This issue’s theme, “Child Free,” is very meaningful to me and I hoped it would be a great opportunity to share the voices of women who don’t often get a chance to talk about not having children. There remains a lot of stigma attached to women who choose to live childfree, as you will hear from our many writers. You will find an emotional array of responses to the theme throughout the issue. Insightful essays, moving poetry, two great cartoons, and some beautiful artwork as well.
It also so happened that the whole issue of “childless cat ladies” developed after Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance said, “We are effectively run in this country … by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” He also asserted, “If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.” These are dangerous ideas meant to separate us from each other and to put the issue of voting rights up for discussion. It’s not just about cat ladies. If you can question who should vote, then you can question the entire system.
When people ask me if I have children, I always reply, “No, I’m happily childfree.” Some people have never heard the term and stumble to react to my positivity in embracing it. As noted on page 10, nearly 20% of American women will not bear a child in her lifetime, so there are many more of us childfree folks out in the world than you might be led to believe.
Thank you to all of the writers and artists who shared their own journeys and perspectives with us. We’ve got writers from at least six different countries and a dozen US. states weighing in this issue. Please enjoy, and send us your reaction to the issue at biwomeneditor@gmail.com; we love to hear from our readers!
~Ellyn Ruthstrom