Hermaphrodite Patients: In Vitro Fertilization and the Transformation of Male Infertility

Abstract

In the medical-technological practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF), it is increasingly the couple, rather than an individual patient, that is considered the unit of (infertility) treatment. This article traces some mechanisms involved in the construction of medical interventions on female bodies as appropriate and effective therapeutic solutions to problems and diagnoses pertaining to male bodies. It traces the transformation of male infertility through shifts in localization and definition of the problem, concomitant reconceptualizations of the techniques involved, redistributions of properties, and specific ways of constructing "success. " It is argued that both the notion of the couple as the patient in cases of male infertility and the claim that IVF techniques are appropriate solutions to this couple's problem simultaneously presuppose and legitimize medical interventions on women's bodies. This double movement is produced by leaving exactly the required material work of physical interventions—and, consequently, the uneven distribution of costs between the sexes—out of scientific accounts of these practices.

Reembodying Qualitative Inquiry

“…Human beings use their bodies to relate to these objects in everyday life (Longhurst, 1997). And, further contributing to the link between material objects and bodies, the human body is itself a cultural artifact (Weiss & Haber, 1999), continually refashioned by such factors as cosmetic surgery, body-building, organ transplantation and metal/ plastic implants, and scientific discourse and by clothing fashion itself (Balsamo, 1997;Van Der Ploeg, 1995).…”

A incorporação de novas tecnologias nos serviços de saúde: o desafio da análise dos fatores em jogo

“…Sob essa abordagem, estudos interdisciplinares vêm analisando como o agenciamento da tecnologia é constituído por outros que, por sua vez, se constituem em ações para terceiros 16 . Ou seja, inclui o olhar sobre a tecnologia como um mediador central na construção e reprodução de novos panoramas, incluindo identidade de pacientes 17 , identidades profissionais 18 e a organização do trabalho em serviços de saúde 19 . Assim, evidencia-se e caracteriza-se a política em ação, no local e em ampla escala, ao observar-se a adoção e a implementação de uma inovação, ou sua rejeição, no debate entre os interesses desses atores.…”

Displacement of Agency

“…Extending this approach to biomedicine brings out a new understanding of medical settings: the development of heterogeneous things in the making of biomedical reality (Jensen 2010). The enactment approach opens up a world in which diseases, patients, protocols, medical personnel, medical records, examination, techniques, instruments, treatments, laboratories, and organizations all play their part in the making of the sociomedical world (Berg andMol 1997, 1998;Prout 1996;Van der Pleog 1995;Law and Singleton 2003;Jensen 2005).…”