Minutus

Dear Nancy

By definition at the right time in their life cycle a healthy being should
be able to reproduce. If it cannot, it is not healthy!! This applies
equally to both males and females.

There is a time when some events in a female body are normal and at other
times they are abnormal and a sign of disease.

The periods when a female body is fertile follows a norm.

If a girl menstruate at too an early age - there is problem and we have
remedies for that.
If she is in her late teens and not menstruating - again we have remedies
for that.
If she reaches menopause too early we have remedies for that.
If she suddenly stops menstruating - we have remedies to cover that to.

It is NORMAL for a healthy woman who is menstruating normally and regularly
to be fertile.

We have the rubric STERILE. But we do not have the rubric FERTILE!
Why - because it is not a sign of disease to be fertile.

I fully understand the importance of the facility for birth control for both
males and females. But as it is the female who has to carry the burden more
than the male it has MUCH greater importance to the female. I also
understand the pressures on the female either to get or not to get pregnant.

May be I am autistic - but my understanding as a mere male is that when a
woman's body is functioning normally and healthily as it has been doing for
000s of years, then it is not for homoeopathy - which is the true art of
healing - to interfere.

As I have asked before - in prescribing a remedy to make a female infertile,
what are we healing/curing?

Kind regards
Soroush

Message: 10
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 11:26:29 +0000
From: "Nancy Siciliana"
Subject: Re: Contraception What about condoms ? and usehomoeopathy for
health

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
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Soroush,

I am not advocating prescribing a remedy to make a woman sterile or
infertile.

No one is. Please do not oversimplify facetiously.

I am acknowledging the importance of being able to be self-determining about
one's fertility to one's health.

To deride people for helping women accomplish this extremely important aim
is to simply close our eyes to what constitutes real health and to the real
health needs for the majority of our patients. It is unfortunate for us
that one of the most reliable and convenient methods of birth control
involves the crude use of hormones to mimick pregnancy in the body--but a
woman who feels capable of living her life as a result of this drug's use is
much more likely to be healthy than someone who is unable to free herself of
the fear of becoming pregnant, or facing an unwanted pregnancy, or even
curtailing her sexuality because of her fear of having children.

Fertility in itself is simply a potential--it is no indicator of health or
disease in itself. I think its important to acknowledge this distinction
regarding the definition of health here: its not just about being able to
conceive on those very limited number of days in one's life when one can.
You have to understand that it is far, far more complicated than that--if
not for yourself, then at least for the needs of your patients. And that is
why I don't agree to your statement that fertility = health. Its just an
oversimplification which can actually cause a lot of damage to a lot of
women.

I am asking you to appreciate the need to expand your limited definition of
"health".

I sure hope you can.

Nancy