Women Without Children: The Uprising

Why are a bunch of men talking about their distain for women with no children?  I remember first hearing about this about a year ago when the pope came out and said replacing children with pets was “selfish”.  At the time I thought, who cares what a single man with no kids says about other people without kids.  I figured it was a strange comment that seemingly came out of nowhere but chalked it up to some kind of religious belief.  I certainly disagreed with him, I just disagree with a lot of things the pope says, so it didn’t stick around long in my head.   Then I started hearing ridiculous things that a republican senator from Ohio named JD Vance said about women with no children.   Then, a few months after that some other tool named Matt Gaetz started to hit my feed with similar negative comments about childless women.  He tweeted, “How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?”  This is where I started to get more offended.  Again, not that I ever agreed with this ridiculousness I just saw it as fringe talk.  Reflecting back, thinking this was outside the standard deviation of political talk these days was delusional on my part.  I’ve felt judged on a personal level, through some interactions in my life, but I never felt childless women were a public enemy.  That judgement felt more personal or cultural, not political.  Again, looking back, this was silly on my part.  Now these twits have my attention.  Just as they have made marginalized groups the “problem” in past election cycles it seems as if childless women are shaping up to be scapegoated in this next one.  More recently, Tucker Carlson and some guest on his show have taken shots at childless women in response to Chelsea Handler.  (Looking up the name of the guest to mention him here isn’t worth my time.) There is no denying that belittling and disparaging women without children is an orchestrated game plan at this point.  Why would women with no kids be a target?  We have power.  We have money, power, options, and in some ways freedom.  They know it, but do we?

For those of us who are childless not by choice it can be a struggle to identify the positives or advantages of our situation, the pluses of childlessness along with the minuses of childlessness.   Through trashing women without kids, these commentators highlight some of the pluses of a very difficult reality for some of us.  While we get caught in the minuses, they see the pluses.  The freedom, the power, the money (for some), the voice, the curiosity, the confidence that can develop when someone is able to do what they want to do, that is what those commentators see and hear about women who do not have children.  WE know there are exceptions to all of these attributes.  Not having children doesn’t mean a carefree and responsibility free life, however, it does bring a different perspective into the discussions about society.  A perspective that hasn’t historically been in the equation.  More women than ever before don’t have children.   There are multiple women in political power who have no kids.  In positions where their voice cannot be ignored.  Attacking women without children highlights how scary it is, for some people, to have this viewpoint at the table.

When you see these talking points about the selfishness of women without children, how sad their life is, all the cats they have (what a boring insult btw) try not to allow your brain to internalize these comments.  Try to challenge yourself to see the flip side of this coin.  The side of the coin that these commentators see.  The side that sees women without children as powerful, growing in number, and women who they cannot influence in the same way as other individuals.  When you see the clips of these politicians lamely calling women without children names, remind yourself it is because they know YOU can live a life that is meaningful, purposeful, fun AND powerful.  They know it.  Now, I want you to KNOW it.

What do you think of these recent comments?  Comment below.