Kids R Not Us -- Embracing the decision not to procreate

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/4/7 | Katherine Seligman

[SmithL]

It was time for the "Childfree Landslide News." Christine Fisher leaned forward and announced this in a soft voice that would sound surprisingly strong when it aired as part of her weekly (at least on Mars, she says, where weeks are 13 days) online show, the "Adult Space Child Free Podcast." She had just put in a day at the pharmaceutical company where she works and was home in her Newark apartment, shoes off, with her husband flopped on a sofa reading in the next room and her two cats roaming underfoot.

She started the podcast, a medley of commentary, news and personal narrative, to reach an audience outside "diaperland" about a year ago. Fisher knew as early as third grade that she did not want children. She had no interest in games that involved playing house or cooing over babies. In the world of childfree men and women, she is what's known as an "early articulator." Now 32, she has had her share of friends who became temporarily unavailable or disappeared when they had kids. Even in the Bay Area, which Fisher finds one of the better places for childfree mingling because of its cultural diversity -- San Francisco has one of the lowest ratios of kids of any U.S. city -- it can be hard for the childfree to connect.

Her listeners are a far-flung demographic, with a few hundred of various ages mostly in the United States, but also scattered as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Norway and Uruguay....Then, in what's become her signature end to the show, she leaned into the microphone and said, "This is Chris the Fixed Kitty saying, 'Keep from breeding!' "

[opticks]

"So with all those pots and pans in her kitchen, who does she cook for? The cats?"

She probably doesn't cook much of anything. Her apartment looks like it fell out of a Pottery Barn catalog, and that is not accidental.

Women are being told a lie by politicians and marketers that they are 2nd-class citizens if they have kids, and they must spend money like drunken sailors to prove how successful they are.

[Justa]

I'm sick of these types! No more BS: This woman is a LOSER, on so many levels.

First, her thinly-guised childless self-admiration club is more practically a post-abortion guilt-avoidance club as in "I made the right decisions -didn't I?" And if she did that to her own baby what would she do to say, -her cat? I won't even consider what she might do to members of the public.

Secondly, without children her genes become extinct -and by her own choice! What better indicator of personal and social failure is there than that?

Thirdly without children, everything her ancestors went through during their lives were for naught cuz somewhere down the line little Val didn't want to spend her money on additional family members or mess up her figure.

These people are nothing more than narcissistic, self-serving oxygen thieves! They are the Avante Garde leaders of the liberals' culture of death and decay who spread their poison through propaganda and indoctrination. Society can only await another close passing of a cometary body to hasten their self-demise thus ending their influence upon healthier members of society. In the mean time their voting rights should be rescinded.

Check out the picture of ole Val: -the cat knows. He better watch his back and avoid the car for a while.

[BBell]

So smug their in love with their own farts? I sense a South Park fan in our midst.

[Larry Lucido]

Folks who wanna be childless should just shut up and be childless. Likewise, folks who think it's important to procreate should just shut up and procreate themselves.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Society can only await another close passing of a cometary body to hasten their self-demise thus ending their influence upon healthier members of society.

Or Global Warming^TM

[Justa]

At 48 she deserves a "Congratulations, Your Genes Are Now Extinct" award from the CPUSA and added to the honor roll of the Darwin Awards.

[reg45]

The opposite of BREEDING is not freedom, it's extinction.

[OldPossum]

Re your post 40, we probably differ in a hundred ways but we are alike in that I, too, never wanted to become a father and with a few snips of the surgeon's knife, insured that it wouldn't happen.

Not only did I not want to be a father because of my short temper and dislike of noise, I didn't want to go through life broke, either.

As to the woman's advocacy to the point of a website and probably asking for this newspaper article, to each his own. Think of all those maternity- and nuclear family-oriented organizations out there. Hell, they even have magazines devoted to the joys of having children and the enjoyment of family life. No doubt they also have websites. Do you similarly condemn them, too? You should if you want to slam this woman.

And I don't do "lighten up" on such serious issues.

[Mr_Moonlight]

My cat has lately become jealous of my computer. He has taken to lying across the keyboard.

Is that why many of your recent posts here read:

3u4y9theghowrntbi9wry8t7t48r3y4937hfkbdfk ncil g7t8t8bbkbknkn

/chuckle

[OldPossum]

These people are nothing more than narcissistic, self-serving oxygen thieves!

So, my wife, the woman I have loved for 38 years and who devoted an entire career to teaching children in an inner city school system, is a narcissistic, self-serving oxygen thief. Is that what you are saying to the OldPossum, smarta@@?

[Richard Kimball]

Yeah. Every time I read a story out of SF I think of that episode.

[HangnJudge]

Jenny is prettier

[A knight without armor]

LOL! The second she puts that cat down it will be a gray blur out of the room.

[goodnesswins]

I don't think I'd want to have kids in San Francisco either.....freak city

[Richard Kimball]

Watch HGTV sometime (Home and Garden Television). There are dozens of episodes about gay couples and two income no kid couples (they don't identify them as such, but it's frequently obvious). There was one show about two guys that owned a San Fran restaurant and lived together. They had a gourmet kitchen that was almost exactly like the one in their restaurant, and a complete outside kitchen for pool parties. For a lot of these people, entertaining friends and cooking is the focus of their social life. I've also picked up on this from childless couples I know. Without kids to raise, there's a lot of time to fill.

[TheDon]

Deciding not to have a family is a personal statement, and it does not speak well of the individual.

[Hildy]

I'm 48 and childless by choice...you want to tell me what you think of me right now....

[doorgunner69]

Besides, who'd want to procreate with these broads anyway? These women couldn't get a man if it was closing time at the bar and were the only gals inside of it.

Got to agree with Possum, this is a stupid statement, from someone that usually posts intelligent stuff. My wife and I have no children, and I guarantee you she is far and away foxier than 99%+ of the "little mothers" I see. I think you are confusing urban feminists with women (many conservative like my wife) that choose not to have kids for private reasons. Not everyone is born with a burning desire to be a parent, or possibly had a childhood that soured them on wanting the experience.

You are smarter than this.

[Mike Darancette]

She had just put in a day at the pharmaceutical company where she works and was home in her Newark apartment, shoes off

What does she do at the pharmaceutical company act as a test subject for anti-psychotics?

From the look of it even her cat is afraid of her.

[Mike Darancette]