Unacknowledged fear of motherhood can physiologically prevent conception.

Evidence

Often a woman deliberately ensures her sterility either by refusing all sexual relations or by birth-control practices; but there are also cases where she does not admit her fear of the infant and where conception is prevented by a psychic defense mechanism; functional problems of nervous origin occur that can be detected in a medical examination. Dr. Arthus cites a striking example, among others: … Mme H.… had been poorly prepared for her life as a woman by her mother; who had always warned her of the worst catastrophes if she became pregnant … When Mme H.… was married she thought she was pregnant the following month; she realized her error; then once more after three months; new mistake. A year later she went to a gynecologist, who did not see any cause of infertility in her or her husband. Three years later, she saw another one who told her: “You will get pregnant when you talk less.” After five years of marriage, Mme H.… and her husband had accepted that they would not have a child. A baby was born after six years of marriage. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1437

Categorization

• QUESTION: The mechanism — psychic defense producing functional sterility that resolves without medical intervention — is asserted via case study; worth probing its empirical standing.
• SHARE: A specific friend doing psychosomatic medicine would appreciate the Mme H. case — deliberate sterility through defense mechanism, resolved by acceptance.
• XREF: connects to: Pregnancy symptoms and menopause are interpreted as species-resistance by woman — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 110; Some women seek authority over children while fearing biological childbirth itself.; Women’s silence about pregnancy stems from their own unrecognized inner conflicts. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1433 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Pregnancy symptoms and menopause are interpreted as species-resistance by woman #expands (0.82) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 110