Childlessness
Childlessness
Childlessness (/tʃaɪldlɛsnɛs/) is the state of not having children. Childlessness may have personal, social or political significance.
Etymology
The term "childlessness" is derived from the English words "child", meaning a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority, and "-lessness", a suffix that implies the state or condition of not having or being without something.
Types of Childlessness
Childlessness can be classified into two types: voluntary and involuntary.
- Voluntary childlessness, also called being childfree, is the voluntary choice to not have children. In most societies and for most of human history, choosing not to have children was both difficult and undesirable. The feminist movement has made motherhood a choice for more women, and technology has made it possible for people to choose not to have children through birth control. Many people choose not to have children for career, economic, or personal reasons.
- Involuntary childlessness is the condition of wanting to have children but being unable to. This could be due to infertility, health issues, lack of a partner, or other reasons. Involuntary childlessness can be a source of distress and can have significant psychological and social impacts.
Related Terms
- Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.
- Childfree is a term used to describe individuals who choose not to have children.
- Pronatalism is a belief that promotes human reproduction, and sometimes more specifically, a belief that promotes childbearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure the continuance of humanity.
- Antinatalism is a philosophical position and social movement that assigns a negative value to birth, standing in opposition to pronatalism.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Childlessness
- Wikipedia's article - Childlessness
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