Thursday, 12 November 2009

The Fertility Show

Yes, another post about The Fertility Show. It will be my last word on the subject - until next year of course... It was an amazing two days - very busy and wonderful to see so many people there. The talks were a sell-out, and that was hardly surprising as it provided a unique opportunity to catch many of the UK's leading fertility specialists explaining their areas of expertise. There were some slightly odd stands - fertility astrology anyone? - but most provided information and access to instant advice.

I've been slightly surprised by some of the negative comments from journalists about the show, as everyone I spoke to had found it both interesting and informative - and being with thousands of other people going through the same thing made it clear quite what a common problem infertility is. The negative comments have all focused on the commercialism and the fact that many people were there to make money. I must admit that this sudden sense of horror at the idea that anyone should make money from infertility seems a little odd to me - fertility clinics have been raking it in for decades and you'd be hard pressed to find an impoverished fertility consultant.

I do take the point that some of the people working on the stands were perhaps a little forward - but one piece in the Daily Mail which criticised the Fertility Forest and More to Life - that's the charity that supports people who are living with involuntary childlessness -was just plain nasty. I'm not going to link to the piece but if you happen to have read it and felt the same way, you could always write to complain...

2 comments:

  1. Well, that was some story in The Daily Mail -- both wry and jaded. Thanks for calling attention to it and to the Fertility Show. It's positively surreal to me that we've reached a point where the fertility fuels a more than $3B a year industry (saw that statistic not long ago, but not certain whether that's U.S. or worldwide.)

    I'll spend some time on your blog to learn more about your writing. I have my own blog Coming2Terms and a recently released book, Silent Sorority, about the often hostile and perplexing response that comes to those of us reconciling infertility.

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  2. Thanks for your comment Pamela - will check out your blog - and the book too.

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