Dr. Christina Benninghaus

Infertility as a gendered experience
For many years I have been working on different aspects of infertility in historical perspective. I am interested in how the experience of not being able to have children changed historically. To this end, I examine sociocultural constructs of parenthood, medical concepts of reproduction and (in)fertility, conceptions of the body and bodily experiences, forms of treatment, religious ideas, and practices of social parenting such as foster parenthood and adoption.
I am currently working on an essay on "Artificial Insemination in the Postwar Period: Debates, Images, Narratives, 1945-1970" as well as on a text on the "Invention of the Adoptable Child, 1870-1930."

In addition to my empirical research, I am concerned with theoretical and methodological questions regarding the future of gender history as an academic subject within and outside of gender studies. I am particularly interested in the significance of images for the social communication of and about gender and in the critical reflection of core concepts in gender studies.