Causes and Consequences of Male Infertility

Zeinab Hashemikhah; SeyedAlireza  Afshani

doi:10.18502/tbj.v20i5.8520

Zeinab Hashemikhah Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Department of Cooperation and Social Welfare, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.
SeyedAlireza Afshani Professor, Department of Cooperation and Social Welfare, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/tbj.v20i5.8520

Keywords: Infertility, Male Infertility, Transmission, Women

Abstract

Introduction: Infertility has various and innumerable causes, which pointing them out one by one is difficult and out of the scope of this paper. Infertility causes are different between males and females, and each case requires a separate and thorough research. The present study aimed to identify the male infertility causes.

Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative method, which analyzed the infertile males' accounts regarding their problem. For this purpose, couples suffering from infertility were interviewed 13 times .In all these cases, men were responsible for infertility, but both men and women experienced the issues related to infertility. Interviews were analyzed using Glaser approach.

Results: Various causes regarding male infertility were discussed, the most important of which was infertility as a consequence of previous diseases. Furthermore, in addition to the cultural view of women as the ones responsible for infertility, infertile males unconsciously, affected the fertility of their female partners, where ,in time they also became infertile.

Conclusions: In general, all the points discussed, were classified into five categories including: “genetic infertility,” “physiological infertility,” “gender stereotypes of infertility,” “reproduction of male infertility,” and “genesis of infertility,” from which the core concept of “the challenges of infertility” was derived.