Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence

Blackstone, a sociologist and co-creator (with her husband, Lance Blackstone) of the blog We’re {Not} Having a Baby!, offers a well-reasoned, evidence-based study of people who choose not to have children. She seats the childfree movement’s beginnings in 1970s-era, birth control–enabled reproductive activism, and in Ellen Peck’s controversial 1971 feminist treatise, The Baby Trap. Blackstone proceeds through many charges commonly made against the “childfree,” such as selfishness, offering data showing parents and nonparents are about equally civically engaged. She also argues that “maternal instinct” is not evidence-supported but tied to cultural expectations for women to be caregivers, and fights accusations that people like herself hate children by highlighting the broader roles childfree people often take in raising the next generation, whether through nurturing nieces and nephews or choosing child-centered careers. In an afterword, Lance addresses other childless men, who typically incur less stigma than women but may still be challenged about their virility or legacy. Throughout, Blackstone makes an impactful case for an inclusive approach toward people’s decision of whether to have children. Though this book’s offerings are much more substantial than mere peer support, childfree readers will certainly feel affirmed, and possibly inspired to pass copies along to those who doubt their choices. Agent: Colleen Martell, the Stephanie Tade Agency. (June)