Reactions Responses - My First Childfree Series
2 10 2006With next Sunday’s article “Childfree? But You Both Have Good Jobs…” I’m bringing the Reactions to the Childfree Choice Part I and Reactions to the Childfree Choice Part II – Responses series to a close. I was going to include one more article called “Childfree? You’re Messing With God’s Plan…”, but I decided many of the aspects of that post were more or less tackled in last Sunday’s article.
I have to say that writing these 20+ articles on the reactions of people when you say you are Childfree has been an absolute blast, quite challenging and very educational. It is aggravating to be on the receiving end of many of these baseless assumptions and intrusive questioning of our lives just because we choose not to re-produce, but it’s encouraging to know that you’re not alone, other men and women meet with the same intrusive questions and make the same uninformed assumptions; you are not strange, nor abnormal, and it isn’t “you.” It’s them.
The ending of one series, however, does not mean the the end of my childfree articles. Far from it.
Like It Is isn’t intended to be a blog about being childfree per se. But it is about yours truly, and being childfree is part of who I am so I am likely to always have something to say on the subject. It looks like being a very interesting time for Childfree men and women in the years ahead. As many are realising that they do have a choice (albeit along with the societal pressure) about whether to have children or not, with the retirement of the baby boomers and the drop in the birth rate I think there is likely to be even more pressure on women to have babies. Of course, this is to prop up the status quo – by which I mean producing the workers to keep the current pyramid and tax structure. Already there are rumblings in some governments both here and abroad about doing more to encourage women to have more babies… Should be interesting, particularly if you’re on the fence.
So there will be more Childfree and non-parenting articles on a regular basis, along with my other posts. And some of them will still carry the title “Childfree…?” where I feel it makes sense. So stay tuned.
Now for some heartfelt thanks – for my wonderful regular readers and commentators – we know who you are – thanks for reading, commenting, sharing your experiences and opinions and adding your voices to the conversation. I hope you keep doing so!
And to my Blurkers – you know who you are – thanks for your regular visiting and reading and feel free to join in the conversation any time.
All the Childfree articles are easily accessed in reverse chronological order in the Childfree category in my sidebar. Clicking on the title will show the entire article.
“Of course, this is to prop up the status quo – by which I mean producing the workers to keep the current pyramid and tax structure.”
Absolutely. But it is not a viable economic model to sustain - it requires an exponential increase per generation - and the planet cannot sustain it.
“Already there are rumblings in some governments both here and abroad about doing more to encourage women to have more babies…”
Or, as in the US, trying to ban abortions and force women into breeding. Patriarchy is less about ‘encouragement’ and more about ‘force’. That is their ’style’.
“Already there are rumblings in some governments both here and abroad about doing more to encourage women to have more babies…”
That is rather worrying. It’s bad enough having to defend my choice to family/co-workers/random strangers but to have the government on my back too …
Good job I’m not on the fence but firmly on the side where the grass is greener ;o)
“The ending of one series, however, does not mean the the end of my childfree articles. Far from it.”
Hooray! I’m glad to hear you’ll continue to write about being childfree. I’ve really enjoyed your articles, very insightful and interesting, and a terrific example of what is great about the Internet: the opportunity to express different views and explore new ideas. So happy to hear you’ll be keeping up the good work!
I am also glad to hear that you’ll continue to write about being childfree. As someone who is sure that label applies to me, being able to read your responses was a big help for me to be able to start telling people about why I’m not going to have children. Thanks so much!
@storm…you’re absolutely right and that’s what I meant. I should have put “encouragement” in quotes to make it clearer - showing indeed that it’s about trying to force women into have kids, however gentle or subtle the pressure.
@rhea - I’ll be highlighting some of those “rumblings” in future posts.
@rms, @ Jessica: thank you - and cheers!