As part of a wider project exploring the use of assisted reproductive technologies as an answer to infertility among two groups of women in Argentina (users and not users of reproductive medicine), the paper examines the role of narratives during the process of negotiation with infertility, understood as a major break with the projected life course. Making use of explorative qualitative methodologies, the analysis shows that narratives are central to the task of buffering the unforeseen character of infertility: reinserting the narrating women within the mainstream parameters of gender; managing feelings of unfairness; and negotiating a new position before significant others. By showing the important role of narratives in the social construction of infertility, this article makes a contribution to a field scarcely explored in Argentina.
narrative; infertility; assisted reproduction; negotiation; Argentina