ABSTRACT
Childlessness is regarded in many different ways in our society, at best as a misfortune, at worst as irresponsibility or deviance.
With the advent of reliable contraception and worldwide concern about over-population it has now been accepted that small families are ‘socially responsible’, but not, still, ‘no family’ (the everyday shorthand for ‘no children’, which childless people find demeaning). Voluntary childlessness has still to gain wholehearted social approval, and is often acknowledged as indicative of covert disability. Involuntary childlessness is, statistically at least, a deviant family form, and one which has attracted little open concern and interest. Until recently, very little attention has been paid to the situation of those couples who wish to have children, but fail to conceive. Medical intervention might help, but this might be very demanding, and, in many cases, ultimately unsuccessful.
