Shani Orgad, Associate Professor in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has a recent interesting piece on theconversation.com. Titled “’Wifehood’ is not old-fashioned–here’s why it matters,” she discusses what wifehood means in today’s marriages, but focuses on the marital context that includes motherhood. What is ‘wifehood’ or the role of ‘wife’ in a childfree marriage? From interviews for Families of Two and qualitative data on heterosexual childfree married couples I’ve continued to collect since its publication, here’s the broad stroke of three that stand out. Continue reading “The Childfree Wife”
Laura’s La Vie Childfree Writings Library
On the Childfree Marriage in Voluntary & Involuntary Childlessness: The Joys of Otherhood?
I am happy to have contributed the chapter, “The Intentionally Childless Marriage,” to the just released book, Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness: The Joys of Otherhood? (2018) published by Emerald Publishing in the UK. Continue reading “On the Childfree Marriage in Voluntary & Involuntary Childlessness: The Joys of Otherhood?”
A Cross-Check on “Most Popular Myths About Childfree People”
Bright Side’s recent piece, “What Childfree People Really Want and Why They Deliberately Refuse to Have Children,” needs some serious cross-checking. Since the late 1990s, I’ve been gathering qualitative data on childfree people and have interviewed and talked with thousands of them. Let’s look at the “most popular myths about childfree people” Bright Side talks about: Continue reading “A Cross-Check on “Most Popular Myths About Childfree People””
The Winners! The 2018 Childfree Person & Group of the Year
Happy International Childfree Day!
As you may know, on International Childfree Day, childfree winners are announced. This year the winner categories were Childfree Person of the Year and Childfree Group of the Year. As head of the Selection Panel, I have to say this year the Panel faced the the toughest decisions yet! Here are the 2018 childfree winners: Continue reading “The Winners! The 2018 Childfree Person & Group of the Year”
The Nominations for the 2018 Childfree Person & Group of the Year Are In!
The nominations for the 2018 Childfree Person of the Year and Childfree Group of the Year have gone to the Selection Panel. Winners will be announced on August 1, International Childfree Day!
Meanwhile, want to know about past winners? Check them out Here!
Call for Nominations: 2018 Childfree Person of the Year and Childfree Group of the Year
Let the 2018 nominations begin for the Childfree Person of the Year and Childfree Group of the Year! The winners will be announced on August 1, International Childfree Day. Here is some background on how this started. Continue reading “Call for Nominations: 2018 Childfree Person of the Year and Childfree Group of the Year”
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Yes, the Childfree Can Be Maternal
I love how in recent years as Mother’s Day approaches we’ve been seeing more writings that question the maternal instinct. As one example, take the National Geographic article that just came out titled, “Is Maternal Instinct Only for Moms? Here’s the Science,” by Sarah Gibbens. I’d like to discuss a couple of related questions but without an assumption of instinct. Why? Continue reading “Yes, the Childfree Can Be Maternal”
Childfree Thoughts on Mother’s Day
As Mother’s Day rolls around each year, I find myself of mixed minds. Don’t get me wrong; even more since she passed last year, I love my mother and would celebrate her and how she raised my brother and me any day of the week. But as a childfree person, I have problems with Mother’s Day as a national holiday. Why? Here are two reasons:
Vicki Larson & I Talk Childfree “Gray Divorce”
As Vicki Larson, author of The New “I Do”, was reading Avivah Wittenberg-Cox’s Late Love: Mating in Maturity, she noticed that when the author talks about her “gray divorce” – her divorce after 22 years of marriage, “one thing kept coming up” as a good time to start anew. Her children had left home or were about to, and “she talks as if that’s the scenario for all 50-somethings.” Continue reading “Vicki Larson & I Talk Childfree “Gray Divorce””
The Childfree, Childless & Guilt
Reading “Let’s hear it for the single, childless women: We get tired too,” by Mika Sarmiento got me thinking, especially when she writes about a “specific kind of guilt that comes with talking about sleepless nights and long days with said great wives and mothers.” What’s behind this particular kind of guilt? Continue reading “The Childfree, Childless & Guilt”
