Giselle Newton

University of Queensland | UQ

Temporal constructs are central to reproduction and kinship, as epitomised by the pervasive concept of the biological clock within public imaginaries. While queer scholarship has problematised linear models of kinship and reproductive temporality, the specific temporalities associated with donor-conceived families have received less scholarly atten...

While survey research design tends to prioritise closed questions with predetermined responses, many surveys conclude with an open-ended 'anything else you would like to tell us?' question. This question, designed to elicit feedback or create opportunities for respondents to share additional information, offers significant potential for insight int...

In this study we piloted a novel digital data donation method that enables people to collect the ads that are targeted at them on Facebook via a mobile app and to share the data that platforms create about them. We aimed to explore the experiences of Australians who had experienced or who were at risk of harm from alcohol and gambling products, to...

The field of genealogy has rapidly evolved with the rise of direct-to-consumer DNA testing, a digital technology with the potential to disrupt previously held understandings of family history. Recent theorisation in the sociology of personal life provides a useful lens to attune to potent sensations and affinities sparked by direct-to-consumer DNA...

Sociological scholarship has begun to explore imaginaries of family and reproduction, yet less work has focused on the emerging social form of the donor family. In this article, we consider the embodied sociotechnical imaginaries of donor-conceived people, exploring their reflections, judgements, hopes, and predictions regarding donor conception. C...

As the culture of silence that once surrounded cancer has gradually given way to greater public awareness, normative visions of what cancer survivorship should entail have proliferated. These visions emphasise positivity and perseverance in pursuit of cure. While these visions provide comfort to many, for people with metastatic cancer, the emphasis...

How are siblings who were conceived using the same sperm or egg donor making connections in the absence of legal support? What is it like to discover you are part of a 50+ donor sibling group? How are donor conceived adults using new technologies to connect with genetic family and explore their identity? This edited collection considers the donor l...

From the turn of the century, social attitudes have shifted away from secrecy and anonymity in donor conception in line with broader recognition that children have a right to accurate information about their identity and family. As such, some donor-conceived people are now growing up in families who disclose and discuss donor conception openly whil...

For qualitative researchers, reflexivity is always an important aspect of ethical practice. However, in research on donor conception, there is a particular need for greater attention to be paid to the ways in which researchers' positionality, experiences and attitudes influence the research process and findings. With the aim of 'doing reflexivity',...

The digital age is characterised by unprecedented access to technologies to understand our bodies, genetics and family histories. The last decade has seen a growing uptake of direct-to-consumer DNA testing, which is (re)shaping individuals’ identity narratives. Drawing on data from a national online survey with Australian donor-conceived people (N...

Memes are a key feature of participatory digital cultures and have been found to play an important role in collective identity formation. Limited scholarship has explored the role of memes within closed communities, where perceived privacy and trust may impact the ways users demarcate the in-group (us) and out-group (them) through humor. This artic...

There is a pressing need to facilitate sensitive conversations between people with differing or opposing views. On video-sharing app TikTok, the diverse experiences of donor-conceived people and recipient parents sit uneasily alongside each other, coalescing in hashtags like #donorconceived. This article describes a method ‘Situated Talk’ which use...

The health and social ‘after-effects’ of caring are well established, yet the way carers experience pathways out of caring remains under-researched. In this article, we analyse qualitative free-text responses ( n = 1,746) from a national survey of Australian carers to explore current and former carers’ concerns, opportunities and preferences around...