Watching the Netflix film Joy has been a hugely emotional experience for me. The film is the story of the scientific endeavour to figure out in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and the first baby to be born this way, Louise Joy Brown on 25 July 1978 at Oldham General Hospital in Manchester.
I went through many rounds of IVF myself, after encountering infertility after having my first child. Even as a feminist, it made me feel like a failure, and I faced it with confusion, shame and guilt, feeling very lonely in the process.
Central to this story are three scientists and researchers: Dr Bob Edwards (James Norton), Jean Purdy (Thomasin Mckenzie) and Dr Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy). The trio face resistance from society as well as other scientists including the Medical Research Council and James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning scientist for his discovery of the DNA structure.
