The Queen finally croaked so we have one less mouth to feed on a planet that can’t support us anymore. We have a long way to go. Don’t fear! There is a woman with a solution to the madness but she cannot do it alone.
Dr. Verena Brunschweiger was kind enough to talk to me about her new book a few months back and for no good reason, I’m just writing about it now. Since that time the topic has only gotten more relevant. Her book is called: Do Childfree People Have Better Sex?
Few if any have been as brave as Verena in openly advocating for a child-free life, not just as a sacrifice, but as a practical, pleasurable decision. Calling for such a life is a sacrifice but actually following through on it not so much.
Verena herself has faced rape threats and harassment for being one of the most public anti-natalists. She’s a teacher who they don’t want teaching. That won’t stop her from educating the public and fighting for her right to teach in person as well. The threats to her life for choosing a life without children proves that the pro-life movement isn’t pro-life, just anti-woman and anti-freedom.
The drive for endless growth of the economy and population is the real death drive of our society. Violence at the point of reproduction itself is essential for society’s endless supposed progress. 
Anti-natalism, as Verena points out, is a victimless crime but is more subversive than anything else we do, or don’t do. The question of freedom exists not only for us but for those we bring into the world against their will. We obviously care about women’s freedom to make decisions about their health. Even in the fascist USA such a basic idea is enough to resuscitate the fossil known as the Democratic Party.
However, the freedom to not have children is deeper than that. How much freedom will any of us have when there aren’t enough basic resources to go around? I’m not a cynic here. Heroic war correspondent Chris Hedges describes what happens in countries where this is the case. He sees kindness that moves him deeply, more kindness than in the West. Kindness with stakes where people risk it all to help one another. But what is the basic relation of such a society? War over food and water. Plain and simple. Even Kamala Harris admitted that the new wars will be over water, not oil.
In such a society who is free? We can choose how to die or who to kill. That’s it. Not very free and not very human, if we’re arrogant enough to believe we are doing something different.
But I’m losing the point here. What is the title of this book? Do Childfree People Have Better Sex? The point is to have better sex! If you’re horny that’s good. Don’t let it guilt you into having kids unless we really haven’t progressed at all.
Let’s get to it. What happens when we conform to childbearing? We become bored, busy and tired. Maybe we get our own little person to fuck up with our garbage ideas but that’s not a lot of power is it? Life becomes more structured and we become less radical. Even sex becomes a routine. I won’t spoil it but this is the funniest part of the book!
Unfortunately, we are going backward on this issue. Verena doesn’t shy away from the modern right and how our conceptions of motherhood and fascism are linked through the state and corporations. One may be appalled to think that they are fascist for wanting to be a mother. But this isn’t the point. The fact that they want you to be a mother is the creepy part. And it won’t necessarily make you happy! Fulfilling social norms provide temporary relief but when you bring a person into the world this becomes a trap you can’t escape and you may resent.
So examine what you really want. Think freely and critically. For that simple notion many try to cancel Verena! Where’s Matt Taibbi when you need him? Mar-A-Lago Matt is the same place where your future kids should be: missing in action!
Verena looks at all aspects of society: intellectual society, social society, production and exploitation in capitalist society. How has the propaganda that we need to keep growing and reproducing led us to neglect what we actually want to do? We may have to sell our labor to a capitalist who destroys the future of our earth to reproduce the food we need to live but when we clock out we don’t need to sell our body to the ideas society tells us. Do you really want to have sex to please the strangers around you who want you to have kids? Or do you want your sex to be privately shared among the 2, 3, 20, or 30 people who are actually in the room doing it?
The same goes for the stuff we buy. Women don’t need to change their bodies to please men Verena contends. This is why the powers that be don’t want Verena teaching their kids. They sound like splendid parents!
This book is full of scientific studies, stories about teaching kids and insights into philosophy and ecology. Hear from the famous anti-natalist fighting cancellation and society marching towards death in the name of life.
Don’t take it from me. Read the book yourself and find out how much people love to hate a truth-teller like Dr. Brunschweiger. The solution to our climate catastrophe won’t be reducing your carbon footprint (you likely can’t afford it). Nor will it be a world revolution (most of us won’t have water soon even if we become socialist). The solution actually is much simpler. Stop having babies because the world is over. Period.
So buy this book and spread the good news! Trust me it’s a lot cheaper than having children. The world is ending. The least you could do is enjoy it. For your pleasure.
