Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jun;24(2):137-56.
doi: 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01094.x.

"Trying" times: Medicalization, intent, and ambiguity in the definition of infertility

Arthur L Greil  1 , Julia McQuillan
Affiliations

"Trying" times: Medicalization, intent, and ambiguity in the definition of infertility

Arthur L Greil et al. Med Anthropol Q. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

Researchers studying infertility from the perspective of anthropology and other the social sciences seldom examine the assumptions embedded in the biomedical definition of infertility. Implicit in the biomedical definition is the assumption that people can be divided straightforwardly into those who are trying to conceive and those who are not trying to conceive. If being infertile implies "intent to conceive," we must recognize that there are various degrees of intent and that the line between the fertile and the infertile is not as sharp as is usually imagined. Drawing on structured interview data collected from a random sample of Midwestern U.S. women and from qualitative interviews, we demonstrate that that there is a wide range of intent among those classified as infertile according to the biomedical definition. We explore the implications of this for research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fertility Ideals and Intentions by Fertility Status Category among Women without Children.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abma Jill, Chandra Anjani, Mosher William A, Peterson Linda S, Piccinino Linda J. Fertility, Family Planning, and Women’s Health: New Data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital and Health Statistics. 1997;23(19):1–114. - PubMed
    1. American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Definitions of Infertility and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss. Fertility and Sterility. 2008;90:S60. - PubMed
    1. Barrett Geraldine, Wellings Kaye. What Is a “Planned” Pregnancy? Empirical Data from a British Study. Social Science and Medicine. 2002;55(4):545–557. - PubMed
    1. Becker Gay. The Elusive Embryo: How Women and Men Approach New Reproductive Technologies. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2000.
    1. Becker Gay, Castrillo Martha, Jackson Rebecca, Nachtigall Robert D. Infertility among Low-Income Latinos. Fertility and Sterility. 2005;85(4):882–887. - PubMed