Trans Narratives of Fertility Preservation: Constructing Experiential Expertise Through YouTube Vlogs

Abstract

Fertility preservation is an important yet complex issue for many transgender people, whose transition-related care such as hormones or surgeries may potentially affect their reproductive capacities. Transgender people currently find it difficult to access reliable information on fertility preservation options in mainstream settings. This problem is largely due to the misleading assumption that they are by default infertile, or do not wish to have genetically related children. This lack of awareness is increasingly motivating transgender individuals to share their own views and experiences of fertility preservation through alternative media such as video blogging (vlogging). While vlogging is known to be a popular medium through which transgender people educate, document, and connect with others about many aspects of their transitions, little is known about how vlogging facilitates the production and sharing of trans-specific knowledge. Drawing on a virtual ethnography of YouTube vlogs, this chapter examines the ways in which the vloggers create and participate in epistemic online communities through sharing their stories of, and views on, fertility preservation.