In The Washington Free Beacon’s recent article, “American Fertility Hits Historical Low: Economist blames culture of caution” Charles Fain Lehman lays out some new data on falling birth rates in America. According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control, the “American birth rate tied its historical low in the first nine months of 2018,” and “demographers say it will likely go lower.”
Continue reading “Falling Birth Rates: Applaud, Not Blame a “Culture of Caution””Baby Matrix related

The Premiere of the Documentary Film, To Kid Or Not To Kid, by Maxine Trump
Last weekend I was in New York at DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in the United States! I attended the premiere of the documentary film, To Kid Or Not To Kid by filmmaker Maxine Trump. The film follows Maxine’s personal journey of moving through her decision to live childfree. Continue reading “The Premiere of the Documentary Film, To Kid Or Not To Kid, by Maxine Trump”

World Population Day, 2018
Today is World Population Day 2018; it’s an annual event observed on July 11, and was founded to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, approximately the date on which the world’s population reached five billion people.” The Population Clock shows the world population increases in real time-the last I looked it was: Continue reading “World Population Day, 2018”

A Long-Range Glance at Rates of Childlessness
Pew Research Center has some hot off the press fertility statistics. In addition to figures relating to motherhood postponement and average numbers of children, the data include “rates of childlessness” from many countries. The reported numbers inspired me to review statistics from the past to get a feel for more of a longer range picture. Continue reading “A Long-Range Glance at Rates of Childlessness”

Procreative Ethics, Pronatalism, and the Childfree Choice
I sure love that we are seeing more pieces like this one: “Would you give up having children to save the planet? Meet the couples who have.” While all people don’t “give up” having children, I do like that it discusses the larger picture of bringing another biological child into the world. Continue reading “Procreative Ethics, Pronatalism, and the Childfree Choice”

Taking a Deeper Look at “Baby Fever”
Seeing the piece, “Baby Fever in Your 20s? Here’s What Experts Say That Means” sparked my interest in looking into research on what’s referred to as “baby fever.” Let’s take a look. Continue reading “Taking a Deeper Look at “Baby Fever””

Advice on the “To Baby or Not to Baby” Question
A recent “Ask Polly” on The Cut shocked me. A woman writes in with the question, “Should I have a baby?” and even though Polly assures readers the “column is not a parody,” I admit I read the response more than once to be sure her advice actually seemed serious. Continue reading “Advice on the “To Baby or Not to Baby” Question”

On the Myth of Maternal Instinct
In my 2017 childfree trending piece, I discuss how in recent years we’ve been seeing more talk about pronatalism. Some articles use the word directly, some not. An excellent feature article that appeared on money.good.is magazine last fall by Mike Mariani gives us a great example of the latter. Continue reading “On the Myth of Maternal Instinct”

Q&A With Research Scholar, Amrita Nandy on her Book, Motherhood and Choice
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing New Delhi research scholar and activist, Amrita Nandy, about her new book, Motherhood and Choice: Uncommon Mothers, Childfree Women. Check it out: Continue reading “Q&A With Research Scholar, Amrita Nandy on her Book, Motherhood and Choice”

Filmmaker Therese Shechter
On the Upcoming Documentary, My So-Called Selfish Life, by Therese Shechter
Filmmaker Therese Shechter is currently running a Kickstarter Campaign for her film on childfree women, My So-Called Selfish Life. Here’s the trailer:
Continue reading “On the Upcoming Documentary, My So-Called Selfish Life, by Therese Shechter”