It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)!
In the interest in making news sound more relevant than it really is, the media often trumps things up a bit. I noticed a couple of recent headlines that makes me think that's the case when it comes to the growing number of childfree households.
It's a "fertility crisis" declares one Canadian paper, which presents readers this post-apocalyptic scneario:
The sound of children's chattering voices, once common, will be rarely heard.
Baby-making may come to be regarded no longer as the private prerogative of consenting adults, and more an act of national duty.
A national duty to procreate? Scary stuff!
[LINK]
It's a "baby shortage" and it "threatens our future," according to the Observer. The writer explains:
While greater life expectancy and immigration have kept the population growing - Britain's 60 million population will rise by five million over the next 20 years - the lack of babies at one end, and growth of retirees at the other, creates a top-heavy, disproportionately ageing population and a serious economic challenge.
[LINK]
The answer to this so-called crises is always the same: Women Must Have Babies! Never does anyone seem to say, if women don't continue to procreate at the "replacement rate" (which, frankly, makes us sound like a bunch of caged breeders, perhaps performing our national duty), how must society itself change to address the problem? In other words, why not focus on solutions rather than challenges. Or how about actually addressing some of the policies that make women not want to have kids rather than saying we should just suck it up and start popping them out even if we lose our jobs, can't afford daycare, have no time for our spouses or friends anymore, and feel undervalued by society for doing so? Why not an article on how the childfree pay for public schools but never actually use that resource, in essence putting more into society than they take out?
But, of course, headlines like: "Grown-Ups in Abundance" or "How Childfree Couples Make the World a Better Place" don't sell fear and therefore newspapers.
OK, end of rant. Word to all the childfree out there: When you see fear-mongering headlines like the above, write a letter to the editor pointing out the bias and showing some of the upsides of a decline in fertility rates.
It's a "fertility crisis" declares one Canadian paper, which presents readers this post-apocalyptic scneario:
The sound of children's chattering voices, once common, will be rarely heard.
Baby-making may come to be regarded no longer as the private prerogative of consenting adults, and more an act of national duty.
A national duty to procreate? Scary stuff!
[LINK]
It's a "baby shortage" and it "threatens our future," according to the Observer. The writer explains:
While greater life expectancy and immigration have kept the population growing - Britain's 60 million population will rise by five million over the next 20 years - the lack of babies at one end, and growth of retirees at the other, creates a top-heavy, disproportionately ageing population and a serious economic challenge.
[LINK]
The answer to this so-called crises is always the same: Women Must Have Babies! Never does anyone seem to say, if women don't continue to procreate at the "replacement rate" (which, frankly, makes us sound like a bunch of caged breeders, perhaps performing our national duty), how must society itself change to address the problem? In other words, why not focus on solutions rather than challenges. Or how about actually addressing some of the policies that make women not want to have kids rather than saying we should just suck it up and start popping them out even if we lose our jobs, can't afford daycare, have no time for our spouses or friends anymore, and feel undervalued by society for doing so? Why not an article on how the childfree pay for public schools but never actually use that resource, in essence putting more into society than they take out?
But, of course, headlines like: "Grown-Ups in Abundance" or "How Childfree Couples Make the World a Better Place" don't sell fear and therefore newspapers.
OK, end of rant. Word to all the childfree out there: When you see fear-mongering headlines like the above, write a letter to the editor pointing out the bias and showing some of the upsides of a decline in fertility rates.
2 Comments:
Oh wow. Forget Bird Flu, what we really need to concentrate on is reproducing! ...Insert sarcastic eyeroll here...
Some people are scary. Thanks for the heads-up!
Australia's already had the national duty spiel.
Our Treasurer (who hopes desperately to be the next PM) told us last year that people should have 3 kids - one for the mother, one for the father, and one for the country. There were plenty of humourous responses, but no one really called him on it.
Thanks, but I'll pass.
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