The men seeking immaculate preconceptions
Women’s fertility anxiety has long been exploited by publishers, self-help gurus and others. Now they have men in their sights too. Viv Groskop reports:
Fear of infertility is no longer just a woman’s problem. “I am now seeing many young men in their 30s who are having performance anxiety around sex and fertility,” says former midwife Zita West, who offers £195 “fertility MOTs” at her London clinic and has treated more than 10,000 patients, including Kate Winslet and Stella McCartney.
These patients represent a new market: the pre-conceptionally anxious. They are people who are worried – usually for no reason – that they may have fertility problems. Most, unsurprisingly, are women in their late 30s, but a growing number of men are joining them. Next year sees the publication of three books aimed at this market. The Baby-Making Bible (Rodale, £14.99), by alternative health guru Emma Cannon, is out in January, and Zita West’s own Guide to Fertility and Assisted Conception (Vermilion, £14.99) is published in March. The most significant title, though, is What to Expect Before You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff (Simon & Schuster, £10.99) from the creators of What to Expect When You’re Expecting – the bestselling pregnancy title of all time. (Note that “Before”. How soon is too soon before, one wonders? Should we be preparing for pregnancy from childhood?)
There are pre-conception pills aimed at both men and women, too. This year Boots started stocking several his-and-hers supplements, intended to be taken in the run-up to pregnancy: Sanatogen Mother & Father-to-Be tablets (£12.99 for 60), Pregnacare His and Her Conception (£17.99 for 60), Wellman Conception capsules (£9.99 for 30). The male products are described as providing “nutritional support for conception and spermatogenesis”. They claim that “zinc has an antioxidant role to play in protecting sperm” and that “micronutrients [...] may play a role in helping to maintain the formulation of healthy, active sperm, contributing to its ability to reach the egg.” No pressure there, then.
