fertility

Period Story Podcast: I Really Wish I Had Paid More Attention To My Cycles When I Was Younger

Period Story is a podcast where in each episode, I sit down with a guest to talk about their period story, we get behind some of the myths and misconceptions about periods, and so much more.

Each episode features a notable and interesting person talking about their first period, the way they learned about periods and menstrual health, what they know now that they wish they knew back then and everything in between.
— Period Story Podcast

Thank you to Le’Nise Brothers for inviting me onto Period Story Podcast; a fantastic podcast that does exactly what it says on the tin - really important conversations that take on taboos around menstruation:

Katy shared her journey through infertility and pregnancy loss, what she learned about her body, her inspiration for Uber Barrens Club and of course, the story of her first period.

Katy talks about reading the fabulous Judy Bloom book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? as a period rite of passage. She also shares the moment at the school gate that prompted her mum to make sure she understood the birds and bees 😄

Katy says that she went on the pill because she wanted to control her period and talks about what prompted her to eventually come off the pill and get diagnosed with lean PCOS.

We had a very candid discussion about what this diagnosis meant for her fertility journey at the time, what happened next and why Katy wishes she had paid more attention to her menstrual cycles when she was younger.

Katy says that she started Uber Barrens Club because she only ever saw one narrative of infertility, after people have been successful. She says that she wanted to write a different story and take back the word barren, reclaim it and make this silent sisterhood more visible.

Katy says that you don’t have to do this alone. She believes we should reach out, read up, learn about our bodies and not be afraid to ask questions. I love that!

For more info & a transcript of our conversation check out Period Story Podcast

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In Media Res: Representations of Infertility in Comics and Graphic Novels

I’m thrilled to have collaborated with Dr Anna Feigenbaum (Principal Academic in Digital Storytelling) and Alexandra Alberda (PhD researcher in Graphic Medicine) from the Civic Media Hub at Bournemouth University on a project about infertility in Graphic Medicine (the use of comics in medical education and patient care).

In Media Res is an academic blog exploring contemporary approaches to studying media that has theme weeks focusing on particular subjects - we contributed to their Infertility theme week by creating a zine exploring how comics represent the emotional effects of infertility, often nuancing and challenging mainstream media narratives:

Graphic Infertility: Representations of Infertility in Comics and Graphic Novels

A big thank you to participating artists Sarah Glidden, Cara Gormally, Sheila Alexander, Jenell Johnson, and Emily Steinberg for contributing to the zine. Permissions to use images was granted by the artists included; if you would like to use the images please reach out to them via the links provided in the zine.

For more from these artists please see the following works:

Sarah Glidden: Barren

Cara Gormally: We Doubled Down

Sheila Alexander: IF: A Memoir of Infertility

Jenell Johnson: Present/Perfect

Emily Steinberg: Broken Eggs

And thank you to Alex for the wonderful avatar she created of me!

Fertility Fest 2019: Our Mission - Fertility Education

My latest blog post for Fertility Fest 2019 is the 3rd in a 3-part series about Fertility Fest’s 3 big aims

The third pillar of our social mission is something that’s so, so important - to improve fertility education. Young people need to learn more than how ‘not to get pregnant’, they deserve a more rounded and robust understanding of human fertility so they have the best chance of creating the families they want in the future — with or without children, with or without reproductive science.

(The irony that I spent 2.5 years working on the government teen pregnancy prevention strategy, credited with halving the rate of teenage pregnancies (& one of the most successful public health campaigns ever) and yet I turned out to be infertile, is not lost on me!)

There’s been some incredible progress with the development of the Fertility Education Initiative and, most significantly, the fact that fertility education and menstrual health are going to be on the new revamped curriculum for sex and relationships education from 2020 onwards. But now we need to advocate for what we think that curriculum should cover.

Our Mission: Fertility Education

Please do read the post, share and let us know what you think - really hoping to see as many of you as possible at the Fest in Apr/May!