Broken bodies: oral histories of infertility after the women’s liberation movement

Abstract

Using oral histories with women born between 1946 and 1980, this article explores experiences and memories of infertility and pregnancy loss in the post-women’s liberation era. Infertility had a lasting impact on participants’ relationships with their bodies, expressed often in terms of ambivalence towards their physical selves and an embodied ‘broken-ness’. I historically contextualise these expressions of broken-ness to show the ongoing resilience of socially-constructed narratives that link womanhood with reproductive ability. The resilience of these attitudes suggests a continued need for critically interrogating cultural norms about gender and infertility in Australian society.