Women have been making that choice for centuries.
Like other women who've chosen not to have children, I've received my share of well-meaning if unhelpful advice. |
You'll regret it when you're older. |
But you're missing out on one of life's great experiences! |
It's OK to change your mind, you know. |
To which I usually say: I appreciate the concern, but I promise — I'm good. |
As Peggy O'Donnell Heffington makes clear in a guest essay for Times Opinion, I'm far from alone in feeling that way — and not just among my fellow millennials, whose reproductive decisions have stirred up something of a moral panic. Throughout history, Heffington writes, women have chosen not to have kids, sometimes because they were unable to but in many cases because, for any number of reasons, they did not want to. |
Heffington notes that modern birth control methods and abortion access have certainly made it easier for many women to avoid having children, but "they hardly gave women the idea that they might want to do so." |
"Women have needed no help coming up with that idea all on their own for centuries," she writes. |
It's valuable to be reminded that while childlessness among women might not be the norm, it is neither new nor rare — and that society's skepticism toward childless women has always been there, as well. |
The next time someone asks me why I'm not having kids, maybe I'll say: I appreciate the concern, but like centuries of women before me, I promise — I'm good. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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