Eggonomics

Diane Tober is Associate Professor at The University of Alabama, Department of Anthropology, and the Institute for Social Science Research. She is also the author of Romancing the Sperm: Shifting Biopolitics and the Making of Modern Families.

"Eggonomics will be foundational to all future accounts of this increasingly common aspect of stratified reproduction." Rayna Rapp, author of Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America"Dr. Tober’s eye-opening exposé on the treatment of egg donors is a much-needed challenge to the hearts-and-flowers cultural narrative that relies on exploitative, harmful practices to fuel the ready supply of eggs to desperate infertile recipients. This is a shocking, critical must-read for anyone contemplating selling her eggs." Liz Scheier, author of Never Simple: A Memoir"An extraordinarily gripping and important study, Eggonomics […] gives voice to the intimate and often heartbreaking stories of women who donate their eggs, thereby offering new insights into reproductive justice, racial inequalities and the politics of health in contemporary assisted reproduction. A captivating and often stunning read, this book is an immensely valuable contribution to feminist writing on reproduction politics and the fertility industry – particularly so in the post-Dobbs era." Lucy van de Wiel, Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London, author of Freezing Fertility: Oocyte Cryopreservation and the Gender Politics of Aging"As America and countries around the world contemplate free markets in human eggs – and other states contemplate declaring frozen embryos people – Eggonomics is a necessary road map for the future where every body has a price."Scott Carney, investigative journalist, and author of The Red Market: On the Trail of the World’s Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers and Child Traffickers"An essential read for anybody interested in the contemporary biopolitics of reproduction and gender, and in the political economy of reproductive innovation."Catherine Waldby, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, author of The Oocyte Economy: The Changing Meaning of Human Eggs"Eggonomics highlights the experiences of egg donors, the desired race practices in the industry, racial inequities in access to and compensation, and the market driven practices in assisted reproductive technology. It exposes the international variations in egg donation practices; and the need for regulation and having standards of practice for donors and intended parents."Diana Namumbejja Abwoye FNP-BC, Board Chair Our Bodies Ourselves and member of the international advisory committee of Surrogacy360"Thank goodness for Diane Tober’s thorough, brilliant, and eminently readable ethnography of egg donors. Her research on the medical, physical, and social impacts of egg donation elaborates the experiences of the donors who essentially bank-roll the multi-billion dollar IVF industry. This fascinating read offers a long overdue understanding of the impact of IVF. Tober’s book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary kinship and family formations, as well as the disgraceful ways that young women are treated by the industry."S. Lochlain Jain, Visiting Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at King’ College London, and a Research Affiliate at VIAD, University of Johannesburg, author of Malignant: How Cancer Becomes Us

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of terms and abbreviationsIntroduction: Golden EggsChapter 1: Frozen FuturesChapter 2: The Perfect DonorChapter 3: Egg MachinesChapter 4: Sunny Side UpChapter 5: Passports and CryotanksChapter 6: PoachedChapter 7: CrackedChapter 8: Egg Babies and Bio-MomsConclusion: Just Eggs Index