When, if, and how people plan to build families is not your business, so stop asking.
Seriously don’t hassle people about their relationships and kids
Tag: children
Why I’m excited that kids are suing for climate change action
Children across the US are mounting multiple cases against federal and state agencies, demanding that they take action on climate change. It’s working.
The epigenetics of the foster system
I’ve been thinking about epigenetics a great deal lately. I know that at least some of you probably share my tendency of getting fixated on a subject and doing it to death, and right now, mine is epigenetics, because I find it completely fascinating. Perhaps not surprising, given that genetics has always been a subject of […]
How about we not judge pregnant people?
This is the year of fecund friends. Every time I turn around, someone I know is pregnant. I’m starting to fear walking into a room lest my uterus spontaneously sprout a foetus in order to join in the party. I’m very happy for all of them, as they all appear to be very happy about […]
On suppressing gender fluidity in children
Gender and expressions of gender are complex things. Some seem eager to dismiss gender as a social construct, undermining the very real and sometimes painful experiences of people who experience gender conflict and struggle with their gender expression. Others reduce gender to essentialist narratives about how people are what they were born with, and that’s […]
The Things We Learn: Quiet
Stand in a party with a group of people, and notice something. The women are quieter, and smaller, than the men. Not unilaterally, but it’s a very clear trend. Women lower their voices, shrink down to take up less space, turn their bodies in nonconfrontational ways. Men are loud, facing conversations head-on, gesticulating. Is this […]
‘Real women have children’
I will never forget the first time I heard it. ‘You won’t be a real woman,’ he said, ‘until you have children.’ At the time I was struggling with my gender identity and I was fairly certain I wasn’t a woman to begin with, but the comment still struck at me. That this person would […]
Children, Consent, and Parenting
I was at the home of friends with a young child the other day, and I was troubled by an interaction I had when I arrived. It’s an interaction I commonly have in similar situations, so I don’t want anyone to think that I am singling these parents out or labeling them as bad people […]
‘Oh, you’ll change your mind about kids’
From a very young age, I’ve known that I didn’t want to have children. I declared it high and low to anyone who would listen to me, even as a child, when people seemed to think it was cute and they just laughed and moved on with whatever they were doing. As I grew older, […]
Medicating Foster Children Into Oblivion
Being thrown into the foster care system in the United States sends children hurtling along a path surrounded with potential landmines. If they’re lucky and truly needed to be removed from their homes, they manage to get a good placement with caring foster parents who may eventually adopt them, if that’s an option, providing a […]