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War, too, has played a role in the perception of women's infertility.
During wartime, a population group's fertility level will wax and wane with the tide of related male absences and deaths. Eventual peace usually results in a fertility boom. Particularly in those eras and societies when women were thought to be the primary determining parties in regards to conception, women who were not fruitful might be seen as not doing their part to support current or future war efforts.
For many, historical perceptions of infertility begin with examples from the sacred text of their religion. The miracles of conception and birth have always been tied to the mysteries of existence.
Most religions either directly or indirectly worship motherhood, and specifically the miracle of the female body's unique ability. Ancient Egyptian images of women emphasized sexual characteristics in which fertility and religious meanings were inextricable. Pagans' maternal dieties were central to their beliefs, and Christians' worship of the mother of Jesus is similar.
Religious views of the infertile have typically ranged from being persecutory to compassionate. Because the ongoing creation of the human family is in itself important to the ultimate existence of any religion, procreation has been important to all faiths. As a result, even the more understanding stances can feel stigmatizing.
In general, religious beliefs often assert that infertile people are chosen or predestined to be so, and that the affected individuals' task is to discover the meaning of the affliction within their lives. In nearly all religions, women's expected roles are closely aligned with their role as mother. Some faiths are more explicit about this viewpoint than others.
For those whose religion uses Biblical examples, the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Elkanah and Hannah, Zachariah and Elizabeth are important. Similarly, the Qur'an has stories of Ibrahim and Sara, of Zakariya and Ishba, and of Asya. Each of these stories refer to the grief of women who are barren, and the strength of the men who stayed by their side in spite of their wives' childlessness.
On the other hand, while men's ability to procreate is also closely aligned with their value in religious societies, there is little or nothing to be found in faith-based literature about infertile men. Also, it is notable that in the Catholic religion there are patron saints for "barren" women, but none for infertile men.
© Tracy Morris
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