The Last Word

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

Jacky Boivin, PhD

School of Psychology, Cardiff University

“Barren,” “sterile,” “infertile,” are just some of the words we use to refer to men and women who have reproductive difficulties. Does it matter which one we use? What do these words mean to you? When I think “barren,” I think of a dry unyielding landscape extending as far as the eye can see, nothing growing, not now, not ever; “sterile” is cold, harsh, unkind, it repels life rather than offers it up; “infertile” is more gentle, more willing, but that little preposition “in” so deeply painful when put together with “fertile.” It makes me think incompetent, incapable, unable. So words do make a difference, but does it affect how people with the problem behave?

Some words used in reproductive health label people, whereas others label problems, and from a psychological perspective that is an important distinction. If you are a “sterile man” or “infertile woman,” that is an all-encompassing label. The adjective is applied to the whole of you, not just your blocked tubes, wonky hormones or wandering sperm. This kind of label narrows your horizons, your possibilities, your competence, and essentially asks that you take on another identity, become someone new and worse, someone less complete. And herein lies the problem. Many people who believe they have reproductive difficulties are reluctant to take action, because they fear how that label might affect who they are, how they think or feel about themselves and how others see them.

Indeed, once you have a label, you generally start to act in a way that confirms that label, or what that label means to you. If being a “sterile woman” makes you feel incompetent, then you pay more attention to those aspects of your behaviour that confirm that label. In other words, the label generalises your feelings of incompetence, from your reproductive ability to all of your abilities, so that you come to perceive yourself as incapable in a variety of ways. The label also affects the way other people behave towards you. Because the label is attached to you, people may start to make assumptions about what you can or cannot do, even if the task at hand has nothing to do with the particular problem. So you take the label personally and so do people around you.

So if the label makes a difference and it affects people, why not label the problem rather than the person? Is a “sterile man” the same as a man with “reproductive difficulties?” What does the word “difficulty” mean to you? It makes me think: obstacle, hindrance, hassle, and all of these make me want to solve the problem. “Difficulties” is a familiar word, one we encounter all the time, at work, in relationships, at the post office. We know what to do when we have difficulties, we have possible ways of coping, we have experience resolving them. “Difficulties” is an action word, a get-going sort of word, a call to action, a challenge. More importantly, reproductive difficulties as a label does not narrow who I am, in fact it adds to my complexity as a person: I am + reproductive difficulty. Whether or not the difficulty is there, “I am” remains intact.

It is because words matter that organisations like the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada (IAAC) are committing themselves to labelling problems rather than people and to raising awareness that reproductive difficulties can be overcome. By changing the label, it will be easier for people to start finding solutions to their reproductive problems now.