Welcome to the “Let’s Talk About It” series where I dive into popular trends or news on social media and share my thoughts. This week’s topic is about the “Child Free” lifestyle and if it’s gone too far.
First I want to start off by saying, I think women embracing their choice of having children or being childfree is great. It shows that women have the choice to decide what they want for their lives and ultimately live their most independent and fabulous lives. I think every woman should have the right to decide their own futures and not be pressured into having children if they don’t want to. This is coming from a recently postpartum mom of one, and let me tell you having children is no joke. It is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life and continues to be challenging. However, this was my choice and I would choose having my daughter in every lifetime but women should absolutely be able to live a child free life.
When I see posts of women voicing their choice to be child free, I don’t get offended in the slightest because it is their choice and it’s great to normalize another path for women. However, I think there is a darker side that I have seen. I recently saw a Tik Tok creator Whitney Simmons announce her pregnancy. She was met with backlash from some of her followers saying how disappointed they were in her. She lost thousands and thousands of followers from her announcement.
I find this incredibly sad. Of course everyone has the right to unfollow anyone for any reason and for some it could be their own infertility issues, but to comment or make a video about how disappointed they were in her pregnancy announcement is wild to me. First of all, her content literally hasn’t even changed. I saw an argument saying that when women become moms their content changes, but that hasn’t even happened yet. Wouldn’t you wait to see if the content changes before unfollowing? Also, if you like this creator and follow her wouldn’t you be happy for her that this is something she really wanted?
The whole thing just doesn’t sit right with me. Feminism is about supporting women in whatever path they want to take. I also see young women complaining about children just simply existing in the world, either on a plane, in a restaurant, or on public transport. This to me is so anti-women because 9 times out of 10 a woman is with the child. You are essentially saying mothers don’t belong in public spaces. To me that is the ultimate example of misogyny. I just think as women in 2026 we need to be supporting other women. Whether they are child free or have 10 kids.
I also want to make a personal note and say I was the only one of my friends to have a child and I think some of my friends are choosing to be child free but you know what, they all showed up for me and still do. They have supported me and been there on my motherhood journey just as I support them in whatever they choose for their future. To me, that is the definition of womanhood.
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