Everyone does it, right? Once we reach our twenties/thirties and find a partner everyone around starts bugging us about children. And we submit. Without a question. That’s what everyone does. We think. And so we enact the most profound change in our lives without even considering the alternative! If someone demanded we have a goat, we would rebel and laugh at the idea. But children! Oh no! Children are sacred! Parenthood is sacred! You can’t sign out of it! It’s your duty.
But it isn’t a duty. It is a doctrine, marketing ploy and a tyranny. And it it goes on totally unchallenged!
This is why I was astounded to come across the article where Lionel Shriver was saying instead that
Parenthood is not a human right. It is a choice.
I can only imagine how many people are infuriated by the idea. It is not surprising, though. Look at the society and the economic system we live in. First and foremost, society demands compliance from us and what’s better way to prevent people form stopping for a moment and thinking than trapping them in life-long servitude? While the capitalists need us breeding to keep expanding the army of consumers who are being sold rubbish they don’t need.
Bringing a new life into being isn’t a right or obligation. It is a biological function. To use it or not, depends on the individual themselves. Sadly, the world where people actually think and ask themselves “Should I or should I not?” and “What are the implications for me and others?” is just a dream. How much I wish it wasn’t!
Lionel Shriver is one of the very few currently living female public figures who inspires me. It is wonderfully refreshing to see a renowned woman to take risks and go against the established indoctrination.