> unmarried and childless women are the happiest subgroup in the population
Isn't this kind of scary from a sociological and demographic perspective? It would seem to indicate that we've built a socioeconomic system with self-terminating incentives.
I consider myself very liberal/libertarian and individualist vs. collectivist, and I have a daughter, so I'm (angrily) unsympathetic to ideas that even hint at restricting women's freedom on this basis. I'd easily prefer the gradual dissolution of western civilization to my daughter being trapped in an abusive marriage with no right to divorce, being forced to give birth to a child she doesn't want, and so on.
However, all that aside, it does seem like a serious bug in our system. I wonder how we can we flip this statistic without restricting anyone's freedom?
> I'd easily prefer the gradual dissolution of western civilization to my daughter being trapped in an abusive marriage with no right to divorce, being forced to give birth to a child she doesn't want, and so on
the dissolution of western civilization means abuse of women and general disrespect of minorities and individuals as the global norm
It’ll probably solve itself, if there’s any genetic component to the desire for childrearing. If all women have complete choice in the matter, then only the women who do want children will actually pass their genes onto the next generation, and it won’t take very long for the other alleles to be extinct.
What evidence is there that alleles are causing women to not want children?
I would guess watching a video and learning about the effects and risks of pregnancy/childbirth/breastfeeding/infant rearing is capable of convincing someone to not want children.
No idea, I’m just guessing. But I don’t think the number of people who want children after learning about the details is zero, right? There’s still a healthy contingent of the population who see all that and say “yeah but I still want children”.
And I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to assume that desire is driven by genetics… especially because childrearing is so costly and difficult, there’s gotta be some explanation for why people keep doing it, and I don’t think it’s because every woman in history has just had it forced on her non-consensually.
Another way of thinking about: the desire to reproduce (and ensure your offspring survive enough to reproduce) is one of the most basic and important things a genome can code for, and we have billions of years of evolution ensuring that we keep wanting to do it. I don’t think it’s as simple as people just wanting to have sex… the desire for childrearing is a lot more robust than any one thing, or anything you can thwart by just showing someone a video of childbirth. Sure, there are some women who would see the negative sides and decide it’s not for them, but they’re selecting themselves out of future gene pools by doing this, so the system will rapidly reach equilibrium again.
If freedom is equated with the right to withhold and withdraw love* at every opportunity, then perhaps we're not actually free.
* Love in terms of sacrificial, altruistic solicitude for others; love in terms of charity and selflessness; love in terms of bonds of trust and faith; you know, the sort of love that tends to hold families together and help children actualize their potential.
What if your daughter stopped loving you, and cut you out of her life? Is she free to do so?
I mean, perhaps a kid's free to reject their parents, but would their parents be wrong to experience that as trauma and injustice? Would you begin to consider what you've done to lose her, and take steps to reunite? If you love her daughter and give her a free choice, and she abandons you, what went wrong? Parenthood went according to plan?
Can a child be raised to feel no responsibility or commitment to the parents, and just withdraw that love when it's difficult or inconvenient? I love my baseball team when they're winning, but I don't move out of state when they had a bad season.
The parents can experience it however they experience it. That doesn't give them the right to compel another adult human to do anything against their will.
Children don't abandon their parents on a whim. That's not how humans work. If it happens, it's a sign of extreme desperation. It means the decision itself is the tip of the iceberg and the relationship has been severely dysfunctional for years.
Ironically, the kind of parent who would try to force their child to love them or keep in contact with them against the child's will is astronomically more likely to have this problem in the first place. While I can't see the future, it's almost impossible for me to imagine this happening with my daughter. We have a very close relationship to begin with, and I plan to love and support her unconditionally no matter what choices she makes in her life.
> unmarried and childless women are the happiest subgroup in the population
Isn't this kind of scary from a sociological and demographic perspective? It would seem to indicate that we've built a socioeconomic system with self-terminating incentives.
I consider myself very liberal/libertarian and individualist vs. collectivist, and I have a daughter, so I'm (angrily) unsympathetic to ideas that even hint at restricting women's freedom on this basis. I'd easily prefer the gradual dissolution of western civilization to my daughter being trapped in an abusive marriage with no right to divorce, being forced to give birth to a child she doesn't want, and so on.
However, all that aside, it does seem like a serious bug in our system. I wonder how we can we flip this statistic without restricting anyone's freedom?
1 - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-h...