Infertility and Intimacy in an Online Community

Paulina Billett is Lecturer in Sociology at La Trobe University, Australia. Her current research centres on the experiences of women and explores issues of identity formation and lived experience.Anne-Maree Sawyer is Lecturer in Sociology at La Trobe University, Australia. Her current research focuses on mental health policy and practice, emotion management and the micro-politics of care, and women’s narratives in retirement.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Changing Face of Society: Intimacy and Support in the Online World.- 3. Finding support in the online world .- 4. A glance in the mirror: women’s reflections on their emotions, bodies and selves.- 5. Relationships in a fertile world: negotiating alliances and the “pregnant other”.- 6. Partnering the infertile: the impact of infertility on women’s spousal relationships.- 7. Looking back, moving forward.