On the popular Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, an account called “Georgia Notes” (@格鲁吉亚小纸条) offers tips and advice to Chinese nationals planning a trip to the Republic of Georgia. In one post...
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Women, there’s a new perk in town. Last week, Apple joined ranks with Facebook in offering free egg-freezing to staff who want to delay having children. It will, the companies argue, help the women exert more control over both careers and ovaries while protecting their unalienable right to post baby photos on social media. Is this a step towards equality in the workplace or a machiavellian form of social engineering?
For me, it’s all part of the privatisation of reproduction– the final frontier of 21st-century capitalism. This year, I underwent egg-freezing myself. Three weeks of hormone injections, panic attacks and volcanic rows with my boyfriend, at a cost of £4,500. Given the statistics – only 21 babies born, it seems, from defrosted eggs in the same number of years in the UK – it is a high-risk venture. In fact, the private clinic I chose recommended I didn’t do it, as I’m over 40 with low egg reserve. They calculated a 5% chance of success.
But I insisted, using all the cliches that fell smugly out of the brochures. I...