From Deviant Choice to Feminist Issue: An Historical Analysis of Scholarship on Voluntary Childlessness (1920–2013)

Lynch, Ingrid; Morison, Tracy; Macleod, Catriona; Mijas, Magdalena; Toit, Ryan du; Seemanthini, S.T.

doi:10.1108/978-1-78754-361-420181002

Cited by 58 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 195 publications

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“…Historically rooted patterns of inequity are found in existing research related to pronatalism, such as the literature on those who choose to be childfree. Feminist scholars conducted a historical analysis of existing scholarship on voluntary childfree individuals from 1920 to 2013 and determined that most research had been done using quantitative methodologies and was primarily focused on cisgender, heterosexual married women living in the Global North (Lynch et al, 2018). Despite these trends, there are scholars successfully utilizing intersectional frameworks to increase our understanding of the childfree and infertility experiences of multiply marginalized populations.…”

Section: Interdisciplinary Insights On Natalist Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms: Generating Research Across the Natalism Spectrum

Fikslin

2021

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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Pronatalism is the belief system that encourages parenthood and reproduction, supporting the notion that a woman’s value is rooted in her ability to give birth to and parent children. Pronatalist expectations are disproportionately applied to high-status women in the United States, prescribing not only that women are supposed to reproduce, but which women are supposed to reproduce. Those who deviate from this hegemonic idea of a prototypical mother may disproportionately encounter antinatalist norms that prescribe that they should not bear or parent children. In the present article, I advocate for an intersectional psychological study of reproductive norms across the natalism spectrum, grounded in interdisciplinary insights and an understanding of systems of power and oppression. I discuss three common areas of interdisciplinary research related to reproductive norms: (a) pronatalism as a limit to women’s freedom, (b) racism and the control of Black women’s reproduction, and (c) queer perspectives on reproduction. Informed by intersectionality and stigma frameworks, I propose a generative model and six research questions that serve as a research agenda for the psychological study of reproductive norms across the natalism spectrum.

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Section: Interdisciplinary Insights On Natalist Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms: Generating Research Across the Natalism Spectrum

Fikslin

2021

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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“…Psychologist Ingrid Lynch posits that this pronatalist bent is “steeped in taken‐for‐granted (gendered, class, and race‐based) assumptions about who should and should not reproduce and, accordingly, whose fertility should be curbed or encouraged" (Lynch et al 2018, 13). As non‐Hispanic white births declined in the US and abroad, more attention (scholarly and public) was given to why women would make such a choice with even Pope Francis calling such women selfish.…”

Section: Childfree: Terms Identities and Ethical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As non‐Hispanic white births declined in the US and abroad, more attention (scholarly and public) was given to why women would make such a choice with even Pope Francis calling such women selfish. Lynch describes this scholarship as deviant‐oriented as it treated women choosing not to procreate as outside of normative notions of family, which are usually read as white, heterosexual, middle‐class and married (Lynch et al 2018, 16). Perhaps fortunately, there has not been the same level of scholarly and popular attention to Black women’s or same‐sex person’s childfree choice.…”

Section: Childfree: Terms Identities and Ethical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Investigating this marginalized population also is an attempt to expand scholarship using my womanist‐ethicist lens which relies on the experiences of living subjects. While most of the childlessness literature is quantitatively based as it relies on population census data, only about a fifth of the field utilizes qualitative research methodologies and in particular methods that are shaped by feminist/womanist theorizing (Lynch et al 2018, 21). Quantitative scholarship can describe the demographic categories of Black childfree women (noting that married Black women are far more likely to remain childless than unmarried Black women), but this research does not explore in depth why this is the case.…”

Section: Childfree: Terms Identities and Ethical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“MAKING MYSELF”

Moultrie¹

2021

Journal of Religious Ethics

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In this article, I utilize Black queer feminist ethicist Thelathia “Nikki” Young’s concept of subversive and generative moral imagination and queer relationality to explore the concept of family for Black Christian women who are childfree by choice positing that these women have a nuanced understanding of legacy, nurturing, and family that is greatly influenced by Christian (and particularly Black Protestant) norms. First, I present the scholarship on childlessness, providing keen attention to how this literature is racialized and gendered in a heteronormative manner. In the second section, themes are explored from the focus group interviews conducted with nine Black Christian childfree women. Finally, the essay ends by providing constructive ethical practices for Black religious communities and the sub‐discipline of reproductive ethics. This exploratory research begins the work of investigating how Black women make themselves over as participants in new familial structures that are not contingent upon reproduction and biology.

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“…Childless older adults are often considered disadvantaged and at risk of negative outcomes, including social isolation and feelings of loneliness (Koropeckyj-Cox and Call, 2007;Dykstra andHagestad, 2007a, 2007b). Increasingly, however, such assumptions are being challenged by feminist and other arguments that they ignore non-kin networks, focus on the quantity rather than quality of ties, and reflect outdated normative and pronatalist views regarding the primacy of the nuclear family while ignoring contemporary changes in social norms governing the acceptability and desirability of childlessness and other diverse family arrangements Bures et al, 2009;Kreyenfeld and Konietzka, 2017;Lynch et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childlessness and social and emotional loneliness in middle and later life

Penning

Wu²,

Hou³

2022

Ageing and Society

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Despite theoretical accounts asserting the importance of children for the wellbeing of individuals as they age, research evidence suggests that children may be inconsequential when it comes to loneliness. Yet, there is reason to expect some subgroups may be more vulnerable to the impact of childlessness than others and this may also differ depending on the type of loneliness being assessed. This paper addresses the relationship between childlessness and social and emotional loneliness in middle and later life, including differential vulnerability associated with age, gender and marital/partner status. The study drew on data from three waves (2007, 2012 and 2018) of the Canadian General Social Survey for a nationally representative sample of adults aged 45 and older (N = 49,892). In general, childlessness assumed greater importance with regard to social than emotional loneliness. Women reported lower levels of social loneliness in conjunction with childlessness than men. Further, childlessness was associated with higher levels of overall and social loneliness among older than middle-aged adults. Fewer interactions were evident between marital/partner status and childlessness. Among women specifically, those who were co-habiting, separated/divorced or never married reported lower levels of social loneliness than their married counterparts. In contrast, childlessness was linked to greater emotional loneliness only among separated/divorced men and widowed women. Overall, our results suggest that having children available does matter for feelings of loneliness in middle and later life but that the relationship varies and is contingent on the social contexts (age, gender, marital/partner status) and the type of loneliness (social, emotional) involved.

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From Deviant Choice to Feminist Issue: An Historical Analysis of Scholarship on Voluntary Childlessness (1920–2013)

Cited by 58 publications

References 195 publications

Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms: Generating Research Across the Natalism Spectrum

Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms: Generating Research Across the Natalism Spectrum

“MAKING MYSELF”

Childlessness and social and emotional loneliness in middle and later life

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