Minutus

Shannon wrote:

woman to be aware of her fertility cycle, and the man to be willing to
accommodate her? I realize this doesn't cover 100% of situations, but would
think it ought to at least be part of the discussion?

As I said, "In an Ideal World"....this form of birth control would be the
choice for us all!

But in our world, this is simply not the case and not viable as a primary
form of birth control for all women, all the time. No reason not to
encourage women to adopt this type of birth control, however, if it could be
put to use in their lives effectively. It is part of our work to be
resources for our patients--but we are just resources of information. I
don't think its our work to be judgemental, or dictatorial, about telling
patients what they must do or must do to manage their fertility.

Nancy
on 10/13/03 9:15 AM, Nancy Siciliana at nasiciliana@hotmail.com wrote:

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What has this to do with homoeopathy. To repeat fertility is a healthy
state and given that condoms are a healthy non suppressive form of
contraception I do not see this is relevant for this homoeopathy site.

Hi Liz,

"What has this to do with homeopathy?" Well, I don't know about you, but
every single woman I meet as a patient has this concern and demonstrates
"health" not by submission to her body's fertility, but by managing it and
deciding how to use her fertility. When these decisions are forced out of
her hands, then serious pathology results.

All women from every culture have made decisions regarding their
fertility--from time immemorial until today. The means have changed, but
the result has always been the same. Barrier methods of birth control have
only ever been one option--many, many others have been used effectively to
maintain reproductive and general health. If we are to be of any help to
people who come to us for treatment, then we ought to know these
facts--especially if women see us as a resource of health information.

I don't agree that "fertility" is the healthy state, and I do not believe
we, as practitioners, have decided this as well. Women spend the great
majority of their lives not menstruating, from birth to adolescence and
again from the end of the cycle until the end of their lives (which averages
out to 30+ years, in our culture). This amount of time is not spent "being
fertile", and yet full health is achievable and maintainable. Fertility is
simply possible for a (small) portion of time in a woman's life, and
therefore should not be a determinant of "health" or "illness" in itself.
The ability for a woman to decide to use her fertility in her own way is,
significantly, the best indicator and the best preserver of
health--emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical health. This is an
important distinction to make, particularly if we want to avoid imposing
judgemental, sexist conclusions on our patients--and, in turn, avoid not
being able to treat them effectively as homeopaths.

I don't see this issue as being separable from homeopathy, as it is so
important to so many of my patients.

Nancy

i have not been actively participating in this discussion, but I do want to thank Nancy for
pointing out the subtle ways that prejudice can creep into our practice. this list has had
this issue emerge over and over again. it never ceases to amaze me how blind we can be
to the judgments we make in life or the lack of clarity about our own value systems that we
may impose on others. the issues regarding fertility, contraception, cultural mores (and the
battles with them), and sexism are a good case in point. another is homosexuality.
it wasnt that long ago that the american psychiatric profession regarded same gender preference
as a mental aberration. it was a long and painful battle for many gay people before that profession
realized its ignorance and judgementalness.

i have seen professional homeopaths make the same mistake--deciding to 'cure' something that
wasnt a problem to the person because of the practitioner's personal value system and judgementalness.
let's not repeat or continue the errors of the past.

tanya