QUOTE:
We live in a society -- in a world, really -- where it is assumed that the default desire of women is to have children. Producing offspring is supposedly so hardwired into not only who a woman is, but also who she is supposed to be, so that if she doesn't want to have kids, there must be something wrong with her
Gee, what could possibly be wrong with a woman who wants to be childfree? Let's go over what the writer has said about herself:
If I'm being totally honest, that's largely because I don't like children. I'm not good with them.I have spent my whole life as an only child and have utterly loved every minute of being sibling-less. I could be the poster girl for only child syndrome: spoiled, achievement-oriented, impatient, etc. And as such, I don't really have a ton of experience with children. I've never even held a baby (and no, I don't want to hold yours, thanks for asking). And so, I'm extremely awkward around them. I have no idea how to interact with a child younger than 12. Children are a mystery to me.
My only child-ness has also made me equal parts introverted and selfish. This is, admittedly, not a great combination if you have to sacrifice your own needs and want to constantly care for another, smaller human being who can't fend for itself yet. And I have no desire to change these things about myself. It's who I am, and I like who I am. I like the life I have and the childless life I envision for myself in the future.
So she admits to all these negatives attributes about herself.
And she makes these negative attributes the basis for her wanting to be childfree.
Then she complains that people assume that "if she doesn't want to have kids, there must be something wrong with her"
Gee, I wonder why so many people make that assumption?
Is it perhaps that childfree people often admit to selfish tendencies, aren't embarrassed about them, and then declare that we're supposed to not judge them for not wanting children based on their own admission of selfishness?
Do you think that might have something to do with it?
Or maybe their own admitted disdain for a certain demographic of humanity?
Imagine if she had said that she didn't like blacks or gays and didn't want to interact with them, especially after having admitted not having interacted with them.
She would have zero credibility among progressives.
But because it's about children, that's okay. It's perfectly normal to harbour dislike for children, even though you were a child once. But you were special, not like the rest of the rabble. You were really smart and mature. You got to hang out with the adults, not the snot-nosed kids around you. And heck, maybe you were a little sh*t now and then, but your overall intelligence and maturity compensated for that. Only beings like you should inhabit the planet. Children should just go away.
But there's nothing wrong at all with being childfree. Nothing wrong with calling oneself free of a certain demographic of children, like they're parasites or something. Peope who think the word childfree is derogatory are clearly judgemental.
And honestly, I don't actually care if women have kids or don't. I am part of a religion where some women choose not to have kids, so that's the issue. The issue is the ideology and its justifying motives, its contempt for a whole demographic.
