Current understandings of childfreedom

Abstract

This article aims to outline a rising demographic category: that of people who have chosen not to have children, also known as ‘childfree.’ While this category is becoming more widely recognized (and tolerated, if not fully accepted) in Western media and throughout related popular culture, many people—both academics and the general public—are unclear about several aspects of childfree life. These (mis)perceptions include how to define childfree vs. childless people; the reasons why people might choose to be childfree; and the current, ongoing struggles that childfree people still face, particularly in relation to reproductive consciousness and justice. In addressing the relationship between childfreedom, social ideologies, and activism as a member of this community, I locate how childfree people are negotiating their subjectivity within a rapidly changing demographic, economic, media-saturated cultural landscape. Therefore, my article is girded by what is “happening right now” and includes several examples gleaned from the Western popular cultural public sphere.