Posted on 10/06/2024 6:49:44 PM PDT by simpson96
In the past 50 years, women without children have begun to redefine the traditional narratives of family and fulfillment. In the 1970s, about one in every 10 women would exit their childbearing years without bearing children. In the mid 2000s, that statistic became one in five. In the past 10 years, the childbearing rate of women in their 20s has fallen yet another 15%. The data says it all: More and more women every year are opting out of motherhood.
I am immensely proud to be one of 22 million women aged 20-39 in the U.S. who have not given birth. I have found enormous satisfaction and purpose in my childfree life. In the past year alone, I have gotten the chance to travel the world and have met so many new friends along the way. As a content creator, I have expanded my social media community in ways I never would have thought possible, including gathering an audience of over 800,000 fellow childfree and childfree-curious individuals who I get to share my life and my ideas with. My childfree lifestyle has fulfilled me creatively and financially, and I have been lucky enough to inspire others by showing them what a life without kids can look like. I know myself and I know my limits, and none of this would have been possible for me if I had kids to tend to.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels as positively about the growing rate of childless women in our country. In late July, Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance went viral for resurfaced comments he made in 2021 about “miserable” childless cat ladies, as well as a speech from the same year in which he advocated for childfree people to have fewer voting rights than those with kids. His reasoning? He believes — or, at least, claims to believe — childfree people have no stake in the future (as if the future doesn’t belong to us, too…).
Vance — and people who think like him — should be wary of the voters they call “miserable.”
Vance’s sentiments are an unfortunate but familiar retelling of out-of-date, sexist stereotypes that have prevailed since the 1800s. They’re also straight-up wrong. It’s a common misconception that childfree people are selfish, ungenerous, and indifferent about the future. In my case, this couldn’t be more untrue, actually! I don’t have to have kids of my own to care about younger generations. I want a healthy, thriving economy, society, and planet not just for myself (I mean, I’m only 25 and expect to live many more decades, after all) but also for others who will come after me. Wanting the best for the people we share the world with comes from basic human empathy, a skill I learned on the kindergarten playground. When Vance insinuates he didn’t learn true empathy until he had children, it makes me wonder if he also missed the lessons on “inside voices” and “sharing” that we all learned at a young age.
Vance — and people who think like him — should be wary of the voters they call “miserable.” Many of us “miserables” are also the ones who are super vocal about this upcoming election — and some of us, like myself, actually have influence over a large number of voters. Social media is a powerful force that can sway an election, and without children to occupy my time, I have put plenty of hours into researching and educating my audience on the Trump campaign’s harmful policies. Every single day, I remind my audience through my Free Birth Control series of the importance of protecting our reproductive rights and the power to make choices about our bodies. And I’m not alone; there are countless creators on social media who are using their platforms to ensure our rights are protected, too. So, if Vance is afraid of a future run by childless cat ladies, he’s already living his own worst nightmare.
The overturn of Roe v. Wade has demonstrated that our right to remain childfree is not guaranteed. I, for one, am ready and willing to fight to ensure it is.
“She and her “800,000’ fellow travelers have voluntarily forfeited their place in the gene pool, ultimately making their lives useless, regardless of how many face-less internet ‘followers’ they accumulate in this lifetime.”
Spot on.
Hey, Abigail: This childfree cat lady will be canceling out your vote. Use birth control, it’s readily available.
“Every single day, I remind my audience through my Free Birth Control series of the importance of protecting our reproductive rights and the power to make choices about our bodies.”
So, she’s abstinent?
She uses Abortion to remain child free?
That shocks me. She actually gets laid?!?!?
That doesn’t speak well for the males of her species.
I am the mother of an amazing 21 year old daughter, and have been married for 20 + years. We also have... sigh... seven cats in the house. Don’t ask. They’re absolutely hilarious, and we’re religious with keeping the cat boxes clean. Lebowski, Donnie, Walter and the Smith Kittens. And all of them, as well as our two dogs, are smarter than this dumb broad.
We’re happy.
What the press does not understand is Vance’s remark was not a mistke. 100% of childless cat ladies were not voting for Trump/Vance and were probably turning out at 100%, so you had nothing to lose by ridiculing them, and probabably a lot to gain as you activated voters who did not like hardcore feminists/lesbians/single-childless-women-nuts-about-cats. Politics is about contrasts and separation. Not about “can’t we all get along?”. Akin to the statistical process of discrimination you are seeking to balance within-group-differences and between-group-differences. “Childless cat ladies” is not a group you want within the target group of voters you are seeking to assemble. Pissing them off is not a bug, it’s a feature.
No need to, you’ve already proven your point.
We all do at that age, though thankfully some of us grow out of it and grow up.
She won’t be the first thirty something to have second thoughts after she’s “ hit the wall”
But by then she’ll have the “empty eggs” syndrome!
But for now she’s having fun being the neighborhood “doorknob”!
At 25, I didn’t have any children yet either, but then I was just getting married that year. Kids followed very quickly after that.
This poor know-nothing smart ass author is pathetic. I hope she learns quickly how wrong she is about children.
My children are among some of my greatest blessings.
A man has barricaded himself inside his house; however, he is not armed and nobody is paying any attention to him.
I’m good with liberals not reproducing and voluntarily removing their DNA from the planet.
Biological and ideological dead enders.
” The childfree-by-choice people are also smug, sanctimonious, narcissistic, hectoring, self-centered, self-satisfied, irritating and proud to be irritants..”
You forgot ugly. My neighbor who has a cat and goes to the same cat vet I do is not a woman any man would be interested in. And of course, she loves Kamala.
Without family your career will mean nothing. The day after you retire someone else will be doing your job.
The bands and stars you enjoyed are all dead.
The restaurants and venues you once love to frequent no longer exist.
There’s no one to come be with you and listen to your rambling BS stories about when you were 25.
If you die of old age without family no one will even care when you are gone.
She obviously LACKS empathy for anyone but herself.
You’re an ass. I’m childfree by choice, and am none of those things you list. And I’m OBSESSED, the opposite of indifferent, about the future — the of my nieces and nephews, and our country. (If my posts here since 2000 don’t indicate that, you have reading comprehension issues.)
The arrogance of someone to presume they know every facet of another person’s mind and history that causes them to make certain choices is ... STUNNING.
Well alright, then. Let’s just erase 10,000 yrs of human history.
“I’m good with liberals not reproducing and voluntarily removing their DNA from the planet.”
👍 👍
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