The cultural shift toward childlessness continues; driven largely by the burgeoning “cost of living crisis”, a lack of free time, a change in priorities for working women, and a stubborn ideological divide between the sexes. Much has been said about the phenomena, for both good and bad, around the impacts it has on women. Is this what women want? Why? What are the long term consequences? Will it lead to ‘population collapse’, or other negative sociological outcomes? How can we support, understand and fight the stigma toward childless women? Will policy around flexible working, encourage more women into motherhood? These are all worthwhile questions – However, one side of the conversation is rarely discussed, or consulted with… and to no surprise, it is men. The childless man is the one too often stood outside the room, shut out of the conversations to which he plays one half. So what about these men? What is the impact of childlessness on their mental and physical health? Do they want children, and if so, why cant they have them? Do women really ‘date up’, in what some controversially call ‘the selection effect’ and others call ‘hypergamy’? And what about fertility? If men are one half of all infertility issues, then why do only 3% of reproductive specialists focus on the male reproductive system? There is no doubt more can be done for gynaecology, and women’s reproductive health. But men’s has been so widely ignored, that I bet most of you don’t even know what a male reproductive specialist is even called (…it’s an andrologist). So, as society continues is bend toward childlessness, is it time we brought men into the conversation too? What do you think? ~ The BBC  The Times Images by Dave AJ, Juliane Lieberman, Ali Barzgar, Pricilla Du Preez, and Curve Lifestyle Illustration by Kris.27

2024-11-25