Childfree

The term “ childfree ” originated in the United States as opposed to the word “ childless ”. In the wake of emancipation, human rights defenders coined the term childfree , thus asserting that the absence of children is the privilege of a developed society ^{[4] [5]} .

The history of the word is somewhat obscure; in the opinion of Russian Newsweek journalist Elena Chernenko, the word was introduced in the 1970s by the National Organization for Non-Parents of the United States (now defunct) ^[4] . It gained popularity in the 1990s when Leslie Lafayette formed one of the first modern childfree bands, the Childfree Network .

Conscious childlessness suggests good reason for such a decision. Researchers ^[6] distinguish the following childfree types:

• “Rejectors” dislike children as such and everything related to the process of childbearing and breastfeeding.
• “Affexionado” children seem to be an extra burden, an obstacle; For affection, it’s important not that they don’t like children, but that they are very good at living without them.

Also, the following two types of people "with a stretch" refer to childfree ^[6] :

• The “wavelike refuseniks” always change their minds whether they want children or don’t want, and in modern contraception, they never have children.
• “Permanent postponers” always postpone the birth of children, striving first of all to make a career and arrange a life, and the constant “later” develops into “never”.

F.N. "Reproductive impotence is the reluctance or inability to have children, due to the inability to implement certain types of reproductive actions" ^[7] .

In America, childfree is an established phenomenon. Consciously childless as a socio-demographic category took place long before the spread of child-free. Only recently have they begun to develop social networks to withstand the pressure of a society that is not ready to understand and accept their lifestyle. In the United States as a whole, there are already more than 40 organizations uniting childfree, each of which has several thousand members. According to studies by the US National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of women who knowingly do not want to have children is increasing annually: today, up to 25%. Among white women with higher education, the percentage of childfree is much higher than among others ^[4] .

Childfree for Russia is a fairly new phenomenon. In 2014, 17% of Muscovites and 6% of the population of Russia declared their unwillingness to have children ^[8] . But while among the inhabitants of Moscow, childlessness is mostly voluntary, then among the residents of the rest of Russia it is mainly forced ^[9] . Most often, educated, wealthy, and ambitious people who refuse to sacrifice their comfort and career for the sake of children refuse the institution of children ^[10] . Among Muscovites childfree, the proportion of men is higher than the proportion of women (22% versus 14%). At the same time, the share of childfree is especially high among immigrants from single-parent families (62.1% versus 36.7%), therefore, according to scientists, the proportion of childless will increase ^[11] .

According to the forecasts of sociologists and economists, given in 2014, the percentage of childless women in Russia from the current 8% may approach the average European level of 15% ^[12] .

In Russia, as of 2018, the majority of the population supports a classical family with children. However, sociologists note a tendency to a gradual increase in those who support or at least do not condemn childfree. This is especially evident among young people ^[13] .

In the social network " VKontakte " there are many open for public viewing, and closed groups about the movement of childfree. Many of them became closed to public viewing after attracting media attention to them. These communities have thousands of active participants - supporters of ideology ^[4] . According to other sources, if earlier child-free in Russia had only a page in a live magazine, now there are dozens of groups in social networks, forums, and even their own Internet television with thousands of subscribers ^[10] .

Opponents of the childfree movement - people with a traditional view of the family - are often characterized in the childfree online communities in a peer-like manner . As the linguist Yu. A. Antonova notes in her research, “strangers” for representatives of the childfree Internet community are “proliferators” (people who advocate the prohibition of abortion and contraception ), including representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church , a society that imposes traditional stereotypes of family happiness (friends, parents, relatives, colleagues), “ill-bred children” (“bits”, “maggots”), “irresponsible parents” (“breed and stamp new human meat”), mothers with many children (“sows”, “ ovulyahs "," detochki "," ra mnozhentsy "," detnye "," incubator "," podtirushki "," plodyachki ',' cow giving birth to be milked, "" krysomamki ") ^[4] . In turn, people with a traditional view of the family are often harsh to childfree (“egoists”, “people with psychological trauma”, “detonators”, “childless, protecting their own inferiority”, “gays”, “lesbians”, “faces, bribed by the United States in order to destroy the Russian nation ”) ^[4] .

Psychotherapist N. N. Naritsyn and his wife M. Naritsyna believe that due to tactlessness and attacks by people with a traditional view of the childfree family, they are forced to unite in online communities and defend themselves, often even aggressively ^[14] . In his opinion, usually those who gave birth not because they wanted children, but because they thought: “It is proper to have children, is a kind of duty to society” ^[14] .

In 2013, the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office announced that VKontakte’s leadership blocked several groups and one personal account at its request, in which proponents of childfree ideology communicated, deliberately abandoning childbearing. The prosecutor’s office considered that the communities propagated a violation of the rights of minors: in particular, they “contained extremely negative information calling for illegal actions against children and mothers”, as well as “denying family values ​​and forming disrespect for parents” ^[15] .

• The National Center for Health Statistics claims that the proportion of American women of childbearing age who define themselves as “voluntarily childless” is growing rapidly: 2.4% in 1982, 4.3% in 1990, 6.6% in 1995.
• In general, observations showed that childfree couples are more educated, more in demand as professionals and leaders, have more income (both spouses), tend to live in cities, less religious, less likely to observe traditional gender roles and customs ^[16] .
• Many researchers noted that childfree are less “socially convenient”, they are more characteristic of egoism and individualism ^[16] .
• A statistical study revealed the most common reasons for being childfree: reluctance to sacrifice personal space for the sake of a child, lack of a compelling reason to have children, reluctance to lose time, active aversion to children, satisfaction with pets and observation of relatives or friends over children ^[17] .

J. Calhoun's experiments

In discussions of childfree, mention is sometimes made of the years 1960–70. by ethologist J. Calhoun, experiments on rodents in which childbearing ceased steadily and the colony completely died out (the Universe 25 experiment is the most popular). In these experiments, for mice, in his opinion, ideal conditions were created in which rodents did not have to take care of food, water and diseases. The initial explosion of fertility slowed down over time, and mice began to exhibit deviant behavior , males showed passivity and less care for females, females began to show nervousness and aggression, often to their own cubs, and often refused to give birth, “rejected” male adolescents appeared that did not find a social role in the mouse hierarchy (previous mice did not have time to die). Their numbers gradually decreased and the population died out ^[18] . Since Calhoun made extensive use of anthropomorphic terminology, his ideas quickly gained public interest and cultural influence, but the experiments were subjected to considerable scientific criticism (see article).

Some researchers believe that the childfree ideology most often becomes interesting to young people whose views on family values ​​are not fully formed, and can be destroyed by the “beautiful story” of a childfree representative who talks about how good it is to have no children and live for pleasure ^{[ one]}

According to some estimates, the representatives of childfree are less “socially convenient”, because they are characterized by egoism and individualism , and hedonistic philosophy does not allow taking on the enormous responsibility associated with the appearance of children ^[19] .

Religious

There has been an intra-church debate about whether the childfree lifestyle is subject to condemnation. Religious conservatives said it was rebellion against God. Pope John Paul II condemned married couples who wanted to be childless ^[20] . Christian author Albert Mohler says, “Couples are not given the opportunity to choose childlessness, according to biblical revelation. On the contrary, we have been instructed to accept children with joy as God's gifts and raise them with the care and fear of God. ”(“ Couples are not given the option of chosen childlessness in the biblical revelation. To the contrary, we are commanded to receive children with joy as God's gifts, and to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We are to find many of our deepest joys and satisfactions in the raising of children within the context of the family. Those who reject children want to have the joys of sex and marital companionship without the responsibilities of parenthood. They rely on others to produce and sustain the generations to come. " https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/2005/06/deliberate-childlessness-moral-rebellion-with- a-new-face.asp ). Church ministers are as judgmental as homosexuals , homosexual couples, and same-sex marriage . They call childfree "infected" and "barren heathens."

Contraception and sterilization

Contraceptives have improved significantly over the years, but some childfree prefer sterilization . However, there are difficulties in finding a doctor who is ready to have it, especially at the age of 20-30 years (possibly because of fear of a lawsuit with a patient who subsequently changed his beliefs). These problems have prompted many childfree to create support groups (where people communicate with each other and become more confident, knowing that they are not alone), as well as communities like No Kidding! seeking to ensure social interaction free of the requirement to have children.

Politics, state support of parenthood

The focus on personal acceptance was curiously reflected in the literature on voluntary childlessness. Previously, many books were based on feminist theory and to a large extent tried to dispel the idea that femininity and motherhood are one and the same. However, in recent years, childfries have become more and more politicized. Burkett’s book, “The Good of the Child,” states that childfree faces not only social but also political discrimination. This growing discontent often focuses on tax breaks for families with children, switches to labor legislation that makes life easier for parents, and concerns attempts to introduce right and clerical censorship on the basis of “family values”.

On the other hand, the outrage widespread among childfree does not lead to common political views. Childfree become people of all kinds of worldviews and faiths. For example, when some people think of state child benefits as “lifestyle subsidies,” others agree with the need to help parents, but believe that their lifestyle also needs support. Many childfries regret having to fund public schools through a single taxation for everyone. In Australia, it is proposed to create a political party that supports the childfree lifestyle as the opposite of the family one. ^[21]

Critics of the idea of ​​the equality of “childfree” with parents or of state support for the lifestyle of “childfree” object that for society, for the state, the birth of children is a necessary condition for existence, which explains the help to parents, especially large children, and the lack of help “childfree”, as well as media attention:

The reality is that one who has done something important for society always has priority. The one who fought is in front of those who are not. The front-line officer entered - everyone stood up. The designer who invented the space rocket will live in the academic campus and receive an “academic” pension, but you will not ^[22] .

How to Move

The growing politicization and media attention has led to the emergence of a second wave of childfree organizations, which are political in every way. Although many unsuccessful attempts to create a group of influence were made in the USA, the first British organization known as Kidding Aside appeared . Having become more and more “loud” and organized, the childfree movement still has little political weight and is struggling to be taken seriously. In Russia, this movement of mass understanding also does not meet.

However, this direction also meets supporters, among whom are not uncommon and young people.

• Demography
• Movement for the voluntary disappearance of mankind
• Optimum Population Movement
• Malthusianism
• Neo-Malthusianism
• Anti-natalism
• Antisexuality
• Incel
• Singleton
• “ The Future ” is a dystopian novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky, one of the themes of which is the abandonment of children on a personal and state level