Childfree, or something. Women talk about their reasons.

Women without children talk frankly about the reasons.

So the media has now figured out that 'childfree' is a word with more positive connotations than 'childless', but they haven't yet figured out what it means, as this subtitle indicates: Some have chosen not to have a baby, others can’t, or have lost them: five women talk frankly about being childfree. Sigh. Stories 1 and 2 are CF, story 3 is "no children yet", story 4 is childless, and story 5 is a fencesitter who ended up not having children.

It really is a thing now to mess with language, although the english language has always been changing, things such as "noped out" of something, that wasn't heard 10 years ago. Sometimes I wonder where these new verbs and terms come from, movies or just someone on the net.

Childfree went the same way, with people getting rid of their kids for a weekend calling themselves childfree to others who fianlly gave up on IVF and have decided on a "childfree lifestyle" I wish that people would just call wannabreeds without kids childless and people getting rid of their kids for the weekend "parents with kids visiting elsewhere" but people want to sound edgy

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cfdavep
Childfree went the same way, with people getting rid of their kids for a weekend calling themselves childfree to others who fianlly gave up on IVF and have decided on a "childfree lifestyle" I wish that people would just call wannabreeds without kids childless and people getting rid of their kids for the weekend "parents with kids visiting elsewhere" but people want to sound edgy

"Wannabreeds" is edgy...that should be adopted into English for the childless. A lot of them still call us "childless," so let's use "wannabreeds" to distinguish the difference.

I'm calling foul on the whole thing. We live in a world where there are Eighty-plus terms that describe any permutation regarding how people want to dress, live and fuck with respect to sexuality, yet there is not one teeny tiny, universally-understood term for people who don't want children?

Being childfree really IS the last taboo.

I mean I think it's good that they cover all possible reasons women don't breed: choice (either abortion or CFdom), tried and failed/loss, infertility, and never got around to it. However, that doesn't make them childFREE, which is the only part of the article I have a problem with. The subhead should be "five women talk frankly about not having children."

The first two are CF, the second is someone who gave up after an abortion and miscarriage, the fourth wanted to breed because her career choice failed and she turned out to be barren, and the fifth chose her career because she couldn't find someone to breed with. Good for number four for not doing what most barren wanna-breeds do, which is to define themselves entirely by their inability to reproduce to the point of making their entire lives about the pursuit of a loaf. She tried, it didn't work, they moved on. From #4:

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Now, I’m doing all I ever wanted to – and I want to show people that it’s not the end of the world if you can’t have children.

You're doing all you ever wanted because you didn't breed. Kids may not be the end of the world, but they're definitely the end of your freedom.

I like the note #5's story ends on. She has found fulfillment professionally and romantically and while she originally sorta maybe wanted to breed, I think she realized that she has a full and happy life and there was no void to fill with a loaf. Even though loaves don't fill voids - they just make existing ones larger, and giving a child the job of Mommy's Life Band-Aid before it even crowns is a very unhealthy thing to do anyway.

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Also, all these women look at least 10 years younger than their actual ages. Methinks not breeding had a lot to do with retaining rather youthful looks. I realize there's likely some Photoshopping involved, but I would have never guessed any of those women were their actual ages.

I haven't yet read the article, but I did quickly check out the page. Why did they photograph these women naked? Granted, it's tastefully done, but I don't see the need for that. I have to admit, though, that these ladies look fabulous for their ages, and I also suspect that it has a lot to do with their lack of loaves.

I'm going to be starting work soon, but I'll be reading the article for more relevant commentary.

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mumofsixbirds
I haven't yet read the article, but I did quickly check out the page. Why did they photograph these women naked? Granted, it's tastefully done, but I don't see the need for that. I have to admit, though, that these ladies look fabulous for their ages, and I also suspect that it has a lot to do with their lack of loaves.

I think it was done as a photography/art project, where you have the picture + brief story, and this article is an excerpt from the coffee table book.

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bell_flower
I'm calling foul on the whole thing. We live in a world where there are Eighty-plus terms that describe any permutation regarding how people want to dress, live and fuck with respect to sexuality, yet there is not one teeny tiny, universally-understood term for people who don't want children?

Being childfree really IS the last taboo.

And it's considered legally and morally acceptable to discriminate against us and denigrate us in the media. I'm glad younger generations seem much less interested in breeding, the media coverage may eventually shift.