All right, listen up, and then repeat after me:

Fertility is not solely the female partner’s concern.

Did you say it? Really? If not, get back there and read it again. Out loud. Don’t worry, we’ll wait.

You see, all too often we tend to frame fertility in terms of the woman’s responsibility. The fact of the matter is that this is a totally antiquated and completely unscientific viewpoint. It hearkens back to a darker age, when a woman could be beheaded because she “refused” to provide a monarch with progeny (or at least male progeny).

The fact is that a great number of fertility problems experienced by couples are the male partner’s responsibility.

Problems with male fertility usually fall into one of three types:

1. Sperm count. This is the most common cause of male infertility, and probably the one that you’re most likely to hear about. Having a low sperm count essentially means that, when it comes to volume, you don’t have enough sperm in your semen to be able to have a decent chance that they’ll make it to the fallopian tubes and fertilize an egg.
2. Sperm motility. Motility refers to the way that sperm move forward. The sperm need to be able to move forward through the female partner’s reproductive system to the fallopian tubes in order to fertilize an egg and conceive. If they’re not moving forward, or if they’re not moving forward fast enough, conception just isn’t going to happen.
3. Sperm abnormality. There is a third potential problem, and that’s abnormal sperm. Abnormal sperm aren’t shaped the way that sperm are supposed to be shaped. When that happens, they can’t fertilize an egg. A sperm abnormality is the least common cause of male infertility, but it does happen.

Ultimately, if you’re having trouble trying to conceive, both partners should make some effort to become educated about possible causes of infertility, and explore ways they can try to overcome those causes.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 and is filed under Fertility.