Medical markets for imagined futures: the framing of egg freezing on fertility clinic websites in Turkey

Abstract

This article explores the use of future imaginaries in medical markets, examining the framing of egg freezing on fertility clinic websites. Egg freezing is a recent example of what medical sociologists term anticipatory medicalization. It primarily promises a measure against the anticipated risk of female infertility due to reproductive aging. Economic sociologists, on the other hand, see a focus on a future full of risks and opportunities as a significant characteristic of capitalism. Accordingly, marketing activities aim to shape consumer imaginaries and expectations of the future to increase demand. Through a thematic analysis of all available textual data on egg freezing from fertility clinic websites in Turkey, I show how these websites depict the social context of egg freezing and its implications for the future. The websites define potential service users, their life circumstances, goals, and ethical concerns, portraying egg freezing as a strategy for time and risk management. By doing so, the websites can stir women's hopes and dreams of future relationships and childbearing, as well as their fears of future infertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The reproductive service of egg freezing is marketed as a means to achieve desirable imagined futures or to prevent undesirable ones.