrial replacement therapy, but this strikes me as spot-on:
"[N]ormal" sexual reproduction, a very dangerous activity indeed [is] one often described as a "genetic lottery". Human reproduction involves genes being recklessly combined, sometimes literally, but always figuratively in ( Read more... )

There’s recently been a lot of media coverage of the current day Lady Colin Campbell, also known as Georgie Campbell after her new book published controversial claims that the Queen Mother was illegitimate and that the Queen was conceived via artificial insemination.*

Media coverage I have totally managed to miss; I only discovered this via the ( Read more... )