The Biological Clock: Age, Risk, and the Biopolitics of Reproductive Time

Abstract

The present article explores the social and subjective dimensions of the biological clock and its implications for reproductive time through a qualitative study based on 40 life story interviews of women from Santiago de Chile. Although the narrative of the biological clock has become a prevalent frame for addressing reproductive time in the context of late childbearing, age-related infertility, and the use of assisted reproductive technologies, few studies engage in an in-depth analysis of the biological clock—its boundaries, dynamics, and the particular ways in which it shapes women’s views and experiences of reproductive time. The present article aims to advance current knowledge on the intersection of time, reproduction, and biopolitics by arguing that the biological clock regulates reproductive time by shaping the boundaries and dynamics of female fertility through the clock. By determining reproductive time as quantitative, standardised, linear, and irreversible and by outlining the passing of time through pressure, risk, and burden, the biological clock determines when it is possible and desirable to have children and regulates reproduction, gender, and the female life course. These findings highlight the importance of critically addressing the narrative of the biological clock and its implications for women’s views and experiences of reproductive time.

Who carries the baby? How lesbian couples in the Netherlands choose birth motherhood

“…But both of us really feel … that the other one played the most important part.Kim's wish to eliminate the co‐mother from their family illustrated how, despite birth and non‐birth mother having the same legal rights, non‐birth motherhood is still seen by some as a less preferable or recognized status. Although this narrative emphasizes egalitarianism and equality, it also draws from wider cultural discourse that prioritizes birth motherhood (Hayden, 1995; Park 2013; Yopo Díaz, 2021). As such, the conception method of Kim and Manon both subverts and confirms conventional conceptions of motherhood.…”

“…For the pregnant mother, the transition to motherhood is recognizable to outsiders (Ben‐Ari & Livni, 2006 ; Dunne, 2000 ; Padavic & Butterfield, 2011 ). As biological and reproductive motherhood is still prioritized over other types of motherhood (Hayden, 1995 ; Park, 2013 ; Yopo Díaz, 2021 ), the non‐birth mother's parental identity is more often questioned (e.g., Padavic & Butterfield, 2011 ; Pelka, 2009 ). As stated above, Park ( 2013 ) referred to monomaternalism as the ideological assumption that a child can have only one “real” mother.…”

“…As few women have detailed information on their actual fertility, age can be used to estimate and gain control over the reproductive process (Earle & Letherby, 2007 ). Cultural norms on the ideal age and “deadline” of childbearing are widespread (Billari et al, 2011 ; Earle & Letherby, 2007 ; Yopo Díaz, 2021 ) and reinforce the centrality of age in reproductive decision‐making (Martin, 2017 ; Yopo Díaz, 2021 ). By making the different meanings attached to age part of the analysis, we add to the field by investigating the ways in which gendered temporalities structure reproductive decision‐making in lesbian couples.…”

Circle(s) of Life: The Circadian Clock from Birth to Death

“…Both sexes, however, experience physiological changes during the aging process related to changes in sex hormone levels [ 149 ]. The onset of menopause is often described as the end of a woman’s “biological clock” [ 150 , 151 ]. When the ovaries start running out of egg follicles that release estrogen, they also become less responsive to other hormones that stimulate ovulation.…”

“It's hard to become mothers”: The moral economy of postponing motherhood in neoliberal Chile

“…However, childbearing experiences have also transformed during the last decades as Chilean women are having fewer children and becoming mothers later in life (Yopo Díaz, 2018b, 2021). Data from Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (2018) demonstrate that the fertility rate in Chile has declined from 5.4 in 1962 to 1.69 in 2016, almost 70 per cent in the course of 50 years.…”