Childfree across the Disciplines: Academic and Activist Perspectives on Not Choosing Children

The childfree lifestyle is becoming more popular, challenging hetero-normative understandings and patriarchal social orders. This collection explores (mis)perceptions about childfree people in media representations, demographics, historical documents, and psychological and philosophical models. It includes foundational pieces from established experts and activist manifestos, as well as original scholarly work. Academics and activists across disciplines discuss the implications, challenges, conversations, and agency of the childfree life in the 21st century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 236 pages
Publication date: 15 April 2022
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

The recent prominence of childfree individuals in mainstream media has brought attention to a growing demographic. Over seven percent of Western women have chosen to remain childfree, a figure that continues to rise. This choice challenges the deeply ingrained "procreation imperative" that underpins our hetero-normative understanding and occupies an uneasy position in relation to both traditional academic ideologies and prevailing social norms. As Adi Avivi rightly points out, if a woman does not become a mother, the patriarchal social order faces a threat.

This collection delves into these (mis)perceptions about childfree individuals, exploring their representation in media, demographics, historical documents, and psychological and philosophical models. It features foundational pieces from established experts on the childfree choice, including Rhonny Dam, Laurie Lisle, Christopher Clausen, and Berenice Fisher, alongside activist manifestos and original scholarly work. Academics and activists from various disciplines and movements also engage with the childfree life, discussing its implications, challenges, conversations, and agency in the context of its inevitability in the 21st century.

Childfree across the Disciplines takes a bold stance in supporting the subversive potential of the childfree choice, presenting childfreedom as a sense of ongoing potential in who or what a person can become. By examining these multifaceted perspectives, the book offers a comprehensive understanding of the childfree lifestyle and its significance in shaping our contemporary world.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978823099