I am a childfree person and I am not alone. 

‘Childless’ or ‘Childfree’ are adjectives used to describe people who do not have children. It is important to acknowledge upfront that some of these people are childless by circumstance, despite wanting to have children. I can’t imagine this pain, and I have sympathy for these people. However this work is not about them. Their stories should be treated with sensitivity, and are better placed to be told by someone with that lived experience. 

For some people, the desire to have children doesn’t require a second thought. For others, it does. 

This work is about the people who, like me, have made the conscious choice not to have children i.e. The Childfree.  

There is no anti-natalist agenda at play here. I support other people’s choice to become parents. In fact, I believe that society should support them to do so, particularly with access to affordable childcare and greater workplace flexibility for all parents. This would lessen the care burden that typically falls on women. 

This work is an invitation for society to unlink womanhood and motherhood, to recognise alternate paths exist, and that those who choose not to procreate lead meaningful and fulfilled lives. This is a celebration of personal choice and the freedom to make that choice. Having the autonomy to make the decision about the timing or whether or not to have children at all is true reproductive freedom for everyone. 

In making this work I wanted to dispel the stereotype of The Childfree as the ‘crazy cat lady’ or ‘radical environmentalist’ or ‘child hater.’ 

The Childfree are also commonly dismissed as selfish. This work confronts us all equally asking us to reassess our biases and assumptions. Perhaps we all make decisions about the big things in our lives in our own best interest. Is that wrong? 

I also wanted to address the judgement and vitriol that The Childfree experience. Taken individually, these may sting, but heard together they wound. What could seem like a throwaway comment, when delivered from a world-reaching pulpit, can and will shape how people view others. Religion permeates culture, and culture shapes society. We only have to look to the US to see its reach on politics, law and bodily autonomy. There are approximately 1.3bn Catholics in the world, some of whom are my family, and I often wonder if they think less of me because of my choice.  

People who are childfree by choice have gone against societal norms and chosen a path they must forge for themselves. Whilst regret is not something anyone participating in this project expressed to me, there can be a loneliness in going against the grain. But I am reminded of Robert Frost’s words:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”