Understanding men’s experiences of infertility online: Findings, challenges and future directions

Men have routinely been marginalised from social science and public understandings around reproduction and fertility (Culley, Hudson and Lohan, 2013), with men’s perspectives and experiences hidden from view (Hanna and Gough, 2015). In the literature that does exist, infertility is often narrated as a stigmatised, emasculating and distressing experience for men, which contributes to perceptions of difficulty in conducting primary research with men on the topic. In recent years, however, online sites (forums, blogs, social media) have presented ‘ways in’ to otherwise hard-to-reach groups (Langer and Beckman, 2005). Online sources of support have grown in popularity for a variety of health related issues, allowing users to connect with others with ‘lived experience’ to create ‘communities of practice’ (Paetchter, 2003). This paper presents findings from a qualitative research project around the use and value of online forums for men experiencing infertility within the context of their intimate partner relationships (Hanna and Gough, 2016a; 2016b). The paper will explore key themes from the research, including how men view infertility as: an emotional rollercoaster that is tyrannical within men’s everyday lives, and something which impacts longer term for those who successfully move towards parenthood. The paper will explore the forum as a ‘safe space’ which facilitates disclosure and peer support, as well as the influence of hegemonic masculinity on constructions of self, others and coping with infertility. We argue that online forums offer benefits for researchers and men alike. For researchers, the forums provide ‘naturalistic’ peer-to-peer data featuring men’s own accounts and language, thereby helping to address men’s marginalisation from previous work around infertility. For men themselves, forums can offer a valuable space in which to create a community of practice around infertility issues, to draw on peer support, and to engage mechanisms for sharing which feel useful and appropriate to them. Whilst forums may not be an option for engendering support around infertility for all men, they may be part of a suite of options around support for men who are experiencing the distress of infertility within their intimate relationships.