The Childless Marriage

First you marry a man who does not want children. He cheats and you divorce him. Then you marry the love of your life and find out he does not want to have children with you either. The three he has are more than enough. Although you always wanted to be a mother, you decide he is worth the sacrifice, expecting to have a long happy life together. But that's not what happens. This is the story of how a woman becomes childless by marriage and how it affects every aspect of her life. This is the book of my heart, the one I had to write. Ever since I realized I was not going to have children, I have felt recurring grief and an emptiness in my heart. I am different from most women, but I have found that I am not alone. There are many of us childless women, and I think it's important to share our stories about what it's like when you don't have children in a world where most girls grow up to become mothers. I hope this book offers comfort to those who are childless and understanding to those who are not. If it makes you smile here and there, even better.

Fall in love. Get married. Have children. For most couples, marriage and children go hand in hand. And yet, the number of people choosing childlessness is on the rise. These are the childless by choice—people who have actively decided not to have children—rather than the childless by circumstance. In Two Is Enough, Laura S. Scott explores the assumptions surrounding childrearing, and explores the reasons many people are choosing to forgo this experience. Scott, founder of the Childless by Choice Project, examines the personal stories of people who have faced this decision and explores the growing trend of childlessness. Scott’s expert knowledge and analysis offer a picture of the childless by choice—who they are, why they’ve chosen to remain childless, and how they’ve had these conversations with loved ones. Honest and unapologetic, Two Is Enough recognizes the challenges of being childless in today’s society and offers suggestions on how that same society can change to make room for the childless and the childfree.

It's like this giant secret that is right in front of everyone. One in five women reach menopause without having children. For more than half of them, it was not by choice. At least not their own. They don't have children because their partners were unable or unwilling to have children with them. This happens to men, too. Hooked up with a partner who a) never wanted children, b) already has kids from a previous relationship, c) never quite felt ready for parenthood, d) has had a vasectomy, or e) has fertility problems, they are forced to make a choice between this man or woman they love and the children they might have had. It's an unfair choice, one nobody should have to make, but the readers of my previous book and my blog, both titled Childless by Marriage, have to make it. The decision you make will affect everything else in your life. This book, Love or Children, is a compilation of the best of more than 700 posts and comments from the Childless by Marriage blog. Think Dear Abby or Dear Sugar, except I ask the questions and the anonymous readers answer them, sharing their own experience and advice. Love or Children unveils the secrets we don't feel comfortable telling our families, friends, our partners, or even our therapists. It also contains information and advice people in this situation--and their loved ones--need to read. Chapters tackle how childless relationships happen, whether to stay or look for someone else, how to deal with the grief of losing the chance to have children, how to cope with people's clueless comments and questions, the joys and frustrations of stepchildren, how to prepare for old age, and more.

In How to Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life Without Children, Rachel Chrastil explores the long and fascinating history of childlessness, putting this often-overlooked legacy in conversation with the issues that childless women and men face in the twenty-first century. Eschewing two dominant narratives, that the childless are either barren and alone, or that they are carefree and selfish, How to Be Childless instead argues that the lives of childless individuals from the past can help all of us expand our range of possibilities for the good life. In uncovering the voices and experiences of childless women from the past five hundred years, Chrastil demonstrates that the pathways to childlessness, so often simplified as "choice" and "circumstance," are far more complex and interweaving. Balanced, deeply researched, and richly realized, How to be Childless will empower readers, parents and childless alike, to navigate their lives with purpose.

While interest in the drivers, consequences, nature and manifestations of voluntary and involuntary childlessness increases, knowledge progress is hampered by poor linkages across disjointed research fields. The book brings together theoretical insights and empirical investigations into the phenomenon, united within a feminist conceptual framework.

Childlessness is often viewed as a problem to be fixed. Many childless people are plagued with advice about relaxing, praying more and 'just' adopting. In church congregations, where children and families usually form the majority, childless people frequently feel isolated and excluded. The key to surviving childlessness lies not in simply 'fixing it' but in solidarity, healthy grieving and embracing one's vulnerabilities. In Surviving Childlessness I tell thirteen people's unique stories of childlessness and share my own story of being childless-by-forced-choice. With compassion, frankness and humour, we explore how healing can be found in re-discovering and re-inventing ourselves and in embracing the mysteries of God, even-or especially-in suffering.

This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This open access book provides an overview of childlessness throughout Europe. It offers a collection of papers written by leading demographers and sociologists that examine contexts, causes, and consequences of childlessness in countries throughout the region.The book features data from all over Europe. It specifically highlights patterns of childlessness in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. An additional chapter on childlessness in the United States puts the European experience in perspective. The book offers readers such insights as the determinants of lifelong childlessness, whether governments can and should counteract increasing childlessness, how the phenomenon differs across social strata and the role economic uncertainties play. In addition, the book also examines life course dynamics and biographical patterns, assisted reproduction as well as the consequences of childlessness. Childlessness has been increasing rapidly in most European countries in recent decades. This book offers readers expert analysis into this issue from leading experts in the field of family behavior. From causes to consequences, it explores the many facets of childlessness throughout Europe to present a comprehensive portrait of this important demographic and sociological trend.