Our ideas about families have certainly undergone significant changes over the past couple decades, a shift that author, filmmaker, and anthropologist Diane Tober has been studying the past twenty years. Her new book Romancing the Sperm: Shifting Biopolitics and the Making of Modern Families chronicles the shifting landscape of modern families and Rutgers University Press will release it on November 5. “In Romancing the Sperm, Diane Tober explores the intersections between sperm donation and the broader social and political environment in which ‘modern families’ are created and regulated. Through intimate stories from her informants, this book provides a captivating read for anyone interested in family and kinship, genetics and eugenics, and how ever-expanding assisted reproductive technologies continue to redefine what it means to be human.” In light of her impending book launch, I am excited to share my interview with medical anthropologist Diane Tober. Audrey Arnold: You have a degree in anthropology and you research egg and sperm donation. What inspires your passion for this subject? Diane Tober: I first got into this research while I was a graduate student in Medical Anthropology at UCSF in the 1990s. I was working as a research assistant on Prof. Gay Becker’s study exploring “Gender Differences in Response to Infertility,” which focused solely on married, heterosexual couples. At the same time, single women and lesbian couples called up to volunteer for the study, but were rejected because they didn’t meet the study requirements. In the 1990s, “infertility” wasn’t considered to be an issue for unmarried…
Diane Tober pulls back the clinical curtain on the multibillion-dollar global egg industry in her new book coming out in October. A medical anthropologist recently tenured at the University of Alabama, Tober has conducted the first study of egg donors and reveals the introduction of private equity into fertility medicine. The recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, which upended IVF procedures at the teaching hospital in… [Read More]
Filed Under: Diane Tober, Egg Donation, Eggonomics, fertility, IVF
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First there was an earthquake. Then came the tsunami. Floods. Loss of power. The Fukushima nuclear plant released radioactive contaminants in Japan in March 2011. I first heard about the evacuation listening to National Public Radio and recognized the reporter’s voice. Doualy Xaykaothao had been a journalism student whom I had advised when I was a college professor. Stationed in the Seoul Bureau of National… [Read More]
Last year the Department of Justice won the anti-trust lawsuit against Penguin Random House when it had tried to acquire Simon & Schuster. The financial penalties led PRH to eliminate a good number of people from top executive positions. Not surprisingly, some of those great minds decided there might be a different business model for book publishing worth investing in and have started Authors Equity…. [Read More]
“I am looking for authors with a distinctive voice.” [on an agent’s website] “Great premise but I couldn’t connect with the writer’s voice.” [publisher’s rejection] “The voice isn’t strong enough in the first ten pages to make me keep reading.” [agent rejection letter] So what do editors mean by “voice” when they talk about the craft of writing? Voice is the individual writing style of… [Read More]
Wondering what to gift the avid reader in your life this holiday season? Look no further! Here are some creative gift ideas for bookworms that are sure to delight. Blankets and cozy socks There’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book, and these warm, fluffy gifts can make every reading experience even more comfortable, especially in these cold winter months. These blankets from… [Read More]
Filed Under: book gifts, Bookshop, Bookshop.org, Etsy, Litographs, Lumio, Novel Tea Literary Blends, Out of Print, Uncommon Goods