Women for Faith & Family and Marginalizing Infertile Women

  • Thread starter Thread starter Miserissima
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Miserissima said:
I didn’t mean to use that word in an inflammatory manner. The PC term is “infertile,” or technically, “sterile.” I apologize.
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Oh for goodness sakes folks.It’s in the Bible.Come on…:rolleyes:
I think "sterile’ sounds worse.
 
I never liked “barren,” but it was true. I wonder when and where it came to have such a negative connotation?
 
Cracker_Mom said:
Oh for goodness sakes folks.It’s in the Bible.Come on…:rolleyes:
I think "sterile’ sounds worse.
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I’m one of those women who are infertile, barren, sterile, whatever…they all mean the same thing. One is not worse than the other, IMHO. Personally, I like barren better. Sterile sounds so…clincial and cold. Infertile is a medical term. Barren, for some reason reminds me of the desert. It can be very lonely and frightening, but it can also be very beautiful and fertile. Things do grow in the desert; people sometimes forget that. Just like the desert, I am barren…but I too, can nurture life. I don’t like being reduced to a term in a medical book; I prefer to see myself teeming with life, even if the way that I nurture is different from what society views as the norm. Sorry for the long post and I hope that I did not jump into something that I should not have added my two cents, but this really touched me. Also, to the person who posted the poem…thank you so very much. It was truly beautiful and lifted my day. God bless.
 
Miserissima said:
I never liked “barren,” but it was true. I wonder when and where it came to have such a negative connotation?
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I think you only have to go as far as Jacob, Rachel, and Leah for the answer to that question. “Give me children or I shall die…”
 
So, a stigma of lacking the physical ability to not have children goes back to OT times? But, couldn’t these women have been maternal in action and deed, if not by childbirth?
 
Miserissima said:
So, a stigma of lacking the physical ability to not have children goes back to OT times? But, couldn’t these women have been maternal in action and deed, if not by childbirth?
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Sure. I never said anything to the contrary. I was just answering the question about negative connotation.
 
Miserissima said:
I agree, but that’s not the topic. If I must answer, I am going to say that no one here thinks that children are a right. I am talking about fertility being a qualifier for some ideal of womanhood that is seemingly off base.
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Sorry I wasn’t trying to take this off topic. 🙂 I was just so impressed to see someone say something flat out that I’d actually struggled with and only in the last few months come to terms with myself.

I hope you’ll contact them and tell them how you feel. Who knows how many other women interpret their statements the way you did. I know a year ago, I would have been wounded by them, too. After all we’ve been through, I was floored by the number of couples I’ve met who’ve had trouble concieving. This seems like a great opportunity for them to reach out to women who are infertile/sterile/barren.
 
Thank you, Aurora77, I think I will contact them. I just looked at what you quoted, and it sounds incredibly snotty. I am sorry about that! :o
 
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