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Thursday, November 30, 2006 12:00 AM

Childless and proud

The latest identity choice for women: To breed or not to breed.

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  • Thursday, November 30, 2006 08:58 PM

    Hardly "child obsessed"

    By the standards of almost any culture anytime, anywhere we are about the least obsessed with having children. For most of human history that has been the one defining thing for pretty much all women everywhere, the sum total of their worth to themselves and society. It is only recently that women have had the opportunity for much else in their lives. And that has been mostly in what you consider the motherhood-crazed America. Compare and contrast with Latin America, Africa, India or the Muslim world.

    I've known a few women in the "child free" movement. I know quite a few more who simply don't have children. The self-identified child free all protested too much. Someone who is genuinely happy with her choices doesn't need a support group or a community to validate it. The ones who don't want kids don't have kids and don't need to say too much more about it.

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