Lin Chiling, who got married in June, was recently reported to have "the smell of pregnancy": wearing clothes to cover her stomach and sending a driver to NTU to get medicine. Everyone speculated about when she was pregnant, and some people ridiculed, "Can she still be born?" It's never easy to be an older woman in Taiwan. Egg freezing is in the front, and the test tube is in the back, we seem to have a lot of choices, but we still can't get rid of social opinion and medical proviso. As older women, do we really enjoy the so-called female reproductive autonomy?
Text: Womany Jiaqi
On June 6, Lin Chiling announced the good news of her marriage, and the object was AKIRA, a member of the Japanese group "Wandering Brothers". Many people congratulated with tears in their eyes, saying that Sister Chi Ling "finally got married" and "the older leftover girl, it's Jolin Tsai's turn".
And we all thought that when the 44-year-old Lin Chiling "finally" entered marriage, everyone could relax their imagination of women's marriage a little and was willing to give women a little more time. But that's not the case. Recently, there have been media reports that Lin Chiling, who once said that she wanted to have twins, recently plans to do the third generation of IVF. So everyone speculated about when she would give birth.
Is she in a relationship? Is she married? Does she want to freeze her eggs? Does she want to have children? Can she give birth? How will she grow up with her children?
From this never-ending question, we also see that everyone's eternal hunt for Lin Chiling. Can one day, when we face actresses, we can give more blessings to life choices, rather than doubts wrapped in care?
"My waist circumference is not your topic": When netizens keep observing the actress's figure
Since her marriage in June, Lin Chiling's whereabouts at home and at the airport have been constantly followed, and even used to analyze whether her outfit is to cover her waistline - no matter what she wears, it has become evidence of pregnancy research - the bulging top tucked into the long skirt is "traceable"; Wearing loose melanin T is to "cover your stomach"; The driver once drove to National Taiwan University Hospital to get the medicine, but he almost "wanted to be pregnant".
It's as if once an actress enters marriage, her value is only her children.
On July 30, she attended a press conference and was also asked how many children she planned to have after marriage? Boy or girl? The comments below are constantly "Can she still be born?"
Fertility and non-fertility seem to have become a topic of conversation after dinner. "The waist is thick" and "It looks like there is", on the one hand, because of people's endless hunting for celebrities. On the other hand, it is also a kind of evaluation that only women encounter. If we were men today, would we be so hard to care about when he will become a father?
What my advanced age has taught me: everything I've been through, from egg retrieval to holding a baby
The private lives of celebrities are always constantly being extracted, amplified, examined and evaluated. In 2014, Lin Chiling underwent egg freezing surgery at National Taiwan University Hospital and retrieved 9 eggs for preservation. It has always been a brave path for a woman to cross the age line of advanced maternal age and choose to become a mother from a woman.
A few years ago, Lan Xinmei was 43 years old and had a miscarriage, and she once wrote about the miscarriage on social media alone. People lament it on the one hand, but there is also a lament that "it's your personal choice". This world is never gentle with elderly mothers. When I became an elderly mother, from egg removal to holding a baby, all the hardships and joys I experienced would be attributed to "I deserve it".(Added in the same scene: [Gender Observation] I am an advanced maternal age, and it should not be a bad thing to give birth when I want to give birth）
The voices were like this – I need to get multiple ovulation injections. I may have to have more than one invasive egg retrieval procedure. I may suffer from ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome with nausea, vomiting, and ascites – on the one hand, my body is under public scrutiny, and on the other hand, I am lonely because people only look at these experiences with a curious eye.
Becoming a mother at the age of 45, do I have to face the question of "how to grow up with my children"?
Aside from the medical risks, some people are worried further, if Lin Chiling is pregnant and chooses to become a mother at the age of 45, will it be too late? Can she be a good mother? How does she deal with her experience of growing old first and finding it difficult to grow up with her children? However, as men, we never worry about whether he is "too late" to become a father.
Looking back at the older women's desire to get pregnant, from Lan Xinmei, Liu Ruoying, to Lin Chiling, this list has always been long.
In 2019, as an older woman, egg freezing is in front and IVF is in the back, it seems that there are many choices, but there is still social public opinion and a long medical proviso. Do we really enjoy the so-called female reproductive freedom? Or is it in fact, even with such technological advancement, women's reproductive autonomy is just a beautiful fantasy?
A few months ago, we interviewed Lin Chiling. At that time, she was interviewed for her role as an ambassador for Six Minutes Guardian. As a role model for many girls, we asked, how does she see herself? She said it wasn't really anything, she was just doing her best. "If there's one thing you should do well in your life, it's yourself." She said. (Screening at the same scene: Interview with Lin Chiling: "Happiness is not a character, but an ability.") ）
She is the object of imitation for many Taiwanese women who have grown up. Since childhood, our concept of beauty, imagination of women, and reference values for career have also referred to her image projection. Lin Chiling was very brave, she made her own decision.
And this decision, we should all put aside the comments and bless it.