“This is Marina. She leads a feminist organization.” This is how we are introduced to the entrance to an event whose aim is to “normalize egg freezing”, run by a startup cooperating with a private infertility clinic. It’s a misunderstanding, but for a moment I wonder if this is what I should be doing, and my mind wanders.
The event takes place at a private members’ club in the bougie part of London. We gather on pastel-colored chairs, and the air in the room feels like frosty wool. I sit and listen, along with other women, as if I had come to learn about my fertility, as if I was wondering whether to freeze my eggs. I’m here to hear what organizers are talking about egg freezing. This is research for my book on innovations in women’s health, Vagina business.
In the US, some clinics host “egg freezing parties” with champagne and canapes. They create a sense of solidarity around “taking control” of our “biological clock.” Pop-up buses offer free fertility tests. Whenever a company gives away something for free, it is worth considering its business model and whether you will become its product. There is no champagne at the party I attended, and despite the uplifting language of the invitation, the atmosphere is somber.
The women in the audience were in their twenties and thirties, almost exclusively white, wearing black leather skirts and cashmere sweaters. We’re asked to fill out a survey, and the woman in front of me puts her copy under her chair, so when I look at my feet, I can’t assist but think she’s making between £70,000 and £100,000 a year ($94,000 and $134,000). This is more than twice the average income of a Londoner.
An infertility clinic presenter says: “I fully appreciate that thinking about fertility is overwhelming.” She says that even though women eat well and exercise, we neglect our fertility. “These are not easy conversations.” With urgency in her voice, she says that the conversation we’re about to have is still easier than the conversations she has with clients who have been struggling to get pregnant for years and have run out of options. He congratulates viewers for taking the first step towards understanding their fertility by participating in this event.
And herein lies the first problem. Fertility is not part of our education and is not a topic that health care professionals routinely discuss. However, this means that everything the presenters say can be considered fact. Women who learn about their fertility for the first time are in a vulnerable situation.
How many eggs do I need to freeze?
A woman in her thirties sitting in the audience asks how many eggs she would have to freeze to have a baby. “I promise I’m not trying to be coy – it’s really hard to answer questions about success rates,” the presenter says. She says some clients have only had one egg retrieval cycle – which may have yielded several eggs – and that’s OK.
At this point I would like to give the questioner an evidence-based chart showing the number of eggs she needs to freeze. Just a few eggs is a bad idea. But I realize that if I take a scientific article out of my bag, in the audience’s eyes the presenters are running a clinic and I am just an unknown woman with a brilliant orange umbrella.