‘Like going to get a facial’: Heterotopic spaces and gendered aesthetics of commercial Australian reproductive clinics

Abstract

The ethical effect of aesthetics is underexplored in literatures on healthcare, especially reproductive services. Healthcare aesthetics play a particular role in influencing patient choice, and in so doing, mediates who is – and is not – welcomed into certain medical spaces. This is particularly pertinent in the context of assisted reproductive clinics, which are often seeking competitive advantage in a market where patients purportedly have a choice amongst providers, and where providers have the capital to invest in clinic design and social media presence to attract patients. Interrogating aesthetic and spatial dimensions of reproductive clinics is especially critical in uncovering gendered, class, and racial assumptions of reproductive futures. As such, ethical inquiry would benefit from examining the aesthetic qualities of ART and its implications on the reproduction of commercialized, gendered, and racialized health settings. In this paper, we draw on reflections made by participants about aesthetics during qualitative interviews on commercial influences on ART services. We expand on these initial reflections by engaging with feminist literature on the image in reproductive ethics and broader scholarship regarding health environments. In doing so, we examine the normative assumptions and effects held within clinic aesthetics to discuss the construction and influence of ‘pink’ reproductive spaces.