Quote:
Originally posted by Taualumna
But don't you think that there are families that wonder why their 40something son isn't married yet? Or some families wondering why their 21 year old son has never had a girlfriend? Guys don't have the same pressure because, well, guys don't get pregnant.
|
Pressuring a 40 yr old and a 21 yr old are totally different.
And some unmarried 40something men probably haven't told their families they are gay.
But the fact remains that if you ask a childless by choice person who is 30 how often they feel pressured to have kids, I will bet that the men do not feel pressured or get asked as much as the women. Furthermore, pressure from you family is one thing. My family, on the whole, respects my decidion not to procreate.
More specifically, I find that there is more pressure on professional women to breed than there is on their male peers [ie same age, education, profession].
While it's great that women have so many options available to them today, it sucks that many women feel caught between a rock and a hard place. No matter how women decide to raise their children, someone will be wagging their fingers and saying they did it wrong.
On a side note, another aspect of the problem is that kids today are way HYPER-adultized. A ten yr old should NOT need a palm pilot to schedule their lives. One afterschool activity is great, teaches responsiblity and time manaement. However, when I hear that there are kids w/ 4 different afterschool activitiets and the parents are contstantly shuttling them around to different events, I wonder when the kids will be able to enjoy being kids. Also, I have met some single moms who increase the stresses in their lives by setting insane Martha Stewart-esque goals for themselves.