Saturday linkage

[oursin]

Article by Barbara Taylor on Enlightenment women, who have previously, are we surprised, not been part of the narrative of The Enlightenment and Its Big Male Thinkers.

And Nicola Norton on women who delay motherhood and the self-appointed fertility police
For the first time ever, the fertility rate of women aged 30-34 has overtaken that of women

Comments

[noveldevice]

Thank you for the links! The Enlightenment women one was particularly interesting. I like the note about how if Macaulay's books were good, her right to them was disputed--there is apparently a school of thought that runs that Sulpicia's elegy is so good, she can't have actually been a woman. (This is in sharp contrast to the thought that runs "Sulpicia is a woman, and thus her elegy is artless and effusive, pouring from the pen of an innocent girl.")

[parthenia14]

What I think the 'fertility' article scrambles somewhat is the difference between 'birth rate' and 'individual fertility.' So, many more women than ever before are now having babies in their late 30s and early forties; however, a woman's individual fertility level is on the decline by then. That might make a difference in how long it takes someone to conceive, or indeed whether they can conceive at all. That is certainly why IVF is being used more and more. In that sense, the fertility police (wonder what their uniforms look like?), might be right in saying, don't leave it too late.

Of course the writer knows lots of people in that age group who've successfully conceived; equally, I could point to a number of women who have had considerable difficulty conceiving. I don't think it's a comfortable message, although I doubt that it's likely to reverse the trends. Not least, because 'OMG! I should have done this 8 years ago! Let's go back!' is not particularly useful.

[auroramama]

My mom read all that pessimistic stuff, and as a result she does think my children (twins) were a miracle. But we didn't need IVF, and we had several known fertility issues. "Medical intervention" doesn't have to mean in vitro. I did one cycle of hormones to make sure the timing would be perfect, and bam! twins. It's certainly true that it's easier to get pregnant when you're in your twenties (and even easier when you're in your teens, more's the pity) but the way this gets harped on feels like media schadenfreude to me.