I refuse to subscribe to the idea that having a...

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I refuse to subscribe to the idea that having a child is the pinnacle of a woman’s existence. We’re constantly told that people didn’t know true love, or understand the meaning of existence, and so on, until they had a child.

Speaking very generally, having been born female my body is designed to have a baby. Why then do we carry on as though having a child is the Greatest Achievement a Woman Can Make? If I were to have a child, I would consider having raised a fine, functioning adult to be an achievement. Simply having the baby, not so much.

There is a bittersweet quality to thinking about all this. I shrug and say “Probably not” when people ask about kids, and then I see female friends wish for babies with a yearning I cannot begin to fathom and I start to wonder if there’s something missing in my make-up. But is the answer to that existential question necessarily to have children? I don’t think so.

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Clem Bastow, Motherhood Not the Pinnacle Of A Woman’s Life — this article explains, much more eloquently than I ever could, everything that I feel and think about way too much. Of course the comments are all miserable and terrible takes on, “Why are you bothering to write about this?” but I think it’s necessary to raise the topic. Too often, I’ve found that people react with shock and alarm when I say that having kids isn’t something that I think about for my future, because I’m just not interested. The fact that that kind of statement isn’t normalized and is instead seen as an Other is, in turn, shocking and alarming to me. (via alexbaca)

This is a good article. I believe in every women’s right to choose whether or not to reproduce. This article talks about what other people expect from the author and I can relate to that. I work at a child care in a gym and I am asked almost every week by members if I have children or if I am planning on having them (and I am young, I’ll be 21 in July). I usually make some sort of comment about how I’ll think about it after college or how the kids at work keep me busy enough. What I am thinking is, “how is it your business?” How is it appropriate for a near-stranger to ask anyone what their child-bearing plans are? How is it appropriate for almost anyone to ask someone what their child-bearing plans are?

We are past the time when we can expect someone to have children because they have a uterus.

(via exhale)

Source theage.com.au