One-sided views of infertility from the media. Again.

I don't usually read the Sunday Times. I don't really need to justify this, it's a matter of taste but what the hell. I don't read it because: (i) it's big and unwieldy and I don't know what to do with all the pieces, (ii) the political commentary is somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun (although from the owner of Fox News, not sure what else you'd expect), and (iii) it annoys the hell out of me. But this morning it was the paper delivered to the lovely hotel room in Paris where we were spending our anniversay weekend, and I do love to read the paper with my Sunday breakfast, and so I succumbed. And of course, it did annoy me. Specifically, this article, which contained the immortal quote:

Female fertility declines with age, so that women who have postponed childbearing discover they are unable to conceive when they want to do so. However, this is not the whole story: men are not only reluctant nowadays to commit themselves to women and children, but their own fertility is declining. More than half the patients at American fertility clinics are men.

Let's just consider that final sentence for a second, shall we? More than half? How many more than half? Because given that most patients at American Fertility clinics (and why the emphasis on American? Does he not have the figures for UK or European clinics?) are couples, surely approximately half will be men. So the sentence really doesn't mean anything helpful as it stands. Presumably the sentence should have read something like this:

Of the couples attending American fertility clinics, more than half find the cause of their infertility lies with the man.

However, this doesn't fit with the known stats. NIH says, for example, that approximately 30-40% of couples with infertility are dealing with 'male factor', while female factor accounts for 40-50%, and the rest is either combination or undiagnosed.

So what precisely was Mr Dalrymple trying to say? Perhaps it's just lazy journalism, he's copied it from the original book without thinking what it means. Or perhaps he is the victim of a poor copy editor. Either way, it's a very silly sentence.

And sadly the rest of the article is no better. Just a reiteration of stuff that's in the book he's reviewing, revealing a very slanted perspective on the topic. It's really barely a book review at all. Which is a shame as it doesn't help me decide if the book is worth a read or not, which is surely the point of a book review. Certainly if you read this article with an unjaundiced eye, you'd think the book is poor, but to be honest the reviewer seems to be so caught up in his own prejudices, and certainly hasn't invested any time in understanding the issues, so I've got no reason to believe he's pitched the review right.

There you go. Reason number 847 why I should never read the Sunday Times.

Typepad ate a post about our lovely weekend, I may or may not drum up the will to write it again. If not, lovely food, lovely husband, rubbish weather, baby kicking away, I'm a lucky woman.

Comments

[MsPrufrock]

I don't like the undercurrent of selfishness which the writer seems to think is present within those who pursue ART. I cannot stand the notion of those who have persued ART as being "self-indulgent" as the auther frequently says. Bastard.

By the by, I'm a Guardian girl myself.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I have come to hate badly written fertility articles (as usually seen in the mainstream media here in the US) with a vengeance. Our local rag carried a Mother's Day story last Sunday about moms 40 and up -- full of the usual crap about "40 is the new 30!" and with perky stories about perky moms who Just! Love! Being! A Mom! Over 40!! But, as you can imagine, nary a realistic peep about how damned hard it can be to GET pregnant at this age. I wrote a letter to the editor about the *realistic* side of getting pregnant at 40 and beyond ... but have been dithering about sending it. It will basically "out" us to everyone we know as having used IVF, and since my husband's tenure is still at issue, I'm a little nervous ... but I should send it.

[Katie]

Perhaps he's counting the sperm donors??! After all, there are more than there are egg donors.

Or perhaps there is a huge, silent group of gay men who come in couples to fertility clinics with their (one) surrogate. Hence adding an extra man per couple.

Somehow I don't think it was either, but you never know.

[Mony]

If I stumble across a "In/Fertility" article (which happens quite often) I usually ignore it completely because I know it will have me irate and swearing before the 2nd paragraph finishes!

[Leggy]

Hmm- that's interesting. We were asked to be interviewed for that book he reviewed, but I never got back to her because I just couldn't process potentially having intimate details of my life on display.

[Nico]

Wow! How many in/fertility cliches is is possible to fit in one article? I can only think of one he missed - a nice mention of the McCaughey (or however that's spelled) septuplets. I also loved how he was denigrating the book's author for her poor writing. Pot? Kettle?

Your anniversary weekend sounds marvellous!

[beagle]

On the one hand I am glad to see something, anything, about infertility in the media. Well, no not really, the increased public awareness would be nice, but I would prefer it be accurate. But they always give such a narrow view. Narrow and biased.

As a result, young infertiles get mad that most articles imply age is mainly to blame and ingnores their plight, and old infertiles (or maybe it's just me) get mad because we feel blamed for waiting. I for one did not make an effort to "wait" it merely took me longer than average to find the right partner and have the means to provide a good home for a child (at which point I was 34, pushing 35). And for those who did postpone pregnancy "on purpose" in favor of career or what have you, the medical profession said that was OK, good even, until very recently (when it was too late for my generation to turn back time anyway). And, I might add, they have no proof that these same advanced maternal age infertility patients weren't already infertile at age 25.

So, for me, it is highly likely that any media portrayal of infertility will aggrevate me in some way or another.

Can't they just treat it like any other medical condition and present it with some empathy for those who are affected??

[T]

Am I just terribly tired and missed the book? I think unless the person writing the article or doing the interview has experienced infertility, the article is going to be infuriating to some degree. Usually it's the usage of "implant" instead of "transfer". ggrrr.

Happy Anniversary!

[Kay/Hanazono]

I agree that the review was sadly lacking in substance. The only thing I know for sure is that I never want to read anything that the reviewer writes ever again. But maybe that's just my middle-class professional petulance showing.

Glad you are having a good anniversary weekend! Congratulations to you and H!

[Kath]

Dear Thalia, it's so nice to know you were in Paris over the weekend and had a good time, despite the weather. That last paragraph made me smile my best Chesire Cat smile.

And the review? Par for the course, if you axe me. Fact-checking? At the Times? Bah!

[Sarah]

hurray for the lovely weekend!

[Betty M]

This Saturday's Guardian had an extract from the book in the Family section - http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2083101,00.html which may be more use in deciding whether to read the whole thing. Mr Dalrymple writes regularly for the Spectator as well as the Times which tells you about all you need to know about his prejudices. Glad you had a lovely weekend.

[teamwinks]

Hate when news people report things inacurately. Ugggh...

[Kath]

I just read the whole thing. Holy shit -- how self-righteous and asinine can you get? And you're right -- I have no idea what the book is about and if it's worth reading or not.

[Vivien]

Ah - next week, the Sunday Telegraph for the friendly fascist view! Happy anniversary!

[Woman Lost]

Your last sentence says it all.

[SarahD]

All I can say positively is, at least they mentioned the men and their issues, unlike most of these articles lately that seem stuck in the early 90s.

[waiting line]

Shred the paper, enjoy Paris - you lucky girl! :-)

[Lut C.]

Well, if posting helped get it off you're chest I'll forgive you for blogging on your romantic anniversary weekend in Paris. ;-)

[Infertility]

I definitely agree with your article! Very bias views from the media

[Patience]

So frustrating....

Glad your weekend was wonderful!

[Jane]

Oh, the Times is evil, evil, evil. I only read it when I feel that I haven't had enough to rant about recently. It's particularly shocking on gender-related issues. Last year there was another particularly awful article about how 'have- it-all-women' are creating an 'epidemic of infertility' by selfishly leaving their child-bearing until their late 30s. You really had to imagine that they were working from a checklist of cliches in order to construct a maximally offensive article. And of course when you looked at the statistics in detail they didn't really support the article.
The Times is a rag.

[Carol]

ugh! don't even get me started. this stupid stuff makes me so mad. I think there should be a law that you shouldn't be allowed to write about infertility unless you've actually been through it!

[Wendy]

Sorry you even had to come across that review. The author should be lumped in with the other buttmonkeys who feel that infertility in somewhat older females is merely their own doing and that insurance shouldn't cover treatments for it. I guess that means we don't have to pitter around with covering those athletic injuries anymore, either, considering that's merely how they chose to spend their time! YAY, think of all the money we'll save! *steaming away*

People suck. People who write as though an authority on a subject without having a real clue about it are pains in the... I wish I'd had an option to "wait or not wait". Infertility picked me, I didn't vote myself into getting it.

[Mary Ellen]

Ugh! Sometimes I wish that the media didn't even bother to report on infertility. They never get it right anyway.

I am so jealous that you get to go to Paris. I looooove Paris. Happy Anniversary!!

[Flicka]

Happy Anniversary! Lucky girl, to spend it in Paris, eating breakfast in bed. So glad everything is going well and you are finally enjoying a long spot of happiness. As it should be, my dear. As it should be.

[Mel]

Goodness! Actually including human stories and talking about human emotions! How banal, Mr. Dalrymple.

For what it's worth, I picked up this book at the bookstore this weekend. It looked interesting--very long, but interesting. I'm on hold for it at the library.

[laura]

Okay, that was a crappy review. I have just started reading the book, and am enjoying it very much. There's been a lot of detailed history about IVF/ART, things I hadn't read before, and much discussion about the social ramifications of all these newly available opportunities. I like it thus far, so I'd suggest reading it!