TY - JOUR
T1 - From the body as an object to embodied subjectivity
T2 - Social egg freezing as a personal definition rite among ultra-orthodox singles
AU - Billig, Miriam
AU - Maor, Maya
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - As an innovative reproductive technology, social egg freezing (SEF) challenges the ultra-Orthodox community's position in the tension between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, SEF can enable singles of advanced age to fulfill their most important social and religious role of building big families when they eventually marry. On the other hand, exposure to SEF may lead to openness to social change, including changes in gender roles, division of labor, and control over female fertility. Based on in-depth interviews, the present study examined the experiences of ultra-Orthodox singles throughout the SEF process, based on conceptual frameworks of “rites of passage”, “group definition ceremonies” and “personal definition rites”. The findings reveal that ultra-Orthodox single women creatively invented strategies to discreetly cope with various obstacles, unassisted by their families or communities. Not only can personal definition rites take form without the community's participation and support, but they can also be carried out privately and secretively. By undergoing SEF, ultra-Orthodox singles exert agency in making independent choices over their bodies. Despite being embedded in a conservative, traditional context, the results indicate that participants initiate bottom-up change in social norms in relation to the status of singlehood, timing of marriage, and family size.
AB - As an innovative reproductive technology, social egg freezing (SEF) challenges the ultra-Orthodox community's position in the tension between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, SEF can enable singles of advanced age to fulfill their most important social and religious role of building big families when they eventually marry. On the other hand, exposure to SEF may lead to openness to social change, including changes in gender roles, division of labor, and control over female fertility. Based on in-depth interviews, the present study examined the experiences of ultra-Orthodox singles throughout the SEF process, based on conceptual frameworks of “rites of passage”, “group definition ceremonies” and “personal definition rites”. The findings reveal that ultra-Orthodox single women creatively invented strategies to discreetly cope with various obstacles, unassisted by their families or communities. Not only can personal definition rites take form without the community's participation and support, but they can also be carried out privately and secretively. By undergoing SEF, ultra-Orthodox singles exert agency in making independent choices over their bodies. Despite being embedded in a conservative, traditional context, the results indicate that participants initiate bottom-up change in social norms in relation to the status of singlehood, timing of marriage, and family size.
KW - Body attachment
KW - Personal definition rite
KW - Rites of passage
KW - Social egg freezing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189040341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116810
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116810
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AN - SCOPUS:85189040341
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 348
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 116810
ER -