preservation

Россию заполонили опасные презервативы с отвратительным запахом. Полиция изъяла тысячи поддельных Durex и Contex в нескольких регионах. Эти контрафактные изделия производятся в грязных подвалах, где экономят на обработке смазкой. Итог — ужасный запах и отсутствие защиты.

🔵 Bloomberg

Problems and Prospects

Fertility, Nuptiality, and Family Planning in Russia

The dramatic 1988-1996 fertility decline and negative rate of natural increase in Russia after 1992 shocked public officials and many others around the world. As a result, these and other demographic phenomena have become the foci of unprecedented attention by politicians, the mass media, professionals, and dilettantes. Consequently, there are numerous population forecasts and various predictions, most of which predict and warn of depopulation-caused apocalypses and drastic deterioration of the nation's genetic pool. At the behest of Communists, self-proclaimed national patriots, and church fundamentalists, the Russian Duma is earnestly discussing legislation related to the "extraordinary demographic situation in the country." Among proposed measures "to salvage the nation" are laws to restrict abortion rights, to legally oblige married couples to deliver at least one child, to provide exorbitant benefits for giving birth to a second and third child, to ban family-planning associations, to ban advertisement of contraceptives, and to promote many other ideas, some of which have been tried in Italy, Spain, Germany, and the USSR during the times of Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, and Stalin. Amid this hullabaloo, professional judgments of the few and relatively quiet specialists who are engaged in collecting and analyzing population statistics are barely audible. I have expressed my view on long-term trends in the dynamics of Russian fertility and nuptiality and their short-term oscillations. I believe that adopting patterns of "Western" reproductive and matrimonial behavior in the 1990s stands behind life-cycle changes of advanced social groups in Russia. One cannot rule out that a new economic reality will also spur transition to a new fertility pattern in Russia. The responsibility for the consequences of marriage and its "economics" will undoubtedly grow and inevitably lead to an increase in the age of first marriage and of first childbirth. As a result, a new fertility pattern may take shape even sooner than current evolutionary changes.

Family Planning in Russia

Fertility, Nuptiality, and Family Planning in Russia: Problems and Prospects

Sergei Zakharov

The dramatic 1988-1996 fertility decline and negative rate of natural increase in Russia after 1992 shocked public officials and many others around the world. As a result, these and other demographic phenomena have become the foci of unprecedented attention by politicians, the mass media, professionals, and dilettantes. Consequently, there are numerous population forecasts and various predictions, most of which predict and warn of depopulation-caused apocalypses and drastic deterioration of the nation's genetic pool. At the behest of Communists, self-proclaimed national patriots, and church fundamentalists, the Russian Duma is earnestly discussing legislation related to the "extraordinary demographic situation in the country." Among proposed measures "to salvage the nation" are laws to restrict abortion rights, to legally oblige married couples to deliver at least one child, to provide exorbitant benefits for giving birth to a second and third child, to ban family-planning associations, to ban advertisement of contraceptives, and to promote many other ideas, some of which have been tried in Italy, Spain, Germany, and the USSR during the times of Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, and Stalin. Amid this hullabaloo, professional judgments of the few and relatively quiet specialists who are engaged in collecting and analyzing population statistics are barely audible. I have expressed my view on long-term trends in the dynamics of Russian fertility and nuptiality and their short-term oscillations. I believe that adopting patterns of "Western" reproductive and matrimonial behavior in the 1990s stands behind life-cycle changes of advanced social groups in Russia. One cannot rule out that a new economic reality will also spur transition to a new fertility pattern in Russia. The responsibility for the consequences of marriage and its "economics" will undoubtedly grow and inevitably lead to an increase in the age of first marriage and of first childbirth. As a result, a new fertility pattern may take shape even sooner than current evolutionary change.

Religion, Fertility and Contraception in Sub-Saharan Africa

Part 4: African research and policy in Nigeria
Catholic Church, Family Planning, fertility, Population growth, Population Projections, Religion
January 18, 2022

African researchers have done excellent work to clarify how religious affiliation influences the use of contraception. In Nigeria, with high fertility and a large and growing population, use of modern contraception is still low. The teaching of Islam in particular, contributes to this situation. Several researchers emphasize that men and religious leaders should be involved to improve the situation for women.

By Frank Götmark & Nicola Turner

Nigeria, with 211 million people, is projected to have a population of 401 million by mid-2050. This would markedly increase demands of people on water resources, arable land, forests, and wild animals (a food source in rural areas). Today, the number of Nigerians per km2 of arable land (622) is higher than the corresponding figure for Europeans in the EU (448) where population may be stable, or even decreasing. The high fertility rate in Nigeria (5.2 children per woman), combined with a young population forming families in coming decades, seems to be causing a future population explosion. What is the role of religious denominations for this high fertility rate?

African researchers have analyzed the contraception use in Nigeria, and the factors influencing the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR, the percentage of married women, or in union, using contraception). Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are available from many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and can be used to analyze CPR.

In a detailed study, Godswill Osuafor and Akim Mturi asked whether “religious beliefs have a significant effect on contraceptive uptake” in Nigeria. Denomination affiliation is given in the DHS (Catholic, other Christian, Muslim, and traditional religion). Non-religious people were not mentioned, a small, difficult-to-study minority: atheists and agnostics, if open with their views, face persecution in Nigeria and other African countries, or even capital punishment. One wonders therefore, if the proportion of people classified as religious is overestimated in polls from Africa?

Osuafor & Mturi describe the background: The first family planning (FP) clinic was set up in Lagos in 1958, and the first formal FP program began in 1964, with a goal to reduce fertility. A national population policy in 1988 set up specific goals; to reduce the fraction of women bearing more than 4 children by 50% to 1995, and by 80% to 2000. The policy failed; the authors comment that “the benefits of lower fertility… was beyond the comprehension of the ordinary person and even the intellectual.” Both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria tend to view pregnancy as a gift from God. The national population policy was revised in 2004, with goals to reduce the annual population growth rate to 2% or lower, and increasing CPR by at least 2% per year, up through 2015. (In 2019, the annual growth rate was 2.6%, according to the UN.)

Osuafor & Mturi analyzed DHS surveys from 1990, 1999, 2003 and 2008 (the last one involving much more data). The questions to married women (or in union) were the same over time, and the sample of households varied from 5 100 to 23 800. The authors used statistical models to try to tease apart the role of different factors influencing CPR. Such methods should be seen as giving indications, not establishing cause-and-effect, which is only attainable through some form of experiment.

Knowledge of contraception was quite widespread; it increased from 1990 (44% had knowledge) to 2003 (78%), though tended to decline in 2008 (68%). The CPR values were much lower: 6% in 1990, 12% 2003, and 15% in 2008. Knowledge of, and use of contraceptives among Muslims and followers of traditional religion were less than half as high as among Catholic and other Christians (5.6% of Muslims used contraceptives, compared to 19% of Catholics, in 2008). Traditional contraception was the most common method in all denominations across the survey years.

The statistical model, with other factors included or “controlled for”, indicated lower contraceptive use for followers of Islam and traditional religion. Moreover, northern Nigeria had lower CPR than the south, and rural areas had lower CPR than urban areas. Low education and high desire for children were linked to low CPR. In a recent newspaper article, a study by Ekholuenetale and coworkers was quoted for its findings on the influence of religion on contraceptive use; that the predominantly Islamic north had the lowest CPR while Catholics (mainly in the southeast) had the highest.

Osuafor & Mturi explain that the mainly Western funded FP program met resistance, and was called “a Western ploy to reduce Muslims”. It seemed likely that Islam is a negative factor for contraceptive use, independent of other factors. Whether this is true also for Christianity cannot be established without a non-religious reference group. Osuafor & Mturi stated that efforts to increase contraceptive use in Nigeria should target religious leaders, which may be hard in areas where Sharia law and violent Muslim groups (like Boko Haram) seek to eliminate Western influences.

In a second study of the 2013 DHS survey in Nigeria, Ousafor & Ayiga analyzed empowerment of women and education, concluding that education was an important factor for CPR. Of the respondents (representative sample of 16 000 women, aged 15-49), 48% were classified as having “high empowerment”, and 47% had some form of completed education. The proportion of women in rural areas was 66%. Only 6% of the women affiliated with Islam used modern contraceptives. Among Catholics the proportion was 21%, and slightly higher among “other Christians” (26%).

The influence of messages from religious leaders was examined in 2015. A study in Kaduna, Kwara, Oyo and FCTstates (map below) showed that the uptake of modern contraceptives was much larger (35%) among women with high exposure to family planning messages from religious leaders (Christians and Muslims), compared to those with medium (24%) or low exposure (14%). The conclusions from this valuable study seem to be robust. According to the Afrobarometer, across 34 African countries, only 46.8% of citizens trust their political leaders, while trust in community leaders, such as traditional (55.8%) and especially religious leaders (69.4%), is much higher (see 2021 Forum report, Mo Ibrahim Foundation).

The latest DHS from 2018, as earlier with much funding from the United States, comprised a representative sample of 41 800 women aged 15-49 (54% followers of Islam). The report is long (700 pp) and rich, but religiosity is neglected (try searching by “religio” in the pdf). Are the religions in Nigeria too controversial for detailed analysis?

In the report, the fertility rate 2015-2017 was 4.5 in urban, and 5.9 in rural areas, and 31% of the women reported that their husband had multiple wives. Moreover, with respect to “ideal family size”, men wanted 7.2 children, and women 6.1 children. The CPR for “any method” among married women was 17%, and for any modern method 12%, up only 2 percentage units from 2013. Remarkably, the CPR of modern method contraceptives by religion is not reported, but for 10 northern Muslim-dominated states, including the large Niger state, it varied from 2-7%; in southerly states, variation was larger (2-29%).

Unmet need for family planning (contraception) among women was studied by nine focus group discussions in Kaduna state, where women expected – not necessarily wanted – to have many children because (1) it is considered their religious duty; (2) men want large families; and (3) increased childbearing wins favor in the competition between wives.

In the northern states, the fertility rate in the DHS 2018 was generally very high (5.8-7.3) while in the southern ones it was lower (see Figure 1). This fertility map can be compared with the population density in Nigeria in 2018 (Figure 2, below).

Figure 1. Fertility in Nigeria by state, based on the Demographic and Health Survey 2018.
Figure 2. Population density in Nigeria, based on the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, 2018. Darker red is higher population density.

One study published in 2016 reported that between 1990 and 2013, the fertility of Christians decreased from 6.1 to 4.5, while that of Muslims increased from 6.4 to 6.8. The timing of this change coincides with the institutionalization of Sharia law in 12 northern states in 1999.

The authors projected the change in religious population composition in Nigeria from 2010 to 2060 based on fertility differences in the 2013 DHS, as well as population composition in the absence of fertility difference between religious groups (and also the UN medium scenario assumptions). Assuming constant present 2013 fertility differentials, the Muslim population would increase to a total of 65% of the population in 2060, while Christians would decrease to 32%. With absence of fertility difference, the Christians would only decline from 49.3 to 47.7%, and Muslims increase 1.6%. But if fertility falls more among Christians, and stagnates among Muslims, the latter may constitute 70-80% of the population in 2060.

The authors are careful in pointing out heterogeneity in fertility among Muslims in different states, and suggest that not Islam per se, but the practice of Sharia law in the northern states is a critical factor for high fertility. A broaderstudy from 2015 of 28 countries in SSA found that socioeconomic factors (e.g. education, wealth, gender equality) are not responsible for fertility-related differences between Muslim and non-Muslim women, though in some cases they tend to reduce the difference.

African researchers, like Osuafor & Mtiru and Adedini and coworkers, and in Kenya Abdi & coworkers, conclude that countering the negative notions of family planning requires active engagement of religious leaders, especially Muslim scholars where they are in positions of power at the community level. Melinda Gates, important for the FP2020 program (now FP2030), states in her book about empowering women (“The Moment of Lift” 2021, p. 79) that “Male allies are essential. It’s especially beneficial to have male allies who are religious leaders”. But this was apparently already realized in Nigeria in the 2004 national population policy, which asserted that traditional and religious leaders “are a gateway to social mobilization and community behavior change” (p. 25). In conclusion, much work remains to reduce the strong population growth in Nigeria.

This research is based on the following thesis: https://thesiscommons.org/sezdq/

Calculating contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning in low-fertility countries with the Generations and Gender Survey

in low-fertility countries it is a problem

 BY Judith Koops

Background: In Europe, 10%‒40% of adults experience an unintended or sooner-than-intended birth. However, European research on family planning need and use is scarce.

Objective: The Generations and Gender Survey is a cross-national panel survey collected in low-fertility settings in Europe, Asia, and South America. This paper demonstrates how to use this dataset to calculate family planning need and use and explores the possibility of comparison across countries and time.

Methods: The paper provides a hands-on example of how to calculate contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning using Generations and Gender Survey data collected in the Republic of Moldova in 2020. It also provides an overview of the differences between the questionnaires of the Generations and Gender Survey round II (collected in the 2020s), the Generations and Gender Survey round I (collected in the 2000s), the Fertility and Family Survey (collected in the 1990s), the World Fertility Survey (collected in the 1970s and 1980s), and the Demographic and Health Surveys (collected in the 1990s‒2020s).

Conclusions: The Generations and Gender Survey is one of the few data sources that allows examining family planning need and use in European countries. The high comparability between the Generations and Gender Survey and other international demographic surveys provides ample opportunities to examine how family planning need and use varies across and within countries over time. The panel aspect of the Generations and Gender Survey can be used to expand knowledge about family planning need and use and their consequences.

Contribution: Calculating contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning can be difficult and time-consuming. By reducing this burden, this paper aims to stimulate family planning research in low-fertility settings and increase comparisons across countries and time.

specific.ru?

«Практика употребления отваров трав как абортивного средства — типично русская»

Как менялось отношение к контрацепции и абортам в России от Средневековья до советского времени

26 сентября отмечается Всемирный день контрацепции. О том, как боролись с нежелательными беременностями в разные периоды отечественной истории, Мария Башмакова узнала у доктора исторических наук, руководителя Центра гендерных исследований (которых больше нет, по крайней мере, в вышке) Института этнологии и антропологии имени Н. Н. Миклухо-Маклая РАН, президента Российской ассоциации исследователей женской истории Натальи Пушкаревой.

Доктор исторических наук, руководитель Центра гендерных исследований Института этнологии и антропологии имени Н. Н. Миклухо-Маклая РАН, президент Российской ассоциации исследователей женской истории Наталья Пушкарева

«В ход пошли порох, селитра, керосин, ртуть, мышьяк»

— В крестьянской среде разговор напрямую о самочувствии во время беременности и обсуждение состояния женщины были не приняты. Видимо, современные эвфемизмы типа «интересного положения» восходят к этой традиции. А был ли допустим публичный разговор о беременности и родах в дворянской среде?

— В крестьянской среде очень спокойно к этим темам относились: в избе трудно было скрыть «и ласку, и таску». Неговорение о беременности у крестьян связано не со стыдом, а со страхом «дурного глаза», в этом умолчании — архаическая связь с потусторонним миром. Женщины о беременности могли не сразу сказать мужу, но между собой обсуждали, иначе как бы передавался опыт, связанный с родами? А вот выражение «интересное положение» пришло к нам не от крестьян, а от дворян, в среде которых бытовала печальная традиция умалчивать о том, что происходит с женщиной, когда она ждет ребенка. Так и возникли эвфемизмы, и связаны они с православной русской традицией, стремившейся сделать речевое поведение более целомудренным. О беременности в крестьянской среде говорили, а в дворянской в открытую — меньше. Крайне мало сведений на подобные темы сообщали друг другу в письмах и дневниках дворянки вплоть до рубежа XIX–XX веков. Не было принято в деталях описывать друг другу физиологические перемены, как это стало допустимо столетием позже.

— С беременностью понятно, а как поступала крестьянка, скажем, забеременевшая не от мужа и решившая избавиться от плода?

— К абортированию прибегали преимущественно незамужние девушки, прислуга, вдовые, солдатки, жены офицеров, которых «обрюхатили» в отсутствие их мужей. Если крестьянская девушка или женщина после связи не «понесла», то и повода для обсуждения не было. И вот если такой грех имел последствия, тут на помощь несчастной приходили знающие женщины, так называемые зелейницы,— они разбирались в травах и могли посоветовать отвар, способный вызвать выкидыш еще до формирования «образа» плода (такую терминологию использовала церковная литература, «аще образ есть», а женщина хотела его вытравить — тут сразу наказание становилось суровым). А что было делать согрешившей? Никаких презервативов из бычьих кишок, про которые упоминают западноевропейские источники, русская культура, возможно, и не знала. А если таковые и были известны, то не попали в списки епитимийных сборников (речь идет о сборниках, содержащих списки грехов и церковных наказаний, полагавшихся за эти грехи.— «Ъ»). Откуда вообще нам узнать о том, как избегали женщины нежелательных беременностей в прежние века? Это очень закрытая информация. Допетровское время мы можем представить как раз благодаря сборникам епитимий — там очень подробно было описано, что делалось и какие за это предписывались наказания.

Из епитимийных вопросов (отдельно составлялись таковые для замужних женщин и невинных девушек, мальчиков и зрелых мужчин, монахов и черниц) современный исследователь узнает, что разнообразие в сексуальных позициях осуждалось (кроме положения лицом к лицу).

Еще более строги были священники по отношению к тем женщинам, которые просили у «баб богомерзких» особые травы, желая вытравить из себя дитя. Практика употребления отваров трав как абортивного средства — типично русская.

— Что это были за травы? Что помимо них использовали женщины как абортивное средство? И как передавались подобные знания?

— «Особые знания» передавались через условную «женскую сеть». Каналами передачи были повивальные бабки и старшие опытные женщины. Использовались механические, химические средства (органические и неорганические), ритуальные действия, а также средства народной медицины. Все эти способы спровоцировать выкидыш использовались среди крестьянок, но проникали и в город через прислугу, крестьянок, приезжавших на заработки в город, частнопрактикующих врачей, аптекарей, которые также использовали в своей практике методы народной медицины. Результаты судебно-медицинской экспертизы, как правило, показывали содержание «во внутренностях» фосфора, спорыньи, шафрана. В ряде регионов Центральной России для этой цели использовался чистотел. Применялся также папоротник, который, очевидно, выступал символом бесплодия, так как он цветет и не приносит плодов, а потому бытовал в некоторых регионах России как «б...ская трава».

Иногда это были химические соединения и средства, опасные для жизни ввиду высокого содержания ядов. И если в деревне женщины пили в качестве абортивных средств отвар спорыньи или луковых перьев, настой корицы в вине, белену, чернобыл, настой можжевельника на водке, то в городской среде с XIX века в ход пошли порох, селитра, керосин, ртуть, мышьяк, фосфорные спички, толченый сургуч, сера. Употребляли крепкие спиртные напитки, толченое стекло (разводили в молоке, стараясь вызвать желудочное кровотечение, a с ним и выкидыш), песок, получаемый от точения железных и стальных инструментов.

«Намеренное прерывание беременности было трудно доказать»

— Какие способы плодоизгнания были наиболее распространены у крестьян?

— В основном механические. Врачи указывали, что этот тип абортирования встречался в 1,7 раза чаще. Но подобный способ плодоизгнания применялся и среди горожанок, об этом мы знаем по свидетельствам земских и городских врачей, проводивших судебно-медицинскую экспертизу и устанавливавших причину смерти женщин при вскрытии. Для того чтобы «вытравить», «выжить», «выкинуть» плод, женщины туго перетягивали живот, «давили нутро», клали на него сверху тяжести, били себя кулаками и различными предметами в живот, упирались о тупой угол стола, прыгали с высоты. А также вводили в полость матки шпильки, спицы, веретено, перья — все для того, чтобы проколоть плодный пузырь, вызвать маточное кровотечение и выход плода. Из тех же судебных дел о погибших женщинах можно узнать о других, еще более жестоких средствах — о растворах, содержащих порох, ртуть, глауберову соль (сильное желчегонное), буру (инсектицид).

— Какие еще источники могут рассказать о контрацептивных практиках наших предков?

— Некоторые сведения содержат древнерусские лечебники («Травники», «Зелейники») XV–XVIII веков. Часть знаний о снадобьях передавалась изустно теми самыми знахарками, которых епитимийная литература именовала «бабами богомерзкими». Но самая обширная информация, касающаяся народных методов абортирования, выяснена благодаря работе «Этнографического бюро» князя Вячеслава Тенишева, которое было создано этим русским фабрикантом и меценатом в 1897 году в Санкт-Петербурге. Бюро активно работало до 1901 года, и целью его была организация и проведение массового сбора сведений о русском крестьянстве. Ну и, конечно, уголовные дела прошлых лет… Если женщина умирала от аборта, то выясняли не только то, кто дал ей зелье, но и что именно использовалось. А в начале XX века о контрацепции заговорили в женских журналах, рекламировавших «средства разумной осторожности» — презервативы. Спринцевание подкисленными растворами было известно издавна; в журналах же читателю уже внушалось: «В каждом интеллигентном семействе должен быть влагалищный промыватель!»

— Среди епитимийных вопросов был вопрос про прерванный половой акт?

— Напрямую не спрашивали. Но был вопрос: «Если в свою руку блудил или в чужую?» За это предполагалось «три месяца епитимьи», то есть мастурбация была наказуема. Прерванный акт не был жестко осуждаем или наказуем (в отличие от много иного, совершенного совсем уж «противу естества»), но все же считалось, что «грех есть мужу, испустившему семена на землю», за это тоже полагалось наказание. Ведь цель супружеских утех не удовольствие, а продолжение рода.

— Как в крестьянской среде относились к женщине, сделавшей аборт?

— В фольклоре очевидного осуждения решившихся на аборт не найти.

В то же время «вытравление плода» было основным способом контроля за числом и временем рождений, способом рационализации сексуальности, сложившимся в различных местностях России.

Здоровье крестьянок контролировала не только церковь, но и община: нужно было сохранять и увеличивать количество рабочих рук. По моим наблюдениям, чем севернее регион, тем мягче было отношение к оступившейся женщине и к аборту. И за Уралом женщин было численно несколько меньше в структуре населения, нежели в Центральной России, отношение к ним там тоже было бережнее и адекватнее, нежели в Южной Руси.

— И церковные, и светские законы видели в изгнании плода аналог умышленного убийства. 91-е правило VI Вселенского собора назначало для женщин, «производящих недоношение плода во чреве и принимающих отравы», такое же церковное наказание, как и для убийц. Как карался аборт?

— До XVII века «плодоизгнание» не было уголовно наказуемым преступлением, но считалось грехом. Имел значения срок беременности, особенно первое шевеление плода, до него (как считалось) ребенок еще не обрел «образа», и проступок карался не слишком строго. Однако Соборное уложение 1649 года предписало «казнить смертию безо всякой пощады» тех, кто, забеременев вне брака, «в блуде», решился после «извести дитя». Что делать с замужними, сделавшими аборт, свод законов умалчивал. В 1715 году Петр I отменил все эти жестокости, но за предумышленное детоубийство (а аборт к нему приравняли) наказывали ссылкой. Могли наказать и женщину, и знахарок-повитух, которые ей помогали. В «Уложении о наказаниях уголовных и исправительных» 1845 года деторождение представлено как женская обязанность; женщина, уличенная в совершении «плодоизгнания», лишалась всех прав состояния и ссылалась в Сибирь на поселение. Или получала тюремный срок до шести лет. Но на практике намеренное прерывание беременности было трудно доказать. Судебные дела являют нам множество казусов, когда женщины утверждали, что не знали, что делали с ними знахарки-повитухи или даже врачи. Это позволяло списать все на естественный выкидыш.

Другим удобным термином были «заспанные» дети. Женщина совершала детоубийство младенца, но выдавала свое преступление за нечаянное, а ребенка — за придавленного и задушенного по неосторожности в постели.

Как бы то ни было, сам факт наличия закона, накладывавшего уголовную ответственность на женщину и врачебный персонал, вынуждал женщину пользоваться традиционными способами абортирования и обращаться к врачам только в крайне редких случаях.

«Большевики никакой дискуссии по этому поводу не устраивали»

— Верно ли, что средством против нежелательной беременности, которое крестьянки практиковали повсеместно, было продолжительное кормление грудью?

— Конечно, крестьянки не могли знать, что в грудном молоке содержится гормон пролактин, который отчасти подавляет овуляцию. Про гормон не знали, но про то, что долговременное кормление может иногда предохранить от новой беременности, знали. Нам часто кажутся странными и знахарскими советы таких «баб чародеиных», например, в сборниках епитимий часто задавался вопрос. «Едала ли детскую пупорезину, детей хотячи?» — то есть ела ли женщина плаценту («детское место», «пупорезина детская») недавно родившей женщины. При всей неприемлемости такого способа усиления женской фертильности, трудно не признать, что в «пупорезине» высоко содержание витамина Е, столь необходимого женскому организму для выполнения детородной функции. То же и с грудным молоком. Ненадежный, представляющийся знахарским, но все же был такой способ предохранения о нежелательной беременности.

— Так рожать или не рожать: всегда ли крестьяне воспринимали рождение ребенка как благодать?

— Лишний ребенок — лишний рот, а девочки вообще не считались, «дочь — чужое сокровище», работница в будущем для чужой семьи. «Дети, дети, куда вас дети!» — восклицала народная поговорка… Не для всех новое рождение ребенка было благодатью. Потому крестьянки и решались на жуткие способы избавления от беременности, о которых я уже говорила.

— Убеждение, что женщина может забеременеть, только испытав оргазм, бытовало в России?

— Личные записи мужчин показывают, что они стремились к тому, чтобы женщина получила удовольствие. Нигде указаний о связи оргазма и беременности я не встречала.

— Вы сказали о личных записях. А в русском фольклоре можно было узнать что-то о контрацепции?

— Нет. Зарифмованных советов там нет. За советами шли к знахаркам, которые помогали как акушерки в родах.

— С крестьянками понятно. Насколько невесты из дворянских семей были сведущи в вопросах брака?

— Абсолютно несведущи! И прочесть им было негде, и рассказать некому, в отличие от крестьянок. Потому в воспоминаниях дворянки XVIII века Анны Лабзиной мы можем прочитать, как, например, муж пытался обучить юную жену супружеским умениям, а она именовала их «мерзостью». В итоге муж Анны начинал при жене сожительствовать с племянницей, потом со служанками, дабы наглядно ей все объяснить. Девушки не умели предохраняться и, конечно, рожали. Смолянка Галина Ржевская писала: «Огорченная мать не могла выносить присутствия своего бедного девятнадцатого ребенка и удалила с глаз мою колыбель».

В дворянских семьях матери не решались заговорить с дочками о сексе, ну а няни могли объяснить, так как были меньше связаны социальными запретами.

Конечно, замужняя дворянка одна или с мужем могла посещать врача и задавать интересующие ее вопросы. Если спрашивать у врача о «средствах разумной осторожности» женщине было неудобно, она задавала эти вопросы повитухе, с которой было легче обсуждать их.

— Русская литература исподволь, но рассказывает в том числе об абортах. Так, истинная причина смерти Элен Безуховой в романе «Война и мир» — аборт, а не ангина, как об этом говорили в свете. А как предохранялись дворянки?

— Жизнь дворянок состояла из запретов. Подпольный аборт они старались максимально скрыть. Это не отражалось даже в дневниках, потому что писали с надеждой, что они все же будут прочитаны. Если женщина избавлялась от плода, то могла написать, что, «к своему ужасу, потеряла ребенка». Аристократке до поры до времени (до второй половины XIX века) могла сделать аборт разве что повитуха. Гинекологи, конечно, были этому обучены, но делали ли они аборты, а если да, то как часто, мы не знаем, ведь аборт порицался как убийство. В XIX веке врачами-гинекологами были мужчины. Женщины-врачи в России стали практиковать не ранее 1870-х годов, получив образование за рубежом. До этого по всем вопросам, связанным с контрацепцией, женщины обращались к мужчинам-гинекологам и знающим женщинам. Самым распространенным способом предохранения у дворянок было спринцевание подкисленным раствором, например, разведенным уксусом, настойкой пиона, лимонным соком.

— Лев Толстой был сторонником репродуктивного секса, полагая, что половые отношения мужчины и женщины могут осуществляться в браке для рождения ребенка. Подобный подход отвергает секс ради удовольствия в пользу воздержания. Насколько эти взгляды были популярны у врачей конца XIX—начала XX века и у самих супругов?

— Трудный вопрос. Разные люди имели разные взгляды на то, сколько иметь детей. Но с конца XIX, а в особенности в начале XX века появляется эротическая литература, авторами отдельных сочинений были и женщины (например, Анна Мар, Анастасия Вербицкая), которые через литературу делились собственным опытом. Репродуктивная сторона сексуальных отношений стала все более отделяться от гедонистической. Тема удовольствия — не только мужчины, но и женщины — в интимных отношениях оказалась отраженной в литературе (напомню о романе Михаила Арцыбашева «Санин»). В российском обществе более лояльное отношение к контрацепции наступило в 1910-е годы во время первых съездов врачей-гигиенистов и съездов врачей, объединенных борьбой «с торговлей женским телом, детоубийством и проституцией». В эти годы развернулась публичная дискуссия, которая убедила широкие слои горожан, что пользоваться средствами контрацепции необходимо для женского здоровья. Общественное обсуждение темы абортов достигло апогея. Существенное влияние на него оказали IV Всероссийский съезд акушеров и гинекологов (1911), XII Пироговский съезд врачей и естествоиспытателей (1913), X съезд русской группы Международного союза криминалистов (1914), а также обсуждения социальной политики в рамках Всероссийского попечительства об охране материнства и младенчества в 1913–1918 годах. Вопрос о противодействии росту криминальных абортов был остро поставлен с началом Первой мировой войны, когда его обсуждение перекинулось из столичных в региональные медицинские сообщества.

— Советская Россия оказалась первой в мире страной, легализовавшей в 1920 году аборты постановлением комиссариата юстиции «Об искусственном прерывании беременности». Какая общественная дискуссия предшествовала этому решению?

— Большевики никакой широкой дискуссии по этому поводу не устраивали. Им нужна была политическая и экономическая мобилизация женщин, готовых встать к станку наравне с мужчинами.

В ходе великого большевистского социального эксперимента мысль о том, что женщина должна сама решать, как часто и от кого рожать, не согласовывая с мужем, государством или церковью право на аборт, была невероятно прогрессивной. Женщины были нужны стране в тот момент не как матери, а как гражданки и труженицы.

Но очень быстро страна спохватилась: Первая мировая, потом Гражданская — а их следствиями стали гигантское сокращение численности населения, дефамилизация («рассемеивание»), отсутствие нормального воспитания детей. Не прошло и двух десятилетий, как аборт официально запретили. С 1936 по 1955 год прерывать беременность было разрешено лишь в исключительных случаях. Следствием запретов стал стремительный рост числа подпольных абортариев и избавлений от незапланированной беременности. При этом никаких форм контрацепции не было предложено. Лишь после Великой Отечественной войны начался широкий выпуск «изделия №2» (презервативов). Производили их без лубриканта, были они сухие и толстые — в полтора раза толще современных. Женщины их именовали «верняк», потому что в целом они отличались надежностью. Вопрос о предохранении по-прежнему был возложен на женщин: мужчины стеснялись о них спрашивать в аптеках. В 1950-е годы в СССР появились и первые внутриматочные контрацептивы, но никаких указаний о необходимости полового просвещения и их использования не было. Убеждали, что аборт — «это плохо», «лишит вас радостей материнства», выпускали об этом плакаты и научно-популярные фильмы… И все.

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Latinx women: fertility, IVF and family

DE LOS Column: How these Latinas are navigating fertility, IVF and family

My eyelids felt like they weighed 500 pounds, but I managed to open them as I was coming back to consciousness. Everything was blurry, until I saw the number “2” marked on my hand in black Sharpie, indicating the number of eggs my doctor had been able to retrieve from my body after weeks of expensive hormone injections, mood swings and the emotional toll of time being against you.

Two was not the number I’d hoped for. Two meant more injections, more money and more weeping in public places. My world came into a sharp focus at that moment in the most heartbreaking way, but I also thought the “2” would make a pretty cool tattoo.

Latinx women, and other birthing individuals, who are 35 or older and going through the fertility process deeply understand the price of time and the deeper cultural pressure that comes with it.

Lizy Wildsmith, a research scholar at Child Trends, a nonpartisan research organization focused on improving the lives of children and youths, studies reproductive health and family formation with a particular focus on the Latinx community.

“Fertility rates have increased among women aged 35 and older for several decades now. This is true also among Hispanic women,” Wildsmith said.

Wildsmith says the average age of Latinx people giving birth for the first time is 25.5, but as of 2021, about 20% of all births were among people age 35 and older, with that rate resting at 17% for Latinx women of the same age group.

While most births to Latinx women age 35 and older are second or third births, Wildsmith says, 16.7% are first births, also marking an increase. Just under 1% of births to Latinx women were from a pregnancy resulting from infertility treatment. Compare that with white non-Latinx women, who become pregnant through infertility treatments at a rate of 3%.

“It’s still a pretty small percentage of births overall, even in those age groups,” Wildsmith said. “But it’s been increasing a lot.”

More and more Latinx people are choosing to wait to have children for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to the astronomical cost of raising a child, a desire to accomplish more for themselves first, the disproportionately larger effects parenthood has on women’s lives and careers, cost of living overall, and the frightening realities of bringing a child into this world.

However, waiting means greater issues with fertility. At age 30, fertility rates begin to decline; by 45 the likelihood of getting pregnant naturally is extremely low. As a result, many in their 30s turn to fertility treatments to help them build their families.

“I wasn’t ever anybody who was like, ‘I must have a kid or my life will be incomplete.’I never felt that way,” said Dayna Cobarrubias, a 43-year-old entertainment executive in West Hollywood who began her fertility journey at 35. “But once I felt that there was a possibility that it actually wasn’t an option, I was really sad about that. So I felt more [urgency] about figuring it out.”

So when her struggles with fertility came, it hit Cobarrubias harder than expected, giving her a slight crisis of identity.

“There’s this trope or stereotype of Latinas being super fertile. Then when you’re not or when you come up against challenges with that, you’re like, ‘Am I really Latina?’” she said. “I remember thinking like, ‘Oh, this is ironic.’”

For those wishing to get pregnant, waiting could be a result of wanting to break generational cycles of poverty, societal expectations or trauma. For first-gen individuals, many of these factors are based on building from the sacrifices of their immigrant parents.

Rocio M., who asked that only her first name be used for professional reasons, is a college professor living in Highland Park. At 40, she is pregnant with her first child after going through an often “traumatic” fertility process using intrauterine insemination, or IUI, treatments, otherwise known as artificial insemination.

She recalls going to reproductive health clinics with friends in high school. She had friends who became mothers in high school, and it was her hope to avoid that fate, especially considering the stigmas and stereotypes around Latinx teen girls, who have had the youngest birthing rates in the country.

Rocio went to grad school, and once she built a career and got her student loans in order, she felt ready for parenthood. In her 30s, she met the woman who would become her wife.

“I think finding a person that I feel like I can do this with is what gave me the ánimo to do it,” Rocio said.

Rocio went into the process optimistically. Although she was 39 at the time, she’d had a pregnancy in her late 20s that she chose to terminate.

“In my mind, I’m like, ‘I have conceived. I can do this again,’” she said.

Once the results of various tests came back, however, Rocio realized conceiving may be harder than expected.

“That’s when it started to sink in that I’m not as fertile as I thought,” she said. “I kept thinking my body betrayed me. I’m like, ‘I thought we were good. You were running half-marathons. You’ve conceived before.’”

Rocio weighs her fears as a teenager to the difficulties she has faced in conceiving later in life.

“Here you are on the other side, where you’re just like, ‘Goddamn now I know I’m ready and we can’t have it,’” she said.

Like Cobarrubias, Rocio and the three other women I spoke to, I wanted to wait for my career to be in order, and I wanted to feel as ready as possible. At 36, I was still out most nights, drinking and smoking cigarettes, dating unseriously and working 10-hour days. I wasn’t ready for the full responsibility of having a baby.

Then I got pregnant and had a miscarriage. That put a lot into perspective with regard to my work and whom I chose to build a family with — a family that I really did want to have someday.

I’ve seen plenty of women in my life parent on their own, even when they had husbands, and I looked at every potential life partner with that in mind. I wanted a loving, supportive partner and a family, but not at the cost of everything I built for myself.


That meant lying with my legs in the air a couple of years later while a doctor scooped out some eggs from my huevo warehouse to put them to freeze.

It wasn’t my first go-around with egg freezing. A few years ago, I had started the process in New York, but the experience was so deeply unsettling I backed out after my initial consultation. After retrieving only two eggs earlier this year during my first full cycle of egg freezing, I was angry at myself for not finding another doctor back then when the number could’ve been 10 or 20.

Now, I’ve been trying to buy time, feeling like my eggs are on the clearance rack. I had to find a third, new doctor because my experience with the last one left me feeling hopeless and with zero sense of my options, which is important because fertility treatments are invasive and massively expensive.

On average, a single round of in vitro fertilization treatments, including egg freezing and embryo freezing, cost $15,000 to $30,000. Twenty-one states have passed fertility insurance coverage laws, according to Resolve, the National Infertility Assn., but only 14 include IVF coverage.

In California, the law does not require insurers to cover IVF, and employers can choose whether they want to include infertility coverage as part of their health benefits package. Most people needing fertility treatments have to go through a private clinic and pay out of pocket. It’s become a hugely lucrative business, for better or worse.

So far, the cost of one of my IVF cycles has been $13,577, and my new doctor quoted me a little under $23,000 for a new cycle, this time for embryo freezing. I’m beyond lucky, however, because my union (which provides my insurance) offers full coverage through a fund that caps at $30,000.

Rocio and her wife weighed their financial options when they began to plan for a baby, especially when faced with the possibility of losing more time.

“We’d much rather just take out the loan or charge it or something versus waiting,” Rocio said. “We had to have heart-to-heart conversations about how far we want to go. Like, how much money are we willing to spend?”

For Rocio and her wife, that was $8,700 out of pocket for her IUI treatments and some alternative treatments, with the rest being covered by insurance. She’s now pregnant and due in late November.

Cobarrubias invested $20,000, all out of pocket.

Rocio and Cobarrubias have seen multiple doctors after having bad experiences with previous specialists, leading to more costs. Taking out large loans or racking up credit card debt is the reality for many people going through treatments, but others have chosen another option.

Anel Bravo is a 35-year-old employee of the California Department of Education in Sacramento who is currently in an IVF cycle. School and work, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed Bravo and her husband’s plans to get married and start a family. But in 2021, they were able to start both journeys.


“We tried for over six months,” Bravo said. “It wasn’t happening for us, and I kind of had a feeling that something was up with me.”

“We went to a clinic here in Sacramento and I didn’t really like it, and then the cost,” said Bravo, who was quoted in the $30,000 range for treatments. “It’s really overwhelming to see that price tag. And so my husband and I, after discussing it, we actually decided to go to Tijuana [for fertility treatments] and so that’s where I’m at now.”

Bravo, often on her own, flies from Sacramento to her parents’ home in the Inland Empire, then drives to Tijuana for fertility treatments, where she says the standard of care has been much better than she’s received in the U.S. Sometimes, she’s down there for as long as a month, but it’s worth it to her. At the clinic where she is being treated now, Bravo is being charged $12,000 for four cycles of IVF, with a money-back guarantee if she doesn’t get pregnant.

“It’s a huge amount of money and thankfully my husband and I were able to afford it, but this is not something that’s accessible to just anybody,” Bravo said. “[The price is] a huge barrier. So we saved a significant amount of money by going to Tijuana. Even with all of the traveling and being away from home for so long, I would still do it.”

When it comes to fertility and family planning, there’s little information provided in a person’s life. Our bodies become odd mysteries, and we’re attempting to work within a healthcare system that often makes it impossible to unravel.

For Valeria Moran, a 42-year-old dental hygienist from Chula Vista, Calif., who, along with her husband, began her fertility journey when she was 35. It was not a matter of her eggs but rather issues with her husband’s sperm morphology. His sperm was discovered to have malformations, like two heads, that made natural conception and several rounds of IUI treatments unsuccessful. This discovery was unpredictable and further proof of how little we know about our bodies and conception. After weighing their choices, Moran and her husband decided to adopt, and now have a son.

Every person I spoke to experienced coldness, avoidance, confusion and trauma while going through the process. Some even felt gaslighted. They tried new doctors or alternative fertility treatments in hopes of getting help and clarity.

In my most recent appointment with a new fertility specialist, she explained everything, including all my options and what the most cost-effective choice would be, in clear, simple language. I finally felt empowered and like I understood my body, so much so that I cried at her desk from relief.

I could finally breathe because I was no longer navigating in darkness. I’m lucky that I have the tools and means to find this doctor, research their credentials, and pay the $822 fee for my first visit. That is not accessible to most people. And in the Latinx community, shame and secrecy around sex, conception and women’s bodies are still pervasive, adding another barrier to seeking care.

“I just feel like it’s not something that’s ever really talked about, especially in the Latino community,” Cobarrubias said. “It’s kind of the opposite, like the traditional narratives are more focused on motherhood as opposed to the challenges of infertility or nontraditional approaches to motherhood.”

This reality often leads people going through fertility treatments to do so in secret because of the responses or questions that will come from their families.

When I told my mom I was struggling with my fertility, the first thing she said was “te dije.” I should’ve had a baby with any one of my exes, including the extra bad one, or with “cualquier fulano.” It was a frustrating, but not surprising, reaction considering her thirst for an 11th grandchild and her dedication to a bit at all costs. It led to several lengthy conversations with her about why it was hurtful and problematic.

Similarly, Bravo has chosen not to tell her extended family, especially when they’ve asked why she and her husband haven’t had kids yet.

“For people who are going through this infertility journey, it’s very painful,” she said. “So having to rehash like, ‘I can’t really have kids the way that everybody else does,’ feels very vulnerable. And that’s not something that you’re trying to have a conversation about at your cousin’s baptism. … I don’t have the energy. You have to field really dumb comments, even well-intentioned ones. ”

Imagine now if someone who may or may not want to conceive a baby someday could know, early on, what their fertility looks like. What if at every routine checkup starting as early as 20 or 25, you could also be offered a wellness check on your egg reserve fertility so that you can consider your future plans? That’s one thing Cobarrubias hopes for in the future.

“Something that’s optional for you to assess what your readiness levels are,” she said. “And if you need to do anything to adapt your routine, if you plan to conceive or freeze eggs in the next several years. I just wish there was something that was offered. Even if I don’t want to do it now, there’s things you need to do in advance.”

One company, Modern Fertility, offers at-home fertility tests that provide information about your hormones and fertility at a fraction of the cost.

It was this test that informed Daisy Osorio-Velazquez, a 26-year-old education coordinator at a nonprofit who lives in Fullerton with her husband, that she had hormone levels that indicated she had a low ovarian reserve and could be premenopausal, meaning her ability to have children was extremely narrow.

Osorio-Velazquez’s world and her future changed in an instant. When she began to seek help from doctors, she says, she was dismissed, and realized the emotional and financial toll that treatment would require.

“When I took the test, I was just intending to be preventative,” she said. “I grew up in a low-income household. My family life at home when I was little was not stable. I knew I always wanted to have kids, but I was hoping we could be in a better financial position. I hoped to be able to provide my kid with certain opportunities that my mom wasn’t able to provide me growing up. … I just felt like time was stolen.”

Osorio-Velazquez and her husband are looking at their options in the U.S. and Tijuana while attempting to save enough money to enable them to undergo treatments. Even through her heartbreak, she’s thankful to have learned early on about her fertility issues as opposed to at 35 or older when ostensibly it would’ve been too late. As a result, she’s become an advocate within her community for spreading awareness of infertility and preventive care.

For a country that so wants women to have children, even by force, there’s little done to ensure those who want to conceive can access proper fertility care at an affordable price in a fully supportive environment.

As I continue my own journey, the hardship and unfairness of the process weigh on me, but it’s my hope that through talking about the experience openly with one another and within our communities, and allowing ourselves to laugh when we can, the process can be easier to navigate.

“You try to find little moments of joy and laughter. But then it just feels crazy because you’re just like ‘What the f— is happening,’” Bravo said. “You just hope, and you do everything you can.”

Alex Zaragoza is a television writer and journalist covering culture and identity. Her work has appeared in Vice, NPR, O Magazine and Rolling Stone. She’s written on the series “Primo” and “Lopez v. Lopez.” She writes weekly for De Los.

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3 YEARS OF FREDA: FAMILIES AND PARTNERSHIPS IN GERMANY AND EUROPE

Spannende Analysen, rege Diskussionen und ein intensiver wissenschaftlicher Austausch – die erste FReDA-Nutzerkonferenz vom 3. bis 5. Juli 2023 in Wiesbaden war ein hoch interessantes Forum für die familiendemografische Forschung.

Auf der Konferenz mit dem Titel „3 Years of FReDA: Families and Partnerships in Germany and Europe“ wurden mehr als 20 Analysen vorgestellt, die mit Daten der ersten Welle aus dem FReDA-Panel oder aber mit Daten der Partnerprojekte pairfam oder dem GGS erarbeitet wurden. Die Beiträge stellten nicht nur neueste Forschungsergebnisse vor, sondern zeigten auch die Potentiale der verwendeten Datensätze auf, erläuterten methodologische Herausforderungen in der Analyse von Paneldaten und präsentierten innovative methodische Ansätze.

Die Konferenz gliederte sich in sechs Sessions:

• „Gender Ideology and Partnership“
• „Division of Household Labour“
• „COVID-19 and Mental Health / Methods“
• „Family Relations“
• „Fertility and Family Planning“
• „Arrangement of Paid Work and Care Work“

Keynotes: Überblick und spannende Analyse

Mit Prof. Dr. Anne Gauthier, Direktorin des „Generations and Gender Programme (GGP)“, am Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), und Prof. Dr. Karsten Hank, FReDA-Projektleiter an der Universität zu Köln, konnten zwei außerordentlich renommierte Forschende als Keynote-Speaker gewonnen werden, die wichtige Impulse für die Diskussion lieferten.

In ihrer Keynote „50 Years of family and fertility surveys: A reflection on measurement instruments and scientific discoveries“ zeichnete Anne Gauthier die Entwicklung der internationalen Familienpanels bis hin zum aktuellen GGS nach. Dabei konnte sie eindrucksvoll veranschaulichen, wie wichtig insbesondere internationale Surveys für familiendemografische Analysen sein können.

Die internationale Zusammensetzung der wissenschaftlichen Community auf der ersten FReDA-Nutzerkonferenz belegte dabei sehr deutlich, welchen Stellenwert in diesem Zusammenhang die Daten von GGS und pairfam - und somit künftig die Datensätze von FReDA – für die Forschung spielen. Mehr als 20 Länder beteiligen sich derzeit bereits am GGS, viele Länder bereiten ihre Teilnahme aktuell gerade vor. FReDA, als deutsche Befragung im Rahmen des GGS, bietet für viele internationale Forschungsfragen die optimale Datengrundlage. Darüber hinaus zeigten mehrere Beiträge auf der Nutzerkonferenz, wie gut sich die Daten aus Deutschland für exemplarische Analysen zu familiendemografischen Fragen eignen.

Karsten Hank präsentierte in seiner Keynote „Assessing sexual-minority respondents‘ attidues, behaviours, and outcomes: Quantitative findings from pairfam & FReDA“ eine sehr spannende Analyse zu Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen von Befragten, die einer sexuellen Minderheit angehören. Die Analyse ging dabei u.a. der Frage nach, ob durch die Ausweitung der gesetzlichen Rechte und die Anerkennung sexueller Minderheiten auch die strukturelle Stigmatisierung, der Stress für sexuelle Minderheiten und folglich die Nachteile in Bezug auf Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden abgenommen haben. Auf Grundlage des Beziehungs- und Familienpanels (pairfam) und des familiendemografischen Panels FReDA lieferte die Keynote einen aktuellen Überblick über Themen wie Generationenbeziehungen, Erwartungen an Partnerschaften und Elternschaft sowie das subjektive Wohlbefinden von Schwulen und Lesben in Deutschland.

 

Konferenz belegt Potential der Datensätze

Die Befunde, die auf dieser ersten Nutzerkonferenz vorgestellt wurden, haben eindrucksvoll gezeigt, welche spannenden Analysen mit den Datensätzen von FReDA möglich sind. Bislang ist der komplette Datensatz der ersten FReDA-Welle veröffentlicht, Ende Juli folgt das Release der Partner-Befragungen. Falls auch Sie mit diesen Daten arbeiten möchten, haben wir alle Informationen rund um den Datenzugang hier knapp für Sie zusammengefasst.

Die erste FReDA-Nutzerkonferenz war eingebunden in die wissenschaftliche Konferenz „Turning Gold: Conference on the Occasion of BiB's 50th Anniversary“, die aus Anlass des 50-jährigen Geburtstag des Bundesinstituts für Bevölkerungsforschung (BiB) zeitgleich in Wiesbaden stattgefunden hat. Mehr über die gesamte Konferenz des BiB finden Sie hier.

немецко-русский перевод

Projektmitarbeiterin Lena Frembs und Koordinator Dr. Detlev Lück begrüßen die Teilnehmenden der FReDA-Nutzerkonferenz.

Women Entrepreneurs

Женщины-предпринимательницы: 
Смена мужем фамилии на фамилию жены как инструмент сохранения семейного бизнеса и фирменного бренда в купеческих семьях Москвы в XIХ веке

Galina Ulianova, 2022, Адам и Ева. Альманах гендерной истории. Вып. 30. 2022. С. 174-212. https://doi.org/10.32608/2307-8383-2022-30-174-212

В статье рассмотрен интересный феномен смены мужем фамилии на фамилию жены, выявленный при изучении истории предпринимательства на примере московских купеческих фирм в XIХ веке и служивший инструментом сохранения семейного бизнеса и фирменного бренда. Вопрос о перемене фамилии решался собранием выборных Московского купеческого обществ. Для рассмотрения дела требовалось заявление просителя и поручительства не менее трех лиц из купечества, свидетельствующие, что «со стороны лица, желающего изменить свою фамилию, нет злого умысла и вреда для других». В статье проанализированы четыре заявления о смены мужем фамилии на фамилию жены (поданы в 1870-х гг.) – три из которых были удовлетворены, а одно нет. На примере случаев со сменой фамилии показано, как ради удержания достигнутого социального статуса и капиталов купеческой семьи, новый член этой семьи готов был отбросить свою изначальную самоидентичность. 

The article focuses on the interesting phenomenon of husband’s family-name change to their wive’s family-name, revealed while studying the history of entrepreneurship of the Moscow merchant family firms in the XIX century, and can be recognized as a tool of family business and brand preservation. The power of deciding as to whether or not a name change should be authorized belonged to the committee of deputies of the Moscow Merchant Society. For a case to be considered, it was necessary for a solicitor to file a petition and for three merchants to confirm in writing that ‘there is no evil intention and harm to others on the part of the person who wishes to change his last name’. In the article four petitions of the 1870s are analysed, three were satisfied, and one denied. The cases of name-changing indicate that, for the sake of preserving his achieved social status and a merchant family’s capital, the new member of that family was sometimes ready to relinquish his initial self-identity.

decision making

Женщины сами хотят решать, нужен ли им декрет в первом триместре беременности

Председатель патриаршей комиссии по вопросам семьи, защиты материнства и детства Федор Лукьянов предложил предоставлять женщинам декретный отпуск в первом триместре беременности. Сервис по поиску высокооплачиваемой работы SuperJob узнал, нужен ли женщинам декрет на ранних сроках беременности. В опросе приняли участие представительницы экономически активного населения, имеющие детей.

20% россиянок поддерживают идею предоставления декретного отпуска в первый триместр беременности. 54% считают, что решение брать отпуск или продолжать работать должна принимать сама женщина. 14% считают, что отпуск в начале беременности не нужен.

Россиянки моложе 40 лет чаще остальных — за возможность выбора уходить в декрет на период первого триместра или нет (66%).

Противниц инициативы больше всего среди женщин с доходом от 80 тыс. руб. в месяц (23%): т. к. максимальная сумма декретных выплат в 2023 году составляет 83 204 руб. в месяц, те, кто зарабатывает больше, теряют в деньгах.

Место проведения опроса: Россия, все округа
Населенных пунктов: 370
Время проведения: 17—21 марта 2023 года
Исследуемая совокупность: женщины старше 18 лет, имеющие детей
Размер выборки: 1600 респондентов

Подробнее

Japan plans to raise age of consent

В Японии планируют поднять возраст сексуального согласия с 13 до 16 лет

Это предложение содержится в пакете дополнений и поправок к законам о сексуальных преступлениях, который одобрила рабочая группа министерства юстиции.

Нынешний возраст согласия в Японии - самый низкий среди развитых стран, в том числе стран "большой семерки", куда входит и Япония.

В большинстве этих стран возраст согласия установлен на уровне 14-16 лет. В Германии и Италии, например, возраст согласия - 14 лет, во Франции и Греции - 15, в Британии и многих штатах США - 16. В России - тоже 16 лет.

В Японии, подняв возраст согласия, собираются оставить одно исключение: наказуемым не будет секс между людьми, которым не меньше 13 лет, и у которых разница в возрасте составляет не больше пяти лет - то есть, речь прежде всего о сексе между тинейджерами.

Среди других изменений, которые Япония готовится внести в свои законы о сексуальных преступлениях - криминализация сексуальной эксплуатации несовершеннолетних и расширение понятия "изнасилование".

How To Co-Parent Effectively After a Divorce

A 5-point parenting plan and Google Docs finally made us better parents to our twin boys

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

If my ex and I had focused less on ourselves, then we could have come to a better co-parenting model earlier. Thankfully, we did improve.

The rollercoaster ride for us isn’t over, but the ups and downs have gotten much smoother. This is what I learned along the way—including the advice I was given but didn’t take at the time.

Last month, I texted my ex-partner. The twins want gaming laptops. I think we should buy them one each for Christmas.

Within seconds she replied. Great idea. Perhaps we can meet up and select them together.

This is a fairly mundane text exchange. But for me and my ex, this was a huge step. And it showed the progress made over a long 10-year battle. One that involved anger, resentment, jealousy, and frustration. Plus several abusive messages.

After 10 years, we had finally learned to co-parent. And through this, I hope that anyone in a similar situation will be able to follow what I did and do likewise.

The Breakdown

In May 2010, with our twin boys just three years old, my wife Heather and I decided to separate. It was an extremely tough decision, but we had grown so far apart, the relationship was barely functioning.

I had held on as long as I could, purely for my sons. I didn't want them to be part of a broken home. To be destined to move between their parents' houses for the rest of their childhood.

From a selfish perspective, I couldn't imagine not seeing them every day. Being apart and wondering what they were up to. I was worried this would make me less of a father. I wanted to be as involved in their lives as possible.

I didn't know how to tell them the news or if they would even understand. How could we bring up the subject and tell them mummy and daddy would no longer live together.

What followed next was the first sign that co-parenting after a separation would be hard. And it is something many people go through. According to the Stepfamily Foundation, “Sixty-six percent of couples who live together or are remarried will break up when children are involved. The majority of American families have shifted from the original biologically connected mother, father, and child.”

Two parents, two different paths

My day at work had been one of aimless procrastination, stressing how about to tell my children the news.

When I returned home to give the heartbreaking news, I saw the two playing happily together. I was teary-eyed, and with a deep breath, I told Heather that we needed to talk to them, and then I would pack my bags and leave.

With a dismissive tone, she said, “I’ve told them already. You can pack and leave now.”

I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart. Such an important family discussion had been held without me being present. What had she said? What were their reactions? Did she blame me? As a writer, I was used to controlling the narrative, but I had no idea what was said about me.

Furious and hurt, I packed my bags and left. Divorce is tough, but surely this was the worst possible start. And it was only going to get worse due to my inexperience in dealing with relationship conflict.

Co-Parenting — What NOT To Do

The first year of our separation was full of anger, resentment, and legal fights. Where we live, counseling is compulsory before any divorce is granted. We did the mandated sessions, which were futile. There was so much anger that the sessions weren't the least bit productive.

They descended into arguing and pointing the blame at each other before ending in frosty silence. Outside of the sessions were even worse.

I wanted equal time with my children, but Heather would only agree to a 70/30 share in her favor. On top of this, she was demanding hefty financial payments, which led to even more anger. I felt like I was being punished financially and emotionally.

This led to many angry text exchanges. I was letting emotion get the better of me, and this showed in my communication. Heather took a passive-aggressive approach, which led to me fuming and wallowing in self-pity.

We were both wrong, but neither would admit this or try anything different. The anger at each other was too deep, and this affected our parenting. Picking up the children from each other’s houses was an awkward experience for all four of us. The children would run from the car to inside the house to get the exchange over as quickly as possible. Every time I saw this, my heart broke.

Marriage and family therapist Dr. Juliana Morris gives the following advice: “Self-reflect and own your role in ending the relationship. When you are happier individually, it’s easier to co-parent with focus and intention.”

It is great advice and one that we wrongly ignored. We were stuck in a cycle of angry text messages and awkward drop-offs—a cycle that seemed to have no end.

Subsequently, we were each doing our own thing, independently of what the other thought or felt. And this is quite common. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, parents that share custody are “more likely to have detached, distant, and ‘parallel’ parenting relationships than to have ‘co-parenting’ relationships where they work closely together, communicate often, interact regularly, coordinate household rules and routines, or try to parent with the same parenting style.”

How We Changed Our Communication — The 5 Point Vision Statement

Breaking the vicious cycle was hard, but we needed to do it. I spoke to friends who had been through similar circumstances. I showed them the texts. They were shocked. It needed to change, and one of us had to be the first to do it. I decided to focus on five key factors that we could both work on.

1. Move past the hate

The first step was to overcome my hate for Heather. It wasn’t productive for anyone. I was angry, very angry, but I needed to let it go. Holding onto the anger was holding the co-parenting back.

The focus had been on my hate for Heather rather than my love for my children. Jennifer Hurvitz, the author of “One Happy Divorce,” advises that “when you are in a co-parent relationship, you have to love your children more than you hate your spouse.”

I decided to change my mindset for my kids.

2. Implement a business relationship

I decided to treat my relationship with Heather as a business relationship. It will be based on appointments, meetings, and updates, all without any emotion at all.

I needed to remove any hint of emotion from communication; anything that could be interpreted negatively or a perceived attack. It would be just the same way I would take to a client or work colleague.

I will pick them up at 3 p.m. on Monday.

Sam is unwell and is not at school today.

Noah has a party to attend on June 13

Short, simple, and factual. They would usually be met with replies of OK.

As ‘business colleagues’ we had a shared mission and goal and both agreed to work toward it.

3. Say YES more

Part of the negative cycle was spurred by my need to win every argument, every discussion, every point raised. It was like there was a fictitious scoring system, and I had to be ahead on the scorecard.

If Heather asked to drop the boys off at 5 p.m. instead of 3 p.m., I would say no, just for the sake of it. If I wanted to change days with her, she would say no. Our first and only reply to most requests was no.

Even for the small requests, we would say no. We needed a circuit breaker, so we decided to say yes unless there was a major reason not to.

This was the hardest step for us to implement. After years of saying no, it was a major change. At college, I had performed improv and the first rule we learned was to always say agree and say yes. I needed to remember my old improv ways and agree with Heather more.

4. Never criticize

One thing that flows from hate is the need to criticize each other. All this resulted in was the boys seeing their parents in a negative light.

Divorce and Parenting Coach, Rosalind Sedacca says, “When you put down their other parent, your children are likely to interpret it as a put-down of part of them. When both parents are guilty of this behavior, it can create great confusion along with a sense of unworthiness and low self-esteem. “Something’s wrong with me” becomes the child’s unconscious belief.”

We both agreed not to criticize each other in any way in front of the boys. Pointing out flaws in their mother was an easy game to play for me. Not saying anything or actually saying something positive was hard. But we agreed to try.

5. Children come first, second, and third

This should go without saying, but sadly we needed to say it. Sam and Noah's needs always had to come first, no matter how inconvenient it was for either of us. Once we learned to say YES more, this seemed to happen naturally, but we had to agree to write this down. Not just say these words but act on them.

As an example, I needed to make the changeovers a more positive experience. Excited to see your mother today? I bet she has some great activities planned! I promised to walk them to the front door and greet their mother with a polite hello and a smile.

I didn't want to, but their needs had to come above mine. And me sitting in the car and driving off as they ran to the door wasn’t a positive experience for them.

Sherrill A. Ellsworth, a former judge and co-founder of coParenter, says “Co-parents need to suck it up and become a collaborative team for the sake of the child.”

We both needed to suck it up.

And so, based on these five non-negotiables (and several weeks of messaging), we had a basic co-parenting plan in place that we both agreed to.

Our brief, succinct plan. Source: Author

In business terms, it could be classified as our vision statement. Importantly, it was short and easy to follow.

The First Test of the New Plan

It was a few weeks later when the first test of the new plan came into play. I was driving my children to school when Noah said he had a joke for me.

“Great, tell me,” I said. He then told me an anti-Semitic joke. I was crushed. I am Jewish, and Heather isn't, which makes my son half Jewish. This joke was offensive to all of us. I asked Noah who told him the joke, and he said it was Heather’s partner, whom she was now living with.

I pulled to the side of the road, blood boiling, ready to send a lengthy text berating her and the ‘Nazi’ she lived with. I had to pull back and remember our new plan. I dropped the boys at school and went for a short walk to compose myself. I then went through our non-negotiables and decided to send a text.

Factual without emotion. No hate toward her or criticisms. A simple text requiring a simple action.

Noah told me an anti-Semitic joke that Bruce told him. Please find out if true and what happened.

I hit send and waited. Normally I would either get no reply or a reply saying I was wrong and causing problems.

OK. I will speak to him and the boys after school.

I was surprised and relieved. What could have been an inflammatory situation descending into insults and arguments was handled swiftly.

The next day I received:

I spoke to Bruce and told him what he did was wrong. I also explained to the boys why it was wrong. It will never happen again.

It was a big step forward for our new co-parenting attitude. And a big thumbs up to our process.

One small step for Ash and Heather. One giant leap for co-parenting.

Our Co-Parenting Bible

I never thought Google would make the best co-parenting tool we could use, but it did. Google Docs took us to the next level.

With a large volume of texts and emails being sent, it often led to schedule conflicts and the potential to get back to the negative cycle. Taking on the business relationship model, Heather suggested we move everything to Google Docs. We would have one Master Schedule that was rolling 12 months in advance.

It would list all major dates, where the boys needed to be, and any comments that needed to be made by either of us. Any requests to change the schedule would be made here in red. The other parent would then comment and (usually) approve in green.

Source: Author Google Doc

It is a simple method but works very well. We now have spreadsheets for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. We can also easily go back and see who the boys were with at any date and any past requests. Everything is tracked.

This helps diffuse arguments — for example, we can see who the boys spent their birthday with each year (something we rotate) or any other special occasion. Before we started using the Master Google Doc, there were enormous fights over this. It has removed any emotion as it is treated as a business document. Better still it has cut down on the incessant texts and emails

Now everything is recorded in perpetuity. It is a one-stop-shop for all our parenting requirements. I have a new partner who has become stepmother to my sons, and she also has access and input into the Document.

It isn't an understatement to say that this Google Doc has allowed us to become successful co-parents after years of frustration. When I win Father of the Year I will thank Google in my acceptance speech.

Two Parents, One Path to Success

The model has worked better than I could have imagined. It has cut down on texts and emails, and in turn, any arguments.

It has provided consistency for our children who are settled and performing well in school and their sports. They see parents united rather than divided.

We now share custody 50/50, which has been a big positive for my partner and me. I know many parents don’t get enough time with their children (I was one), so this is the biggest win.

We now also split all costs evenly, which in turn eliminates many of the arguments.

An example of success

Before our plan, we did parent-teacher interviews separately. Our hatred for each other on full display for teachers to see. They would meet with one of us to discuss our child's school results. And then on the next day meet with the other. It was a waste of the teachers' time to double up and illustrate that we weren’t on the same page.

Now we attend parent-teacher interviews together. Admittedly our chairs are as far apart from each other as the room allows (we were social distancing before there was social distancing!), but we’re present in the same room together.

Our pinnacle of success

The high point for our co-parenting was the four of us heading to a computer store in December to choose laptops for the boys. It was the first time we had done something like this for over 10 years. The boys were so happy to receive new laptops and see all of us involved in the purchasing and buying.

It was a simple thing that many families across the world do each day, but it was akin to scaling Mount Everest for us. Something that the four of us could never have imagined a few years ago.

It had taken 10 years, but we had a successful co-parenting model in place.

Key Factors in Our Success

It was a decade long process for us; I hope that anyone reading this going through a relationship breakup with children involved doesn't take this long. In summary, the factors that led us to success and I would recommend are:

• Moving past the hate and viewing your relationship as completed rather than failed.
• Remove all emotion from communication. Treat the relationship as a working relationship. You don’t need to be friends just amiable colleagues with the same ‘work’ goal.
• Always put the children's’ needs above your own.
• Pick your battles. Don’t focus on the small things.
• Have an easy to update system for communication. Google Docs is perfect for this.
• Keep it simple. Our plan had five key planks to the agreement that were easy to follow. And the Google Doc eliminated the need for messages and emails and made for an easy-to-follow schedule.

I will never be friends with Heather. But I will be a co-parent. And that, to me, is the most important relationship I can have with her.