This past weekend, AOC posed the question on her Instagram live feed: “Is it ethical to still have children?” in the wake of growing climate change and the possibility of a very difficult future for mankind, as well as mounting student debt for young people that would make it nearly impossible for an economically stable upbringing for most future American children.
From a feminist perspective, what benefits and/or complications do you think could arise from following this mindset? How are people of child-bearing capacity affected? How are women as a whole affected? How are women of different groups affected? How will society be affected in the long run? Feel free to answer honestly, we want to hear your opinions and if you can quote any sources to back up your ideas, that would strengthen your arguments. Good luck girls 🙂
{Note about the sources: yes I read Fox news, I think its my responsibility to read from all perspectives. Its important to hear what the opposition thinks to better understand the debate as a whole. I hope no one got any ideas about me after seeing both of them and nothing from a liberal news site haha}
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-says-there-is-a-legitimate-question-that-needs-to-be-asked-is-it-okay-to-still-have-children
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-slammed-by-womens-group-for-questioning-if-its-okay-to-still-have-children
This is such an anti-Handmaid’s Tale idea so I am very curious about the society that could arise from it. If society moves in the direction of disagreeing with the efficacy of bringing children into a disastrous world, I can see culture changing into two different scenarios. For the first scenario, I imagine a society that is very pro-birth control, possibly implementing more birth control options for child bearing peoples at younger ages. For men, they would either be encouraged or maybe even required to be sterilized so as not to even pose the chance of women getting pregnant whether they are on birth control or not. This would be a very pro-LGBT society that would welcome more couples who cannot physically create children to diminish the risk of couples having children. In my opinion, this is the best case scenario.
On the other hand, our society could become very anti-sex instead. Would society see pregnancy as the issue and encourage birth control options, or would it see sex as the issue and encourage abstinence? There are 37 states in the US at this very moment who require abstinence education on top of sex education in their school systems. Of these, 26 require the encouragement of abstinence in their education systems. Its also important to note that only 21 states require sex education in general. Of course we teach abstinence as a way to save children’s virginities until marriage, but would this message change to encourage children to save their virginities until death? Would sexualized advertisements become illegal? Would talk of “improper behavior” become stigmatized in the new social norm?
One of these options is obviously very liberal, the other is very conservative. I offer another possibly that is more centrist:
People of child bearing age are required to save their eggs while society works to fix climate change in the hopes that children will EVENTUALLY be brought into a better world and to continue the population. Adoption is greatly encouraged. Conservation is widely taught in all subjects of public schools. Our technology and infrastructure evolves to always take its effect on the planet into account, creating a more sustainable society. Climate change and conservation become hot button issues and our leaders are chosen primarily on their ideas on how to combat these issues. Our society focuses on solutions, not short-term solutions like birth control and abstinence. We focus on building a better world to help current AND future generations, and teach those future generations to value and continue this work so that we never have to have a discussion as wild as encouraging young people to not have children.
Sources used:
https://www.thoughtco.com/abstinence-only-sex-education-3533767