Oh, how men take pride in their sperm. As a fertility specialist cum (hey no pun - it's Latin) interview subject recently told me, often when a man learns that his sperm are plentiful, mobile, and strong, he'll proclaim right then and there: “My guys are good! My guys are good!” Meanwhile, awaiting her diagnosis, his partner will slowly retreat back in her chair. And get this: even in an era when severe male factor infertility is one of the diagnoses most easy to treat, some guys who go in with their partners for fertility workups refuse to go through with the semen analysis because they’re too afraid of the results. For more on all this, of course, check out Sperm Counts: Overcome [pun intended] by Man's Most Precious Fluid by sociology and women's studies prof Lisa Jean Moore, a book I blogged about here a while back.
So with all that as a prelude, I thought I'd start out the week by karmically balancing the universe. Color me 1970s, but I firmly believe that more women should greet the news that their ovaries are working with "My Girls Are Good!" Or something like that. "Girls" doesn't quite cut it. Any one out there got an alternative expression for ovum pride? I'm taking suggestions.
3 comments:
Interesting observation. But when I got the news that I was "functional" and the "boys" weren't. I didn't jump for joy because the only fix was IVF and I still ended up being the one "treated". Too many fixes for sperm trouble still put more burden on the female partner than the male.
Hmmm...I usually refer to my breasts as the girls, so what to call the ovum? lil girls? Good question...Not this is why the goddess invented Twitter.
D,
Wish I knew but I'm with you on celebrating. It's been interesting to read how many women in the fertility world need or are even coached (by their practitioners) to "manage" or use subterfuge to accommodate male issues/ego around fertility. There also seems to be huge resistance from men to use donor sperm even when that's an easier fix. Male attitude towards having a genetic link to kids also seems something worth writing/thinking about. I'm always so surprised by this. Women seem (generally) so much more open to adoption, or non-genetic connections.
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