Freedman provides a comprehensive examination of the legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas posed by recent advances in biological engineering and human reproduction. His wide-ranging analysis includes discussion of the rights of fetuses, donors, and adoptive parents; the liability of physicians;...

Freedman provides a comprehensive examination of the legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas posed by recent advances in biological engineering and human reproduction. His wide-ranging analysis includes discussion of the rights of fetuses, donors, and adoptive parents; the liability of physicians; patentable organisms and other new developments in research; and a review of existing statutes, policies, and contracts that attempt to deal with these issues both here and abroad. In addition the author explores possible legal and policy remedies that may help to establish the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families, and the greater society in the face of these new developments.

Completely revised and expanded from four to five volumes, this new edition of the Handbook of Parenting appears at a time that is momentous in the history of parenting. Parenting and the family are today in a greater state of flux, question, and redefinition than perhaps ever before. We are...

Completely revised and expanded from four to five volumes, this new edition of the Handbook of Parenting appears at a time that is momentous in the history of parenting. Parenting and the family are today in a greater state of flux, question, and redefinition than perhaps ever before. We are witnessing the emergence of striking permutations on the theme of parenting: blended families, lesbian and gay parents, and teen versus fifties first-time moms and dads. One cannot but be awed on the biological front by technology that now not only renders postmenopausal women capable of childbearing, but also presents us with the possibility of designing babies. Similarly on the sociological front, single parenthood is a modern day fact of life, adult child dependency is on the rise, and parents are ever less certain of their own roles, even in the face of rising environmental and institutional demands that they take increasing responsibility for their offspring. The Handbook of Parenting concerns itself with: different types of parents-mothers and fathers, single, adolescent, and adoptive parents; basic characteristics of parenting-behaviors, knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about parenting; forces that shape parenting-evolution, genetics, biology, employment, social class, culture, environment, and history; problems faced by parents-handicap, marital difficulties, drug addiction; and practical concerns of parenting-how to promote children's health, foster social adjustment and cognitive competence, and interact with school, legal, and public officials. Contributors to the Handbook of Parenting have worked in different ways toward understanding all these diverse aspects of parenting, and all look to the most recent research and thinking in the field to shed light on many topics every parent wonders about. Each chapter addresses a different but central topic in parenting; each is rooted in current thinking and theory, as well as classical and modern research in that topic; each has been written to be read and absorbed in a single sitting. In addition, each chapter follows a standard organization, including an introduction to the chapter as a whole, followed by historical considerations of the topic, a discussion of central issues and theory, a review of classical and modern research, forecasts of future directions of theory and research, and a set of conclusions. Of course, contributors' own convictions and research are considered, but contributions to this new edition present all major points of view and central lines of inquiry and interpret them broadly. The Handbook of Parenting is intended to be both comprehensive and state of the art. As the expanded scope of this second edition amply shows, parenting is naturally and closely allied with many other fields.

"Gay Becker, the leading ethnographer of the infertility experience in the U.S., provides a powerful account of how American women and men think, feel, and talk about their utilization of new reproductive technologies. This book will be required reading for those embarking on the infertility...

"Gay Becker, the leading ethnographer of the infertility experience in the U.S., provides a powerful account of how American women and men think, feel, and talk about their utilization of new reproductive technologies. This book will be required reading for those embarking on the infertility treatment odyssey, as well as for scholars interested in the relationship of gender to technology." --Marcia Inhorn, author of "Infertility and Patriarchy

"This is a very powerful book. It forces the reader to scrutinize his/her own relationships to biology, to parenthood and to normalcy. But Gay Becker's real tour de force goes beyond even this! The deeper accomplishment of her work is that when, in a decade or two, children born through these new reproductive technologies ask the parents why they were born in the first place, they will be able to turn to Becker's book. The answers will be cultural as well as personal, deeply anchored not only in their parents' desires and experiences but also in profoundsocial and,technological innovations." --Isabelle Bazanger, author of "Inventing Pain Medicine from the Laboratory to the Clinic

"As a longtime facilitator of infertility support groups, I found The Elusive Embryo to be a fascinating and powerful examination of the cultural forces that shape the experience of being infertile as well as of the relationship between reproductive technologies and the consumers they serve. This is a book that makes you think; it is also one that offers recognition, perspective, and ultimately solace to those undergoing the transforming process of dealing with infertility."--Cecile T. Lampton, M.S.

"What distinguishes this book is its focus on the subjectiveexperience of dealing with infertility and its treatment. The success of Becker's nuanced description of this difficult, emotionally-charged process may be explained by the way in which she brings to bear her own experience of

"Extremely well-written, innovative, and timely, "Infertility Around the Globe is a definitive work. Together, the authors use infertility as the lens to examine numerous compelling social issues, generating a powerful argument that infertility is a globally significant phenomenon. This volume will...

"Extremely well-written, innovative, and timely, "Infertility Around the Globe is a definitive work. Together, the authors use infertility as the lens to examine numerous compelling social issues, generating a powerful argument that infertility is a globally significant phenomenon. This volume will attract anthropologists and other social scientists interested in the study of reproduction, as well as anyone interested in gender studies, women's studies, and international health."--Carolyn Sargent, co-editor of "Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

"This groundbreaking, interdisciplinary book will change how infertility is theorized and how intervention programs are designed. It will become the primary sourcebook for international and comparative research in a variety of cultural settings. Reading this book was a distinct pleasure."--Lynn Morgan, co-editor of "Fetal Subjects, Feminist Positions

"A stunning achievement. Through its richly textured ethnographic accounts, this,book beautifully explicates the universals and particularities of involuntary childlessness in disparate world regions. It challenges the myopic view that the heartbreak is limited to advanced industrial societies. This book is a much-needed antidote in a field mostly characterized by polemic and untested assumptions."--C. H. Browner, UCLA School of Medicine

"Scholarship on infertility too often has been culture-bound, focusing on Western versions of biosocial reproductive problems and on technological solutions. This innovative volume decenters that perspective, with studies on the ostracism of elder childless men in Kenya, political suspicions of vaccination campaigns in theCameroons, new reproductive technologies for ultraorthodox use in Israel, and China's emergent eugenics. It enlarges the 'public' in public health."--Rayna Rapp, co-editor of "Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics

Sexual drives are rooted in biology, but we don't act on them blindly. Indeed, as the eminently readable judge and legal scholar Richard Posner shows, we make quite rational choices about sex, based on the costs and benefits perceived.

Drawing on the fields of biology, law, history, religion, and...

Sexual drives are rooted in biology, but we don't act on them blindly. Indeed, as the eminently readable judge and legal scholar Richard Posner shows, we make quite rational choices about sex, based on the costs and benefits perceived.

Drawing on the fields of biology, law, history, religion, and economics, this sweeping study examines societies from ancient Greece to today's Sweden and issues from masturbation, incest taboos, date rape, and gay marriage to Baby M. The first comprehensive approach to sexuality and its social controls, Posner's rational choice theory surprises, explains, predicts, and totally absorbs.

Beset by socio-legal challenges, medical, and scientific advances in reproduction, feminist philosophies and complex questions regarding its contemporary relevance, the family--together with the core values that have sustained over the years--is being tested, re-evaluated, and redesigned. This book...

Beset by socio-legal challenges, medical, and scientific advances in reproduction, feminist philosophies and complex questions regarding its contemporary relevance, the family--together with the core values that have sustained over the years--is being tested, re-evaluated, and redesigned. This book directs its focus to the current national debate on family values providing a strong and practical framework for decisionmaking in topical problem areas which integrate the social sciences, law, medicine, political science, economics, ethics, philosophy, and religion.