Title
Class Year
2013
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
9-9-2013
Department 1
Center for Public Service
Abstract
We are having the inevitable late night conversation. You talk about your eventual wedding, your marriage to the person you love, the timeline you’ve created for yourself, and your plans for what our future children will do together. I clarify that I don’t want to have children, but you can’t seem to understand that decision. You question how happy, satisfied, or fulfilled my life will be without children, the maternal instincts I’m supposed to be feeling, and my desire to have something to care for and love. You’re convinced that I will recognize how empty my life will be sans kids and that I will change my mind about motherhood.
I’m confused: why do you trust my judgment about everything else, but my decision to (or not to) give birth and raise children is questionable? [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Nguyen, Cam T., "The Irony of Choice" (2013). SURGE. 81.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/surge/81
Included in
Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Surge is a student blog at Gettysburg College where systemic issues of justice matter. Posts are originally published at surgegettysburg.wordpress.com Through stories and reflection, these blog entries relate personal experiences to larger issues of equity, demonstrating that –isms are structural problems, not actions defined by individual prejudice. We intend to popularize justice, helping each other to recognize our biases and unlearn the untruths.