Maybe this is my fundamentalist past nipping at my heels, but the idea that every heterosexual monogamous pairing must result in a child is still pervasive in most of my non-tech and non-twitter social circles.
Personally, I've been married 12 years but was incredibly headstrong about not having kids and got a vasectomy to ensure it, despite that leading to my wife's family and many of my own relatives shunning me. I have many friends with kids that I do my best to tolerate, but honestly I just truly resent children (until they reach their mid-20s or so) within a few hours. I still take a lot of shit for my decision but I can't imagine how hateful and spiteful a person I'd be if I had to raise or pay for kids.
Compare to many of my men friends who do have kids, and while plenty of them had kids as an intentional decision, many others resent their own children or their partners for either pressuring them into it or (they suspect, at least) lying about birth control or willingness to get an abortion. I have one friend whose wife openly brags about how she lied in the run up to get pregnant and she is mostly celebrated for this by friends and family because of course the man will get used to it and eventually love them.
Is this just a conservative flyover state thing? Is it still common in other parts of the developed western world?
Personally, I've been married 12 years but was incredibly headstrong about not having kids and got a vasectomy to ensure it, despite that leading to my wife's family and many of my own relatives shunning me. I have many friends with kids that I do my best to tolerate, but honestly I just truly resent children (until they reach their mid-20s or so) within a few hours. I still take a lot of shit for my decision but I can't imagine how hateful and spiteful a person I'd be if I had to raise or pay for kids.
Compare to many of my men friends who do have kids, and while plenty of them had kids as an intentional decision, many others resent their own children or their partners for either pressuring them into it or (they suspect, at least) lying about birth control or willingness to get an abortion. I have one friend whose wife openly brags about how she lied in the run up to get pregnant and she is mostly celebrated for this by friends and family because of course the man will get used to it and eventually love them.
Is this just a conservative flyover state thing? Is it still common in other parts of the developed western world?