After childfree people hit a certain age, there are usually one or two relatives who routinely bring up the topic whenever they meet. "So, have you changed your mind about kids?" "But what is your purpose in life?" "There won't be anyone to take care of you when you're old!"
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As annoying as these exchanges can be, they're still only words. It's completely different when someone starts actively influencing your life, not just to change your mind, but to get you pregnant!
One woman turned to the internet with a heartbreaking story. Her toxic mother-in-law had been craving a grandchild so much that she started sabotaging the woman's birth control pills and condoms. And she may have succeeded if it wasn't for the secret security cameras in the house.
This woman's mother-in-law really wanted her to have a baby
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION / Pexels (not the actual photo)
So much so that she broke into her house and microwaved her birth control pills
Image credits: Jakub Zerdzicki / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Teona Swift / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Shockingly, the woman's husband took his mother's side
Image credits: Anna Tarazevich / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: BCMicrowave22
Image credits: kaboompics / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Exerting control over someone's reproductive health and decisions is known as reproductive coercion
This story is an appalling example of reproductive coercion—a behavior that interferes with a woman's autonomous decision-making regarding her reproductive health.
The three main interconnected forms of reproductive coercion are birth control sabotage, pregnancy coercion (threatening or pressuring a partner to get pregnant), and abortion coercion (threatening or pressuring a partner to get or not get an abortion).
Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and distinguished university professor at the University of Denver, is an expert in trauma and violence against women and children.
According to DePrince, estimates suggest that up to 1 in 5 women experience reproductive coercion.
"Women marginalized by race/ethnicity, education, economic status, and sexuality are at higher risk of reproductive coercion than peers,” she explains. “In turn, reproductive coercion is linked to factors that can impact unintended pregnancy, such as not having health insurance.”
Since the 1990s, DePrince adds, many cross-sectional studies have documented links between reproductive coercion and intimate partner exploitation, including physical as well as sexual victimization. This means that for many women, reproductive coercion happens in the context of ongoing abusive relationships, leading to serious consequences.
People couldn't believe how crazy the woman's situation was
Later, the woman clarified a few important details
Image credits: BCMicrowave22
And issued an update saying her husband was in on the scheme
Image credits: Vitaly Gariev / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Sven Brandsma / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: BCMicrowave22
Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Childfree men want children more than women do, but such insane behavior is impossible to justify
Pop culture often portrays women as baby-seeking, family-craving, biological-clock-ticking time bombs. But as we just saw, the reality can be quite different.
In fact, research suggests that childfree men, not women, are more likely to say they want to be parents someday.
Just over one-fifth (21 percent) of childfree women aged 18–34 polled by the Pew Research Center said they don't ever want to be parents, compared to 15 percent of men. Conversely, 57 percent of men said they want to have children someday, versus 45 percent of women.
Marina Adshade, an assistant professor of teaching at the University of British Columbia who specializes in economics and gender, says this trend isn't new, either.
"I'm fascinated personally by this kind of societal myth that we have that women throughout all time immemorial have just been desperate to become mothers, and that men are resistant to parenthood," explains Adshade, who is also the author of Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love. "This is a very, very strange perspective because children have always been an enormous amount of work for women."
It's what is known as the "motherhood penalty." According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2023 Women in Work Index, mothers experience a 60 percent drop in income in the decade after their first child is born compared to men.
Never mind the physical burden of pregnancy and childbirth!
So it's not surprising that men are more likely to want children, Adshade says.
"How delightful to have somebody else do all the work?"
And if you can't even talk about it honestly with your partner, the marriage is already over long before the birth control is sabotaged.
People felt very sorry for the woman
