Demographic Winter
In 2008, after two years of failing to make a child organically, we learned the doom Kathy had already been feeling for more than a year was justified: I was diagnosed with male-factor infertility. Our only real chance to move forward would be in vitro fertilization. We couldn’t afford it; we couldn’t afford not to do it. One way we tried to work through that diagnosis, our anger, and our options was to start a secret infertility blog, “Less Than a Million.” This post and what comments from 2008 that are attached to it come from that blog.—gb
In The Nation Kathryn Joyce surveys the landscape of “demographic winter,” the looming dystopia predicated on rising infertility in Europe that is being pushed by international profamily groups. Needless to say, the metaphor is not a little racist and antifeminist. The story also illustrates how much infertility is a political battleground. It is disconcerting to realize there are people who claim that my procreation is necessary and vital to the survival of “the race“—whatever it is my race is. It makes me want to declare I will not reproduce just to spite them; but they would probably respond with thanks for not spreading the disease of my liberalism. Can I say “Catch 22”?
