The decision to become a mother is like your decision to get a tattoo; you're going to have to be fully committed. And in today's generation, more and more women opt to stay childless because they say that being a mother just isn't for them.
A woman in Auckland, New Zealand, who decided not to have children said that there are other people who seems to be displeased and question their decision.
Virginia Braun, an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland went through the sterilization operation in her mid-30s, and she felt that people started to look at her differently ever since she had the procedure. She also said that she believes the society still has a hard accepting the idea because they still deeply believe that a woman's purpose is to be a mother.
Braun said that knew she didn't want to have children for a long time and that she wanted to have the procedure as soon as possible. Some women knew they never wanted children, while others knew they wanted kids but were unsure.
We treat these women who do something about not wanting children unfairly when we start to question why they decided to do it.
A similar event happened earlier this week. A 29-year-old British woman was flooded by abusive comments after she wrote a piece about not wanting to have kids for BBC. Holly Brockwell was faced with the common arguments as Braun. "It's a selfish decision" and "you might change your mind." She said she received sexist comments that she didn't want to repeat it because it was THAT harsh.
According to Professor Braun, people still go by the idea that if you're different from others, there had to be a reason. She said that after her decision was reported in the media, she received the same treatment and responses Brockwell received.
Braun called the treatment people gave Brockwell as familiar and patterned. "The feedback she got was extreme but it's very common for women who express the view that they don't want to have children publicly to receive negative feedback." She added.
