I went through many rounds of IVF myself, after encountering infertility after having my first child. Even as a feminist, it made me feel like a failure, and I faced it with confusion, shame and guilt, feeling very lonely in the process.
Central to this story are three scientists and researchers: Dr Bob Edwards (James Norton), Jean Purdy (Thomasin Mckenzie) and Dr Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy). The trio face resistance from society as well as other scientists including the Medical Research Council and James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning scientist for his discovery of the DNA structure.
There is also internal conflict for Purdy who is a staunch Christian and is shut out by her own mother and the rest of her church community. But the three scientists persevere.
The film shows how they wanted to give people the choice if they did desire children and couldn’t have them naturally. This message feels even more potent in the current climate as reproductive choices and bodily autonomy are under threat.
This is a film about a great medical development but it also highlights the continuing history of women’s health not being taken seriously by the medical community. It reminds us how women’s contributions to science were overlooked and goes some of the way in writing that part of IVF’s story back in.
The loneliness of infertility
In my book (M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman, I wrote not only of my own journey of heartbreak and hope, of internalised stigma, of the cultural and societal expectations, but also of the history of infertility.
The history of infertility is fascinating to me because it is also the history of how women’s bodies have been misunderstood and maligned, idolised and stigmatised. Unscientific methods and advice have forced women to bear infertility in silence for centuries.
My own research shows that medieval women were forced to shared these medical concerns with other women in informal networks. Then there is the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus from 1825BC Egypt telling women to put a date in her vagina, or use things such as ass milk and urine for treatment of infertility.
Continues…
For the full article by Dr Pragya Agarwal visit the Conversation.