Infertility
This book explores the arguments, appeals, and narratives that have defined the meaning of infertility in the modern history of the United States and Europe. Throughout the last century, the inability of women to conceive children has been explained by discrepant views: that women are individually c...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Penn State University Press
2026
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| Online Access: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111273 |
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| _version_ | 1869527660789497856 |
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| author | Jensen, Robin E. |
| author_browse | Jensen, Robin E. |
| author_facet | Jensen, Robin E. |
| author_sort | Jensen, Robin E. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This book explores the arguments, appeals, and narratives that have defined the meaning of infertility in the modern history of the United States and Europe. Throughout the last century, the inability of women to conceive children has been explained by discrepant views: that women are individually culpable for their own reproductive health problems, or that they require the intervention of medical experts to correct abnormalities. Using doctor-patient correspondence, oral histories, and contemporaneous popular and scientific news coverage, Robin Jensen parses the often thin rhetorical divide between moralization and medicalization, revealing how dominating explanations for infertility have emerged from seemingly competing narratives. Her longitudinal account illustrates the ways in which old arguments and appeals do not disappear in the light of new information, but instead reemerge at subsequent, often seemingly disconnected moments to combine and contend with new assertions. Tracing the transformation of language surrounding infertility from “barrenness” to “(in)fertility,” this rhetorical analysis both explicates how language was and is used to establish the concept of infertility and shows the implications these rhetorical constructions continue to have for individuals and the societies in which they live. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-173826 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Penn State University Press |
| publisherStr | Penn State University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1738262026-03-19T14:18:51Z Infertility Jensen, Robin E. Infertility Jenson ”inability to conceive” ”reproductive health problems” History Motherhood IVF thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTC Communication studies thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFG Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies This book explores the arguments, appeals, and narratives that have defined the meaning of infertility in the modern history of the United States and Europe. Throughout the last century, the inability of women to conceive children has been explained by discrepant views: that women are individually culpable for their own reproductive health problems, or that they require the intervention of medical experts to correct abnormalities. Using doctor-patient correspondence, oral histories, and contemporaneous popular and scientific news coverage, Robin Jensen parses the often thin rhetorical divide between moralization and medicalization, revealing how dominating explanations for infertility have emerged from seemingly competing narratives. Her longitudinal account illustrates the ways in which old arguments and appeals do not disappear in the light of new information, but instead reemerge at subsequent, often seemingly disconnected moments to combine and contend with new assertions. Tracing the transformation of language surrounding infertility from “barrenness” to “(in)fertility,” this rhetorical analysis both explicates how language was and is used to establish the concept of infertility and shows the implications these rhetorical constructions continue to have for individuals and the societies in which they live. 2026-03-19T14:18:50Z 2026-03-19T14:18:50Z 2026-03-06T14:31:38Z 2016 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111273 9780271078212 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/173826 eng RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/111273/1/9780271078212.pdf Penn State University Press Penn State University Press 10.5325/j.ctv14gp26x 10.5325/j.ctv14gp26x e4e05b94-0f85-49a1-ba66-543b1dd40087 9780271078212 Penn State University Press 240.0 University Park, PA open access |
| spellingShingle | Infertility Jenson ”inability to conceive” ”reproductive health problems” History Motherhood IVF thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTC Communication studies thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFG Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies Jensen, Robin E. Infertility |
| title | Infertility |
| title_full | Infertility |
| title_fullStr | Infertility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infertility |
| title_short | Infertility |
| title_sort | infertility |
| topic | Infertility Jenson ”inability to conceive” ”reproductive health problems” History Motherhood IVF thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTC Communication studies thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFG Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies |
| topic_facet | Infertility Jenson ”inability to conceive” ”reproductive health problems” History Motherhood IVF thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTC Communication studies thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFG Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111273 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jensenrobine infertility |