Vogue Australia asks, When did it become socially acceptable to vocally dislike kids?
I certainly have some observations and a few opinions to offer:
The anti-child sentiment is an idea that rears its ugly head in our culture every generation or so. A version of this existed in the 1970s.
There’s a difference between saying “being a parent is not appropriate to my individual circumstances”— and actively disliking children.
I’m not a parent, but I also recognize that people getting married and having kids is… well, kind of what makes the world go around. If no one has any kids, then the human race dies.
(But maybe that is what the anti-child people consider to be an optimal outcome. There definitely is a perverse, nihilistic streak in this movement.)
Another irony is that so many of the people who are virulently anti-child are dog fanatics. They’re basically saying that they don’t want a human child… but they’re willing to sign on to the care of a furry, unsanitary, slobbering creature that is the equivalent of a permanent 2-year-old.
They make no sense.
-ET