The continuity and discontinuity of the embodied self in infertility *

Using data from in-depth interviews with 110 women and 68 men, this paper examines the construction and negotiation of the embodied self in infertility. We analyse how the men and women we interviewed construct the body as machine, negotiate loss of control, and experience the perceived failings of the embodied self within the context of dominant discourses of femininity and masculinity. We argue that the failings of the body culminate in a discontinuous embodied self as infertility shatters previously held perceptions of the embodied self and challenges individuals' former conceptualizations of the taken-for-granted link between the body and the self.
Se servant de donnees d'interviews en profondeur aupres de 110 femmes et 68 hommes, les auteurs de cet article examinent la construction et la negociation du moi intrinseque dans l'infertilite. [...]