Our Idiot Surprise Pregnancy

Last week I wrote a post about things that I shouldn't have to deal as an infertile. Well one of my points was about movies that contain surprise pregnancies, and last night I was sneak attacked by that exact situation.

Our Idiot Brother is a movie about a guy and his three sisters, one of whom is a bisexual and in a lesbian relationship. I feel I must preface my problem with this movie with the fact that I am a huge supporter of the LGBT community. I have grown up around and have many friends/family members who are gay. I just feel the need to point this out to assure you what I am going to say next is directed towards the insensitivity of hollywood not as an attack on the LGBT community. At any rate, the bisexual sister (played by Zoe Deschanel) cheats on her partner with a man and gets pregnant. There is a whole scene where she is breaking open the packet of first response pregnancy tests and peeing on a stick. She then holds the stick up to read the results and says, "F***!!" The following scenes include her saying things like, "What the F am I going to do" and "I've ruined my life".

I am not just pissed that the pregnancy was a surprise to me but also because of the way that pregnancies always seem to be portrayed in movies! Why is there always some kind of unwanted pregnancy that gets reconciled and accepted as a positive thing in the end? Where are the movies about IFs who finally get pregnant after four IUIs and two rounds of IVF and five years of struggling to have a baby? Oh, does that not make good entertainment? America would rather see movies about women coming to accept their unplanned pregnancies?

Furthermore, my husband and I have decided that there are two other topics necessary to every movie we've seen in the past year or so (other than these unplanned pregnancies): gay couples and marijuana use. I understand and totally appreciate hollywood is using movies as a platform for social change and I also happen to support both of these movements, however it would be nice if some other social problems could also be addressed. There has been a movie about a gay couple having children through a sperm donor recently (though I can't remember the name), but what about a straight couple dealing with infertility??? It's always a single Tina Fey or Jennifer Aniston and it's always a comedy and it always ends with a surprise pregnancy! Let's get real!

Melissa reminded us Stirrup Queens this week that:

7.3 million Americans are diagnosed with infertility.  That’s 11.8% of the child-bearing population.  Worldwide, it comes out to be about 10% of the child-bearing population.  It’s not that rare a situation.

I know that infertility is becoming a less taboo subject because of all of the women who are blogging and writing and speaking out about what they have been through, I just wish Hollywood would stand up and take notice that 10% of the adults paying to watch their movies aren't interested in this trend of surprise pregnancy story lines!!!

All I wanted was a nice night out with my husband, and bam a surprise pregnancy and a rant!
C'est La Vie...