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
If you’re against people having kids you’re against the continued existence of the species beyond the currently existing generations. If you’re against the continued existence of the species it’s hard to say you can have political commitments beyond human extinction.
While anti-natalist groups like the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement solely rely on voluntary means of extinguishing the species, meaning they will never do it, they still think that human extinction is the best thing.
This doesn’t mean you have to have kids. I don’t plan to ever have kids and can’t really imagine ever wanting to have kids. That’s completely different from a moral evaluation of people having kids in general, and the human species continuing in general.
There is definitely a need to unfuck people’s ideas around parenthood, like for a lot of people it’s a personal failing if you never become a parent, when in reality, life is definitely about more than procreation.
Yes. My position stems from personal beliefs and I don’t bother trying to convince others because it is a very personal decision and I accept that. There are two reasons I don’t want kids: first, the responsibility, second, there are so many children who already are alive and need homes. Personally, I would feel selfish to procreate when I could share my love with an adopted child just the same. There are other arguments that can be made against procreation but the most important is that there are already wonderful children among us today who deserve homes and families.
Well, I don’t think personally choosing not to have children or to adopt instead really makes you an anti-natalist. Me and my partner have decided to never breed, but we certainly don’t buy into capitalist ideas like overpopulation being the cause of world hunger. I don’t even think telling people it is a good idea to adopt as an alternative is anti-natalist strictly speaking. I also don’t think climate issues are inherent with a large population.
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 should’ve opened with this, but i said this below
Do you have any antinatalist themed movies, books, etc you would recommend?
Also, do you know of any antinatalist marxist thinkers?
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!
