advertisement, detailing the severity and hardships of the procedure. Egg retrieval without anaesthesia, hormone injections 6 weeks prior to the procedure, cramps for months afterwards. Suddenly that £800 no longer seemed worth it. But still, why this sudden surge in marketing female fertility? Where was the male equivalent of advertisements? Would sperm donation not make them feel as empowered as women? Perhaps because of their already established position in the labour market, men did not need to turn to
their reproductive capabilities to earn a living. With gender equality and ‘empowerment’ recently becoming buzzwords in the media and the public sphere, while women are fighting for room in the workplace, their very being seems to be growing more and more entangled with the idea of maternity. This is clearly implied by this epidemic of advert campaigns promoting fertility testing, egg donation, and charitable donations to save ‘mothers’ rather than women. And so, standing on the platform waiting for my friend, I wondered where in history being a woman became synonymous with being a mother. 11 SECONDS MAGAZINE |19