“I’m Marina. She heads a feminist organization. ” This is how I was introduced at the entrance to an event aimed at “normalizing egg freezing” run by a startup company affiliated with a private fertility clinic. It was a misunderstanding, but for a moment I wondered if it was okay, and my mind wandered.
This event will be held at a private members’ club in London’s Bougie district. We are huddled together in pastel-colored chairs, and the air in the room feels like cold wool. I sit with other women and listen. It’s as if you’re here to learn about your fertility and are wondering whether or not to freeze your eggs. I came here to see what the organizers had to say about egg freezing. This is research for my book on women’s health innovation. vagina business.
In the United States, some clinics are hosting “egg freezing parties” with champagne and canapés. They create a sense of solidarity regarding “controlling” our “biological clock.” Free infertility tests are available at the pop-up bus. When a company offers something for free, it’s worth considering their business model and whether you’re trying to become their product. There was no champagne at the event I attended, and despite the uplifting words on the invitation, the atmosphere was dark.
The women in the audience are in their 20s and 30s, mostly white, wearing black leather skirts and cashmere sweaters. We were asked to fill in a survey and the woman in front of me had her copy under her chair and I looked down at my feet and saw that she was earning between £70,000 and £100,000 a year. I can see it. ($94,000 and $134,000). This is more than double the average income of Londoners.
The director of an infertility clinic says, “We understand that thinking about infertility can be difficult.” Women are good at eating well and exercising, but we ignore our fertility, she says. “It’s not an easy conversation,” she says, with a sense of urgency in her voice, that the conversation we’re about to have is still easier than the one we have with clients who have struggled to conceive for years and have exhausted their options. I did. She congratulated the audience for taking the first step towards understanding their fertility by attending this event.
And here is the first problem. Infertility treatment is not part of our education, nor is it a topic that health care providers address on a daily basis. But that means anything the presenter says can be accepted as fact. Women who learn about their fertility for the first time are in a vulnerable position.
How many eggs do I need to freeze?
A woman in her 30s sitting in the audience asked how many eggs she would need to freeze in order to have children in the future. “I promise I’m not trying to be shy. It’s really hard to answer questions about success rates,” says the presenter. She says some clients may only have one egg retrieval cycle and get a few eggs, and that’s okay.
At that point, I would like to give the questioner an evidence-based chart regarding the number of eggs that need to be frozen. Just adding a few eggs is not enough. But even if I create a research paper out of a tote bag, in the eyes of the audience the presenter is running a clinic and I’m just another anonymous woman with a bright orange umbrella. I noticed that.
