As I mentioned yesterday, even though it’s Men’s Health Week, we don’t often hear the male side of the infertility journey. With Fathers’ Day just around the corner, this is especially timely. There are a few elusive male voices out there (emphasis on the few). But the guys who are out there really help to shed some light on what is so often a woman-centric subject.
Take for example, Brittanie’s husband Ben, over at Fertilize This! He busted a myth for NIAW about his experience as a man with male-factor infertility. Or Rain’s husband at Weathering the Storm – she interviewed him about his experience with male-factor infertility and how it affects their marriage.And then there are awesome guys like my husband, Larry, who wrote a guest post of his perspective of being married to someone with female-factor infertility.
And then there’s Alec, over at I Want to Be a Daddy. Are you reading him? You aren’t? Well, you should. Alec has become a rising voice in the infertility community from the ever-elusive male perspective. He spells it out exactly right in his blog’s description:
My wife JK and I went through a 2 1/2 year odyssey of infertility. It was a painful time. The emotional toll was as real for me as it was for JK. Friends who had survived infertility helped me to cope, and thus I hope that our story will help others.
Now this is the kind of voice we need to hear out there! This Friday, there’s a unique opportunity to engage with Alec and RESOLVE, as they host a Twitterview with Alec at 2pm EST. From MyDestinationFamily.org:
On June 17th, leading up to this coming Father’s Day, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and MyDestinationFamily.org will honor this shared struggle through a personal and informative Twitterview with Alec Ross, blogger at I Want to Be a Daddy and regular contributor at FertilityAuthority. Alec will help to shed light on the all too silent male side of infertility in this one-hour Twitter exchange with executive director of RESOLVE, Barb Collura. He will speak to the two-and-a-half year infertility battle he and his wife faced, and the ups and downs that they continue to face today.
Wait, what’s a Twitterview?
It’s kind of like a public conversation, but since it’s Twitter, it’s like having that public conversation in a sea of a million voices. The conversation stands out by using a dedicated hashtag to differentiate this conversation’s tweets from all the others. In this case, the dedicated hashtag for the Twitterview is #tvFD (for Father’s Day TwitterView).
How do I follow along?
- Make sure you’re following @RESOLVEorg, @infertility_guy and @MyDestFamily on Twitter. Oh, and me if you aren’t already (@miriamshope).
- Beginning at 2pm this Friday, June 17, make sure to follow #tvFD. You can do this in a couple of ways:
- Twitter’s own search: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23tvfd
- TweetChat: http://tweetchat.com/room/tvFD
- If you sign in with your Twitter account on TweetChat, you can jump into the conversation and TweetChat automatically adds the #tvFD hashtag to the end of your tweets.
- You can share the experience with others by retweeting tweets during the hour.
When is this Twitterview again?
This Friday, June 17th, at 2pm EST. Join in or follow along to hear about the impact that infertility plays on Fathers’ Day and the male experience with infertility. I know it’s going to be an informative, engaging and emotional conversation. I’m really looking forward to it.
Hope to see folks tweeting and retweeting away on Friday!
Krissi says
My hubby also wrote a few guest posts on the topic of male infertility on my blog! I will repost this info tomorrow morning!
BTW, I wanted to thank you for having my link because you are one of my top referring sites! Also, I wanted to thank you again for posting my stories on your paperli! I'm looking forward to your book reviews!
Natalie says
It's so good you are talking abt this! The finger was pointed at my husband for our secondary infertility. I admit at times it was hard to not be resentful. Thankfully he was so willing to be treated and we have a beautiful 8 month old to go with our 5 and 7 yearolds! It was a journey though!
Keiko says
Hi Gwen – thanks for commenting. I saw that on his blog today too. Probably sheds some more light on the male perspective; perhaps he didn't think it would be a sensitivity issue b/c maybe it doesn't bother him as a male IF blogger, yanno? Food for thought indeed.
Gwen says
Thanks for mentioning some male bloggers talking about IF and how it affects them.
I try not to be overly sensitive, but Alec's current post included a photo of a pregnant belly, which I was not expecting at an IF blog.