For those who don’t know: Antinatalism, or anti-natalism, is a philosophical position and social movement that assigns a negative value to birth. Antinatalists argue that people should abstain from procreation because it is morally bad (some also recognize the procreation of other sentient beings as morally bad). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism
That’s great. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I agree with your comment. I wish more people would consider adopting instead of procreating. Though my main reasons for antinatalism are related to my own suffering and the unnecessary suffering that people around the world are subjected to.
If you look at previous posts about antinatalism r/communism and r/socialism, the top comment would usually be “antinatalism is a reactionary ideology” or they’d call all antinatalists fascists without any further discussion…
So It’s really nice to have a positive response :)
Well, I think that antinatalism is easily conflated with something else. It’s like when I say that people should go vegan or drink less or quit smoking, they assume I want to pass a law that takes away their freedoms. These analogies aren’t perfect, but if you are coming from a defensive position, you can mistake antinatalists for wanting to revoke reproductive rights. Also, I don’t really identify as antinatalist and maybe some antinatalists are like that. IDK, these are just my personal beliefs and having children is your own decision, I only ever ask people to self-reflect and consider alternatives.
I mean I understand why certain comrades behave that way. A lot of antinatalists are libertarians and eugenicists (though I would not consider them antinatalists). Some antinatalist thinkers like Schopenhauer and Zapffe had reactionary takes on women and society too.
And yeah, antinatalism is bascially just my personal beliefs too. I don’t attack people who disagree, I simply wish for them to reflect and consider. I don’t think antinatalism has much (if any) influence/implications as a social movement. Actual dialogues about whether or not we should stop procreating as a society can’t be had in capitalist society. For me, antinatalism is linked with communism, as a movement, far in the future.
I agree completely, the larger conversation must occur in the future. Today, many countries cannot even guarantee contraception or legal abortion!