Relations between male (lived) bodies and male germ cells in assisted reproduction: Gender Campus

Male bodies and sperm. Relations between male (lived) bodies and male germ cells in assisted reproduction

This article investigates the male body and the male lived body in the laboratory of assisted reproduction. The question is considered of the absence of ‘the male’ in medical analysis and whether the focus is only on the sperm. In the reproduction laboratory the lived male body emerges only in the context of sperm collection. Later, when semen is analysed, the male (lived) body disappears and does not appear again, not even in the fertilisation process. The sperms themselves become a vulnerable substance that needs special protection. In the context of intracytoplasmic sperm injection the individual sperm becomes remarkably signifi cant and achieves a certain corporeality.

Keywords: male body, lived body, body knowledge, sperm, assisted reproduction