1. Gender division during medical procedures
1.1. Women
1.1.1. - Women must undergo most procedures, injections, operations, etc...
1.1.2. - Negative side effects from strong medications.
1.1.3. Complications during birth, especially if there are multiples.
1.2. Men
1.2.1. -Unless infertile, men are not required to undergo any medical procedures
1.2.2. -Must donate sperm
2. Gender division within society
2.1. Women
2.1.1. -Hegemonic femininity is represented with fertility
2.1.2. -Blamed for emasculation of their husbands, regardless of their attempts at IVF or ICSI
2.1.3. - Married women in Egypt, are socially expected to have children
2.2. Men
2.2.1. - Some men refuse to admit to their infertility because it is seen as a threat to their gender identity.
2.2.2. - Infertility in men is not culturally or religiously accepted
2.2.3. - Men in Egypt who can not reproduce are looked down upon by their society
3. Marriage and Infertility
3.1. - Egyptian men such as Moustafa seek to marry a woman who will be beneficial to their own social status within their community
3.2. - Middle eastern men often seek divorce from their infertile wives in order to marry a young woman capable of bearing a child
3.3. - High importance in male masculinity
3.4. - Young women such as Shahira agree to undergo IVF and ICSI prior to marriage in order to secure their future husband's trust
3.5. - Issues of blame, responsibility, and guilt are introduced into the marriage
3.6. - In Egypt, infertility is seen as a justifiable case for divorce.
3.7. - New reproductive technologies may be responsible for complicating a marriage
3.8. Husband and wife's reasoning for wanting a child may be altered by social norms
4. Stigma
4.1. - "Double stigmatization"
4.1.1. The treatment designed to defeat a stigmatizing health condition only leads to another stigma. Men and women must be secretive about their infertility and the new reproductive technology being used.
4.2. - Many countries, including the U.S. accept women who have children and treat women without children the opposite
4.3. - there is a "secret stigma" (261) of infertility in women all around the world
4.4. - Infertile men usually label themselves as weak or ineffective and are afraid to be viewed as less masculine because of this.
4.5. Enacted Stigma: intentional discrimination of infertile individuals (specifically women in Egypt)
4.6. Felt Stigma: Infertile individual's own internal evaluation of their condition
5. Stigmatization and Kalam (gossip)
5.1. Women
5.1.1. - wives protect infertile husbands by taking blame
5.1.2. - Women married to infertile men rarely seek divorce due to legal and social prohibitions
5.1.3. -
5.2. Men
5.2.1. - Infertile men are more likely to successfully keep their condition a secret from family and friends
5.2.2. - Contrary to women, infertile men are rarely reminded by outsiders of their conditions