Prosjekt Åpenhet

A podcast that will ensure greater transparency around childlessness. Remove prejudices, expectations and taboos.

Why is involuntary childlessness so difficult to talk about? What does it do to us when life does not turn out the way we intended? About all the ways to have a child: IVF, egg donation, adoption and surrogacy. Choosing not to have children. About the relationship, guilt and friends disappearing. Finding other meanings with life.

I interview psychologists, doctors, scientists and other childless subjects.

A guide for you that struggles conceiving, and increased insight about a vulnerable, imortant and societally relevant theme for everyone else.

The podcast and book project is supported by “Fritt ord”.

If you have suggestions for good interview objects, feel free to contact me!

Episode 23 -Jon Reidar Øyan: Single, gay and childless

Jon Reidar Øyan is the AP politician who often stands in the front lines for gay rights. He himself felt sad as a young man when he realized that he himself would never have children. Now he lives a good life as a gay man and single. He has a strong commitment to ensuring that homosexuals have the same rights to have children as heterosexuals.

Episode 22 - Guro Korsnes Kristensen: Is children a state matter

It is common for authorities in different countries to try to influence the population’s reproductive behavior, says social anthropologist Guro Korsnes Kristensen. 10 years ago, the public conversation was characterized by the fact that we were happy that we had many children, the reproduction figure was then taken as the outcome that gender equality was very good in Norway. What now, when the fertility rate has dropped from 1.9 to a historically low level of 1.56? Then the politicians act as Erna did in her New Year’s speech.

Episode 22 - Tone Bråten: The Fertility Therapist:

Tone Bråten is a fertility therapist with long experience with both singles and couples who struggle to have children and the fertility treatment they go through. She has previously worked in child welfare and as a family therapist. She herself has undergone IVF treatment to have children and now she wants to help others with the challenges they face. What are the thoughts of those who stand in this? Are there similarities and what are the biggest pitfalls?

Episode 21 - Julie Løddesøl: Behind the grief lives the joy

Julie Løddesøl is a former journalist at NRK and a theater expert. Now she holds self-development courses and is a meditation instructor. She herself is involuntarily childless. She carried alone for a long time a lonely grief that became like an energy drain. Now she has a desire to make it easier for others who experience the same as herself. Julie offers openness in a playful and easy way

Episode 20 - Frode Thuen; Resistance

Psychological resilience tells us about our ability to stand firm in stressful life events. Frode Thuen is a psychologist and professor and explains why some people cope with stress better than others. Is there anything we can do to increase our own resilience? How can we use the experience from previous experiences in meeting new ones?

Episode 19 - Kathrine Aspaas: Drifting and buoyancy

Kathrine Aspaas is behind the emotional revolution. She gives lectures and courses. The graduate economist who previously wrote comments in Aftenposten will help us become emotionally stronger. A scientific curiosity about emotions and how we humans function has been aroused. Here she shares why it is so easy to let the buoyancy of emotions take over and how we can make sure that the buoyancy comes.

Episode 18 - Catrin Sagen: Korona isolation, the relationship and the single

In these times of corona isolation, we are all exposed to isolation. Living close to each other can be challenging. What advice does Catrin Sagen have on how the couple can talk better together. And what about the singles who had now imagined a time of flirting in the spring sun. Can anything good come out of this situation we are in now?

Episode 17 - Never Mom

Elisabeth is now 48 years old and looks back on the time when she tried to have children. How many IVF attempts can we tolerate? What do all the hormone cures do to the body and psyche? About going alone to Spain to insert an embryo and never succeeding with the project to have children

Episode 16 - IVF treatment: On a par with nature?

Fertility chief physician and researcher Hans Ivar Hanevik shares his view on assisted reproduction. As a council member in the Biotechnology Council, he believes that we should open up for egg donation. Do we select the right egg cell and sperm cell? In each school class, there is on average one pupil that is the result of assisted reproduction. Will this number increase? Will we in the future be involved in determining our children’s genes if we were given the opportunity?

Episode 15 - Johanne Sundby: The researcher and the childlessness

The gynecologist who ended up researching their own infertility. Today she is a professor of community medicine and travels to Africa and Asia to contribute to better women’s health. In her spare time, she drives dog teams across large plains. What experiences does she have as a childless person? Do we think differently about this with children in our society?

Episode 14 - The Acupuncturist: The Stories Behind

Vibeke Fjeld is the acupuncturist who started with school medicine but switched to Chinese medicine. Here she tells about who visits her, the similarities in the stories and the experiences they have. What does the man think and what does the woman think? About single women who go abroad for egg donation.

Episode 14 - The Acupuncturist: The Stories Behind

Vibeke Fjeld is the acupuncturist who started with school medicine but switched to Chinese medicine. Here she tells about who visits her, the similarities in the stories and the experiences they have. What does the man think and what does the woman think? About single women who go abroad for egg donation.

Episode 13 - Adopted (part 1) relatives identity, stigma and intoxication (part 2)

Ane Ramm shares thoughts about being adopted. Did she feel different? What about belonging? Did she experience identity crises? In Part 2, Ane shares reflections on having a daughter who is a drug addict. What is it like to be a mother and relative? Living with broken expectations. Ane has chosen to write a book on the subject, what does this openness do with a taboo subject?

Episode 12 - Sperm quality in free fall

Niels Christian Geelmuyden is the political scientist who is known for his portrait interviews and books. This time he has immersed himself in declining sperm quality. Why is fertility declining? Why do Norwegian men come out particularly badly? What can help improve sperm quality?

Episode 11 - Bjørk Matheasdatter: The important thing in a relationship

Bjørk Matheasdatter is the couple therapist who also writes a lot about the love life’s many joys and challenges. How important is the relationship to us? What does the child mean in the relationship? What does it do to us when we are struggling to have children? What are the characteristics of the couples who are having a good time together even when it is stormy?

Episode 10 - Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Them family-centered culture

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is the professor of social anthropology with a great commitment to society. He reflects on how it can be experienced to be childless in a society that has the family as an important social gathering point. Why is it so important to be like others, and does Norway differ from other countries?

Episode 9 - What Causes Infertility?

Nan Oldereid is a gynecologist and has researched infertility. She now works at a fertility clinic in Oslo, and has a lot of knowledge and experience in both female and male fertility.

Episode 8 - Surrogate. Can children be bought and sold?

Aksel Braanen Sterri is the debater who has become involved in the question of whether we should allow surrogacy. He has previously worked as a debate editor in Dagbladet. He is now taking a PhD at the University of Oslo on the topic “what can be bought and sold?”. The interview was done in Oxford where Aksel had a guest stay.

Episode 7 – To choose a life without children

Pernille Bruusgaard has taken a conscious choice not to have children. What caused her desire not to have children? What reflections does she do today, as an adult, regarding the choice she took?

Episode 6 – Do children make us happy?

What illusions do we have regarding getting children and becoming a family? Do the expectations match reality? Do we grow old and lonely without children? Thomas Hansen is a psychiatrist, and works with population-surveys on OsloMet

Episode 5 – About the tormented childless man at 45

Joachim Skage is the comedian that joked about the lonely man on stage. He himself is single and childless. Peder Kjøs said that men has to make an effort to get a girlfriend, and stop whining. Live from Internasjonalen.

Episode 4 – Peder Kjøs, about shame, taboo and broken expectations.

About the negative feelings vi all possess. What to they do to us? Why is childlessness connected with shame? This is a live-podcast recorded on Internasjonalen in Oslo with audience in the room. Peder is the psychiatrist with 20 years clinical experience. He has written multiple books and is famous for the tv show “Jeg mot meg”.

Episode 3 – Childlessness beyond not having the baby

Cristina Archetti, professor in media and communication is sharing her personal story and reflections. She is originally from Italy and share her thoughts about not having children and the cultural differences in the view of having a family or not.

Episode 2 – Is the wish for children genetic?

Dag O. Hessen is the professor in biologi that has engaged himself in the crossfire between biology, environment and philosophy. Is the wish for children genetical or culturally ingrained? Why he himself wanted children. About spreading genes vs memes. What does more children mean with regard to the environment?

Episode 1 – Are children the meaning of life?

Psychologist Sondre R. Liverød reflects on why children is regarded by many as the most meaningful in life. What is this really about? Are we driven to feel useful and appreciated? What reflection would he have of his own life without children?