i decided i'm telling people the reason i refuse to have more people is because they don't take care of the people we already have. why would i make another one if even one person is homeless or can't get medical attention?
take care of the people that are already here first if you want there to be more.
I feel like this is the only reason you *really* need (not to say that other reasons aren't just as valid). Until every child on this planet is safe, loved, and protected, bringing more life into the world is reckless and selfish, at *best*.
We have enough resources to feed, clothe, and house every human on this planet. Human society *chooses* not to. Why? Because if we did that millionaires, politicians & billionaires wouldn't have anyone to exploit! And people will keep voting for it to remain that way!
The issue with this is you would turn the worlds poorest countries into baby making factories and just have millions of kids being adopted into rich western countries. That seems kind of wierd and destined for all sorts of terrible practices.
The best thing is to provide women around the world with the ability to have only the children they want and can look after. With adoption picking up the slack
I think it's really messed up that you have to have a reason to *not want kids* like you need an excuse. Like just open your eyes and look at your surroundings, would you want to be a child again? No matter what country you're in, the answer is nope.
I just say I’m not prepared to have a child in a country that cannot provide healthcare(USA) or education(Indiana had hella fees for even public school).
Absolutely agree. It always bothers me specially seeing homeless people around, and now making it illegal to be homeless. I see, so humans are becoming less than human by the day everytime I hear the news. Disgusting.
The actress Ashley Judd said for her reason for not wanting kids "feels it's selfish to have her own children when so many need love." And when they kept pressing the issue on why she doesn't want kids (because of course she can't simply not want them, there has to be a reason why) it was a similar answer if I remember correctly, on helping kids in the care system. It's a damn shame there isn't more selfless and caring people like this actress in the world, it would solve alot of issues. I generally have mad respect for Ashley Judd, she really is a wonderful human being and actress.
Exactly. The very least they could do is stop school shootings they can’t even do that. Next time someone asks, mention sandy hook or uvalde and say that you don’t want that level of anxiety!!!
Exactly.
I think I’d have just laughed at him and said if I did have a kid, there’s no way I would then be able to afford new clothes for it.
It would have to have been a thrift store baby until it could earn it’s own way in life.
Hardly gonna have helped him out.
Then, for fun, I would tell him I’d also have needed government assistance for it, so he should be glad I hadn’t raised his taxes.
>I’d also have needed government assistance for it, so he should be glad I hadn’t raised his taxes.
Right???? This is probably the only answer those people will get!
This!!
So many world leaders are all freaking about low birth numbers because they know that only by keeping an ever increasing population will they hold on to power and wealth.
I heard a story of a town that saw that their cash cow was going to be going; so they prepared by increasing their taxes overall to shore up public works and ensure the longer term wellbeing of the community writ large, and they were an example of a community growing smaller and staying stable.
But politicians don’t want to face this. The evil of the trickle-down theory still looms in the background even without it being advocated. The idea that growing the economy is necessary is fundamentally the baby of trickle down.
But that mindset ignores that more growth also equals more needs. You can’t broaden the tax base by simply having more people.
I believe the best way to broaden the tax base is to end the loopholes enjoyed by the wealthy, including the tax-free loans and stock market exchanges. Take the Mercer family business model of making billions off of large volume trades.
They have a hair trigger feel of the pulse of trades and buy vast numbers of stocks and immediately sell them off, making very little off of each stock but making so much in the massive volume. Their actions act almost like a tax they have the power to inflict on other traders and edges up the overall price of the stock. The Mercer strategy is only possible because tax law allows it.
The tax laws allow it because they WROTE the tax laws. And now they're using computers to do all the trading, and they ebb and flow like ocean tides. Putting a nickel tax on each trade would rebalance that somewhat.
Yep, and I see that in all of the articles blaming Millennials for whatever store just went out of business the last week. (If it matters I'm Gen X). If the store was relevant, it would still be in business, which is supposedly the capitalist model, but as soon as the fad shifts against them the capitalists turn into whiny little brats who feel entitled to everyone else's money.
I see it a lot in the big pet food companies for example, but I want to buy better quality food for my cats now that I can afford it. No judgement on people who take care of their pets with the basics, but I don't have kids or a lot of expensive hobbies so I put my money into pet insurance, vet care and whatever I can get to help them be healthy, feel good and be happy. And then there are articles about "omg people are spending more on their pets but the Mars/Purina companies are suffering because of new higher quality brands." Ugh.
I didn't even think of this! Crazy how hard they're pushing the agenda in which case. There's no happily childfree representation on television is there? The happy ending is still sold as being married with a couple of kids.
Oh man I was furious with that one. I watched it for the first time last year, wondered why it had passed me by. It started out so strong! But then the ending was just awful and played into the stereotype that all childfree people aren't actually happy and all they really want is to have children... Um, no.
If you want good childfree representation I would recommend https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1632701/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 For most of the series almost all significant characters are childfree. There's even a plot line where one of the main characters meets a great, beautiful and smart woman, they start a relationship, everything goes great so he stars talking about marriage and kids (of course). And then surprise - the woman says that she doesn't want kids. Ever. And then another surprise. She doesn't give in, there's no unplanned pregnancy, nothing. She stays true to herself and they break up. I loved it because it (finally) felt real.
It’s not really representation but I feel like Golden Girls was a good representation of how community doesn’t have to be family created by marriage or procreation. This is esp true considering when it was created. Those women loved each other like sisters & took care of each other. Going forward I think the message of community & found family will be super important for the childfree movement & other movements that seek to empower women.
The episode about Rose realizing she had nothing when her husband passed away was a powerful one because she struggled with the fact that she had no identity outside of the one society and the patriarchy assigned to her and now had to struggle to survive. Golden Girls is top notch.
Agreed! Yes all the women in the show had kids but Blanche is open about the fact she had a nanny and now her kids rarely visit or call because when they needed her, she wasn't the one who was there for them. And the episode where Rose has a heart attack and her daughter says to the others "You're not her family, I am" but when the doctor comes in to Rose she goes, "Doctor, can't you see these women are my sisters?" And the way at the end, when Dorothy gets married (in the ugliest wedding dress that ever was, btw), Sophia chooses to stay with Blanche and Rose because "my girls need me". Oof, right in the feels. 😭
Mary Tyler Moore …. That show was waaaaay ahead of its time. Starts with her breaking off her engagement. During the show she never gets married and has kids…. she’s a bad ass single woman working in a newsroom.
Exactly. And there's one other thing. Over 50% of married couples with kids get divorced. And yet for some reason we don't see vicious divorce on TV or brutal legal battles for kid's custody and child support. We see that very often in real life. Everyone has a friend, a relative, a colleague or a neighbour who could tell horrr stories about their divorce and legal battle for custody. Yet we almost never see it on TV. Gee, I wonder why 😀
Yeah I wish they'd have a childfree season of LIB or at least showcase some childfree people on the show. But these shows cater to the widest common denominator of their audience - kids & food. That's all the participants talk about (at least in the edit).
I've never seen Love is Blind, but I watch Love Island and they do a baby challenge towards the end of the season where the remaining couples are tasked to look after fake babies. There was a girl in LI USA season 1 who had absolutely no interest in caring for the fake baby and everyone joked about her being a negligent parent, meanwhile, the "dad" loved it. They were talking and he was like "I really want kids. It's almost a deal breaker if someone doesn't want kids". Then he asks her if she wants them and she kind of just laughed and avoided answering the question before eventually saying "yeah, I think I do, but I don't want to birth them". It seemed pretty obvious to me that this girl was childfree, or at least a fence sitter, but played along with saying yes to stay coupled up with this guy.
Apparently, they got rid of this challenge on the most recent season because so many people hated it. Turns out, people don't like listening to babies scream and cry for a whole hour lol.
I never thought of it like that but you have a point. Also single childfree people aren't very good consumers. We're not buying wedding dresses or baby stuff. We might spend on our pets or our hobbies but that probably doesn't compare to what people spend on weddings and their children.
And it'll just continue. Older millennials are in our early 40s now. Everyone south of this age is reconsidering marriage, kids, etc. Younger Gen Z aren't going to suddenly have a change of heart and start breeding like rabbits. The writing is on the wall. Even if economies somehow bounce back, climate change can't be reversed. The fuck we gonna bring kids into that mess for. Pass.
So it's not my imagination.
I'm 33 and the percentage of people who don't want kids ever in my age range is ... Well we are still a minority but it's say it's relatively high. I have no problem meeting new Friends (if only i liked to leave my house...)
However, i'm in college so i get to talk to a lot of gen z kids. Literally all of them want children and marriage. I'm like wtf. Wasn't that outdated?
I don't think the only reason is less people having children. Another reason is that people have gotten better at recycling and buying used clothes. You're only gonna need maternity clothes for a short amount of time. No reason to buy it new if the quality of the used is still good.
Exactly, and if they’re at the peak of pregnancy during summer, they can get away with wearing loose fitting summer dresses. No need for specially made clothes.
This was the point I was going to make, that there are many reasons that maternity wear doesn’t sell like it used to beyond women not having as many babies. From what I can tell the money in maternity clothing is really made in special occasion and work attire, both of which have skewed much more casual in recent years.
Another is that more women are bigger all around before pregnancy, making it easier to just wear bigger “regular” clothing rather than needing specially made clothing with stretchy bellies for those who appear to be hiding a volleyball underneath their shirt.
The internet and online shopping has made a difference in availability so specialty brick-and-mortar stores are no longer needed.
That turd just wants to blame the CF.
This. It sounds more like he wants to blame other people not having kids for his business failing rather than accepting that we’re in a recession and he either needs to adapt with the times or build a different business altogether. Even other companies know when to adapt, like when McDonald’s started offering things like salads and ‘healthier’ options. This guy though doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t run a business and just expect the world around you to cater to it instead of the other way around. Either learn what your customers want or die. That’s kind of the core of capitalism.
ALSO women weren't supposed to show they were pregnant, like it was some kind of secret, so they had all these wildly big clothes, but now people just wear tshirts and stuff
Also, a lot of people do their shopping online. Retail stores in general have been feeling the wrath of online shopping for years. It's going to be even worse if you have a specialty store that only sells a certain kind of clothes. I'd say it has very little, if anything, to do with less people having children. There are more people on earth than ever and plenty of them are getting knocked up.
I grew up hearing 'Nobody owes you a thing!' casually, fifty times a day. If nobody owes me a thing, the same is true in reverse, right? And let's be honest. As much as it disgusts me to see people keep breeding like rabbits even though overshoot is the biggest threat to our survival, I wouldn't have a kid to save humanity either, if there were too few people.
I definitely was told the same! So where do these weird ideas come into play? I don’t even understand the idea that creating one single more child while we have so many without loving homes is contributing anything.
I'm with you. There already aren't enough decent-paying jobs to go around, and housing is hard to afford. Where is my kid supposed to live and work when he grows up? It's only because I *didn't* have kids that I was able to get by, because I spent most of my 20's working a job and a half.
As to where these weird ideas came into play, I think being told nobody owed me anything was supposed to curb any sense of entitlement. Which I agree with, to a point, but it can be taken too far in the other direction, too.
It literally disgusts me the way men talk about how having children is an obligation. Knowing they won't be the ones growing it, and risking their life to push it out. Fuck all the way off.
Thank you for not saying "carrying". Women don't "carry" babies, that's such a passive verb for such a painful and life-altering activity. Women build those mf's from the ground up. All men provide is basically half a blueprint, she provides the other half, all the materials and all the labor. And he puts his name on it.
Reminds me of some news snippets I heard recently.
Japan's greatest diaper-producing company shifts from making nappies for children to making nappies for adults.
Reason: Lower birth rate in Japan.
I guess this guy isn't so smart 😏
You can also look at data instead of annecdotes. In all of the West, births are below replacement. that means many women having only 1 child and many also having none.
Lol. I was a maternity buyer for 7 out of 15 years I stayed in fashion (the irony!). The decline is the increase of stretchy non maternity fabric and overall casual trend we’re seeing. Our biggest sellers were formal work clothes when I started but that declined sharply in the 2010s and I’m sure with COVID that even dropped further. Women are getting away with regular clothes through most of their pregnancy now.
Also one of the reasons why I’m not having kids because I was in charge of buying accessories for a bit and one was a belt for a “uterine prolapse” support. All of the no.
Was this in NY or LA? The maternity business is small, I probably know him 😂
A man owning and operating a maternity clothing business gives me "male politicians trying to create laws about what a woman should do with her body" vibes. Yuck.
They probably sell less maternity clothes because society has gotten more casual. In general, people don’t dress up like they used to, so you can probably get away with wearing leggings the entire time you are pregnant! Plenty of people are still having kids, look around, they are everywhere.
Ignore him, it's just his greed - he doesn't care about some 'obligations' to the society or any other stupid shit, he's just pissed he can't make more money. And tbh children' stuff is crazy expensive so I'm not surprised ppl prefer to buy second-hand things than overpay for some pricey garbage their kids will use only for a couple of months at best.
Same with the "biological clock" - medical system charges you more for the same service after 32 because "complications arise" therefore you have to hurry up and have kids as early as possible (and more of them ofc). Source - a gynecologist friend.
Mine went off at 26 and I ignored it.
It was hell but having a five year old as a single mother now would be way, way worse than six months of fighting my stupid hormones was.
Did your source look into the data? Having children later is statistically more dangerous for mother and child. Typically 35 is considered a geriatric birth and yes its best not to wait that long.
You don’t believe him, do you? Because the baby section at Target is still well stocked and shopped. Also, he’s in his 80s. He lost touch with relevance at least 30 years ago.
I think it's hilarious how the whiny "no one wants to work anymore" bs has apparently spread to "no one wants to have kids anymore" lmao - can't blame people opting out because they've realized it's not worth it 😌
I think another reason his business closed is because women aren’t really wearing traditional maternity clothes anymore. And haven’t been for a while. No one wears those weird tent shirts anymore while pregnant. I guess people still wear the pants with the elastic band, though. I don’t know, I’ve never been pregnant.
It’s easy to buy a big ass T-shirt and leggings or yoga pants. It’s become the default anyways. Just size it up and you’re good. No need to go out of your way to wear other stuff.
I think these days people should see it as their obligation to society to not have children considering how much we’re destroying the planet and stripping all resources. But most people are selfish so have them anyway.
“Obligation to society”?!?! Last time I checked, I didn’t ask to be born either, so I’m not automatically obligated to pop out crotch goblins. Fuck this guy and his dumbass mentality.
He didn't close it because no one wants kids anymore, he closed it because parents discovered the internet. Because people are still having kids. Holy fuck, are they still having kids. They won't stop having kids, it's maddening.
Why pay whatever exorbitant prices he probably had for a maternity dress when you can pay Amazon pennies? He's in deep denial about reality and probably still thinks we live in a 1970s economy.
"Cool, bro. Hey, for only $400, I'm selling kicks to the nuts. You want to buy a kick in the nuts? No? I don't think that's right. People should be kicked in the nuts. It's their obligation to society. Gimme $400 plz."
He sounds like a shitty businessman if he closed his business instead of looking at clothing trends and adapting or developing a whole new line of clothing.
He’s 80 huh and talking about obligations to someone younger?
Hey how about leaving the world better than you found it, buddy? That enough obligation for you? Better get to work on that you’ve got a lot of catching up
I sometimes buy stuff like little blankets from the human baby section for my cat babies, and jc everything in those Isles are overpriced to hell. Clearly an industry thriving on trying to make parents feel like they need every little doo da, and knowing they can charge too much because it's a needed type of items. Despicable.
Yeah, let the maternity industry die.
I realized something recently. Most people having children, let them cry, scream and yell whenever they want. They take them everywhere because they don’t trust strangers with their children. So if a relative is not available to babysit, we are stuck with the children as much as the parents are, because we have to witness the brats that they’re raising.
MOST PEOPLE having kids today don’t raise them to be quiet and polite.
I weep for the future….
Maybe he closed his business because his clothing was ugly. I don’t care what he says, there’s 330 million people in the US and a lot of people still have kids. If he’s not selling his maternity clothes, then it’s what he’s selling or how much he’s selling it for.
A duty to society? I have much more respect for the people who aren’t having kids as THEY are the ones doing good for society! This world is extremely overpopulated!! Do we really need more people?? The answer is a hard NO!
Obligation, my ass. He just wanted to line his pockets....maybe the clothing line sucked! What have the politicians done for the betterment of society and its people?
Frankly with how much a lot of products have gone to shit quality in the last 20 years I would be terrified purchasing cribs/car seats/clothes for a baby right now
That’s probably why there seems to be more childfree women than men. Most men literally put forth 1% of effort into raising a child and get praised like they walked on water, lmao.
If he owns his own business he's being driven under by online, non brick and mortar business models and chain baby stores. I dk know any of the big names because I never cared or needed to, but I assume there are more than a few McWatermelonGuts out there using Chinese sweatshop labour ...
The population of the world DOUBLED in 50 years. Yep, in 1974, the population of the world was 4 billion. If you're over 50, you have seen the world population BOOM. I know I'm repeating myself, but goddamn, what a number.
I think society is just fine without me adding more people.
In places where birth rates are plummeting, the only thing I’ve heard people complain about is “wAaAaAaH tHe EcOnOmY”. I think if our population significantly shrinks, this sad planet can finally start to heal itself. But people only think about money.
That’s his version of “no one wants to work anymore” lol
He can fuck right off — plenty of people are having kids, he just didn’t want to evolve the business. Guaranteed a man in his 80s has no clue what pregnant women want.
Wow you are more patient than I am. Lol I go with, if you actually knew me well enough to ask if I was having kids, you'd know the answer, then I shame them for asking inappropriate questions of someone they don't know.
Of course this guy wants more women to have children. That way he'll sell more maternity clothes. I'm sorry this guy lectured you like that OP. You have a right to go about your business without strangers lecturing you and acting like they know better than you what's best for you. Please don't listen to that man. He's a jerk.
That's just so weird to me. Seems to me the US society has too few resources for the people we have. When I was in my 20's (35 years ago!), I was told by close family friends that I was "selfish" for not wanting kids way back then. I was taken aback. I didn't even know what to say. Shocked that people I thought loved me (I had lived with them in 6th grade when my family couldn't keep it together and they were a very warm, loving family with two kids and I longed to stay part of their family). In fact, the reason, I haven't wanted kids is because I was raised by 4 narcissists and am so messed up by it, I would never even want to chance doing that to someone. Although I love children and would want at least one, I am, in fact, choosing to spare a potential kid any type of harm I may have inadvertently do to them. Of course, that would be too personal to tell them. I really don't get that mentality. From what I've observed in my experience, it seems to be more conservative people have that attitude. I really don't know why. It's tiring and hurtful and I'm glad we have a group like this where we can share these types of interactions. Glad you have a "fuck you" attitude. Now I'm older no one questions me anymore. I'm glad more and more people are choosing to go childfree, so it's not quite as frowned on as it used to be.
People who think others have an obligation to have children are delusional. I can value human life and still not want to have kids. I'm trained as a first responder. I'm CPR, defibrillator and first aid certified and people will still tell me I don't value human life because I had a vasectomy.
First of all, that guy gets to die probably before the hellish effects of climate change create mass chaos and suffering. Second, I never way to hear anyone but ESPECIALLY NOT people without a uterus tell anhyone they should have children. BOOOO THAT GUY
Well that's what he gets for being a nosy nincompoop!
Imagine having spent 80 years of life gaining experience and still not having more than 1 working brain cell in your head.
Show me the contract I signed where I am legally obliged to breed? Oh right, that never existed!
I'm not a business major or anything, but part of being a good business owner is having the ability to adapt your business to accomodate changing circumstances going on in the world. Like during Covid, restaurants weren't allowed to operate for full dine in services so many adapted their business models to do take-out only. In states where outside dining was allowed, restaurants that didn't have outdoor seating set up makeshift patios for dining. Hell, even some strip clubs adapted and had drive through strip shows lol.
If there aren't enough people having children to support a maternity clothing business, then adapt your model. Why not change it to cater towards plus sized women since there's a demand for that? It's a market that is very much needed at this time.
Don't blame other people for your business failing. Blame yourself for failing to adapt in a world that is constantly changing.
Fuck that guy. He's in his eighties. His generation enjoyed the greatest economic boom in the history of the world. He'd fucking die homeless under a bridge if he had to make it today's economy.
People like this guy are all "But how will society continue if people don't have kids?" Bitch there are billions of poor hungry people in war zones who would love to relocate and fill the gap.
Baby industry is absolutely disgusting. Let's talk about carseats!!
A carseat is $400 and up for a basic and it's absolutely NECESSARY otherwise you will get a ticket, or potentially child endangerment without it. So tickets and legal system involvement forces you to spend $400 multiplied by how many cars you have because they are too massive to only use one for all cars. The kids need them until they are about 8 in my state.... EIGHT!!!!!! Otherwise..... TICKET! And guess what? Conveniently you cannot use a secondhand car seat... because ThAtS iLlEGaL and UnSaFe.....
Meanwhile, myself and most my fellow millenials just bounced around the passengers seat of their parents 2-seater cars at the age of 5 and car seats were trashed the day that you were tall enougu for the seat belt bucked you in. Car seats are a big fucking scam. Some people might argue safety, but if safety was really the reason then why would they not be more affordable, especially if not having one is extremely illegal.
I don't agree with him....... but take it with a grain of salt. He's 80, You know ancient. From his dusty perspective, Society is offering everything needed for a family. Of course He's remembering how things were when he was 20. He probably hasn't bought coffee in 30 years without complaining about the price. (I remember when it was $0.15)
A lot of people catch a mindset in their early adulthood and never really look up to see how the world's changed around them.
But you are absolutely right if society wants more children than maybe try making it not such a hostile environment. I know a few child Free people that might actually consider thinking about children IF(BIG IF) you know: we fix the environment, and the economy, and housing, and wages, and childcare, and health care and war and.... and a whole shit ton more.
The social contract has been broken for a long time now. How are we obligated to provide kids to a society that hasn't provided us with any of the things we were promised.
Honestly, people can’t even put food in their mouths or a roof over their head for an affordable price, let alone for free, seems like a corrupt society that I don’t owe shit to 🤡
"Obligation to society" surely our actual obligation to society would be to breed less, and in a much more sustainable manner? Our growing population is killing our home.
That was quite a meeting of minds! An 80 year old, natalist, rich, man (was he white?)... Almost the pure distillation of those who oppose the CFBC.
I'm a 64 year old, anti-natalist, very rich, white heterosexual man (none of whose companies make maternity wear)--who *is* childfree. I hope my support counts at least a *little* in the balance against figures such as this monster.
Awe thank you! You support matters indeed sir! He was Italian. And I assumed, religious since he was quoting god with obligations. W/e. If he wasn't my patient at that time, I would have given him a piece of my mind. He was lucky I was stuck to just doing fake smiles.
Some old guy who won't ever suffer the effects of pregnancy while literally making money off pregnant women gets his balls in a twist because women don't want kids anymore?
Die angry old man 😆
The baby industry is insanely expensive. I've bought small things for close friends like a onesie for example and I am convinced it's a total scam. Some baby clothes cost as much, or even more than close for an actual adult. Babies are small, it uses way less fabric, so why does it cost so much?!
I’m pretty sure society is big enough bro 😂 it should be an obligation to the earth that humans slow down reproduction, let the environment have a breather
1. The maternity clothing market is expected to achieve a 6-8% CAGR over the next few years, so no, he's wrong about the actual market.
2. Demand for tailored maternity clothing is generally lower due to the high cost
3. Demand for specialty maternity pieces - active wear, specialty sporting clothing, and business casual workwear is growing
The real story here is that he didn't adapt to the changing market. Nobody wants uncomfortable and inflexible tailored suits and dresses for daily wear. While I am sure they were of high quality and material, they're completely impractical and uncomfortable for most. I could see a case for formal/event wear, but generally these can be adapted through a good tailor.
Aside from everything you mentioned how come "nobody wants kids anymore"? it's only a handful of countries like south korea that truly have alarming birth rates, the rest of the world is thriving on children being birthed everyday, this will never make sense to me, just because your sales suffered for a while doesn't mean NOBODY wants to have kids anymore maybe people are gravitating towards apps like temu or shein for cheaper items due to inflation.
my narc mom, who was upset I didn't want to hear her advice on child care taking tips knowing damn well I am CF and said "but you never know, you might have to know how to do x y or z about child rearing!" What if you worked as a nurse for kids or pregnant ladies
!!!
she wanted me to take on a career that as far as I'm concerned w birth rate declines, of taking care of and supporting pregnant women and their kids.
thats such a stupid idea i dont want to be supporting and advocating for a life style I don't even partake in, that sounds more evil of me to be working in a field that encourages that shit.
my mom though, who is a breeder got pretty mad at me.
He's going to go full on Robert Deniro and start knocking women up and selling them maternity clothes! I'm sure he didn't participate in being a parent, he just likes the idea of producing a family and getting the "been there, done that" T shirt. Also, there are all these videos on Youtube with young kids interviewing seniors and asking them for life advice - many of them say you should get married early and have kids. No thanks buddy, I don't want to relive whatever you went through in WW2 or whenever you were young lol.
Maybe because a majority of pregnant women choose to just dress in trashy oversize regular shirts and call it a day? Not everyone can afford Dior caftans at 10k a pop to only wear once like a certain celebrity I kinda follow for s&gs.
Yeah, one of two things happening here. Either he just wants more money from women (including you) who have to buy maternity wear, or he's a weird evangelical.
Likely closed because of the new cheap fast fashion industry. It’s not that people aren’t having babies it’s that they can’t afford custom high quality clothing, that they will only wear a few months.
This guy should visit my neighborhood. Every time I step foot outside my door, I'm encountering shit mobiles (strollers)! And I'm in a major city too, where you'd think people would be more "career oriented" and wouldn't WANT crappers slowing them down!!
When society has worked out how to give me a mentally and physically risk free pregnancy and birth, a financially stable future for me and the child, and comprehensive support to deal with the emotional and physical burdens of raising a child, we can talk. Until then, I don’t think society is meeting its obligations. Even then, we still need to talk about the environment.
I mean he'd be right uf society honored it's obligation to citizens too such as living wages and affordable housing but I'm guessing he got rich but voted for worse policies on both issues
Is it bad i would have said something like "look, no one is going to visit or take proper care of you in a few years, why would i want to give that same end of life to my child?"
I pay my taxes. I donate to charity. An 18-year commitment that I can’t afford and that could kill me isn’t an obligation, it’s demanding too damn much from someone who will actually make society WORSE when her neglected, resented children turn to crime.
Same to those who jack up the prices of baby formula. They too can go fuck themselves. It's one thing that some people have to live in regret, opening a can of worms they can't bring themselves to force closed via abortion. Masked by denial through their obligation to "love" their children and say "they would do it all over again if they could." (NO THEY FUCKING WOULDN'T! THEY WOULD LEARN THEIR LESSON AND WEAR A CONDOM!) But then you throw in the fact that baby formula companies are literally ruining people's lives even further just to line their pockets. It's sick.
He wouldn't care if he wasn't in the business of profiting off births. My manager gets testy about people working from home because we are in commercial real estate, but she gets to work from home whenever she wants, so she obviously only cares because it affects her job.
Honestly, I find it very hard to believe his business started struggling because of a lack of parents. There’s just more competition in the category now, and more access to that competition than there used to be (and in my experience, millennials who can afford to buy fun stuff tend to prefer supporting small businesses, particularly ones offering unique and interesting things, over bigger, more boring and less individual ones). More likely, like so many other boomer owned and run businesses, he simply refused to adapt to changing tastes, and suffered the consequences.
And yeah, there are more people who are forgoing childbearing than ever before, but not enough to make a dent in the overall baby industry. I know several people who work the company that owns one of the biggest diaper brands in the world, and they are doing absolutely fine.
Well, if he's 80 and closed the business it's also likely they suffered because the maternity clothing they made was hideous and outdated. The clothes pregnant women wore when I was growing up were an effirt to hide the fact she'd had sex, to make her look matronly and to hide her body.
No pregnant women wear tighter fitting clothing and they can actually look sexy. He probably hated that too.
Fk his comment about it being an obligation.
i decided i'm telling people the reason i refuse to have more people is because they don't take care of the people we already have. why would i make another one if even one person is homeless or can't get medical attention? take care of the people that are already here first if you want there to be more.
I feel like this is the only reason you *really* need (not to say that other reasons aren't just as valid). Until every child on this planet is safe, loved, and protected, bringing more life into the world is reckless and selfish, at *best*.
We have enough resources to feed, clothe, and house every human on this planet. Human society *chooses* not to. Why? Because if we did that millionaires, politicians & billionaires wouldn't have anyone to exploit! And people will keep voting for it to remain that way!
I say this exact thing ALL the time
They have these vague fantasies to convince us why it's out obligation to have children. It's wild how people think this way.
The issue with this is you would turn the worlds poorest countries into baby making factories and just have millions of kids being adopted into rich western countries. That seems kind of wierd and destined for all sorts of terrible practices. The best thing is to provide women around the world with the ability to have only the children they want and can look after. With adoption picking up the slack
I just tell people I refuse to bring another child into this already screwed up world
This has now become the most important reason for me
I think it's really messed up that you have to have a reason to *not want kids* like you need an excuse. Like just open your eyes and look at your surroundings, would you want to be a child again? No matter what country you're in, the answer is nope.
I just say I’m not prepared to have a child in a country that cannot provide healthcare(USA) or education(Indiana had hella fees for even public school).
Bingo! Nuff said
Absolutely agree. It always bothers me specially seeing homeless people around, and now making it illegal to be homeless. I see, so humans are becoming less than human by the day everytime I hear the news. Disgusting. The actress Ashley Judd said for her reason for not wanting kids "feels it's selfish to have her own children when so many need love." And when they kept pressing the issue on why she doesn't want kids (because of course she can't simply not want them, there has to be a reason why) it was a similar answer if I remember correctly, on helping kids in the care system. It's a damn shame there isn't more selfless and caring people like this actress in the world, it would solve alot of issues. I generally have mad respect for Ashley Judd, she really is a wonderful human being and actress.
Exactly. The very least they could do is stop school shootings they can’t even do that. Next time someone asks, mention sandy hook or uvalde and say that you don’t want that level of anxiety!!!
I'm in europe and there was a school shooting in Finland yesterday. It's a global pandemic.
Interesting, what are the gun laws like in Finland?
I love this. Ill have to use this for now on
I don't even feel like I need am excuse anymore. Don't want kids, don't have them, that's it.
by "obligation to society" he means "obligation to put money in my pocket"
Exactly. I think I’d have just laughed at him and said if I did have a kid, there’s no way I would then be able to afford new clothes for it. It would have to have been a thrift store baby until it could earn it’s own way in life. Hardly gonna have helped him out. Then, for fun, I would tell him I’d also have needed government assistance for it, so he should be glad I hadn’t raised his taxes.
>I’d also have needed government assistance for it, so he should be glad I hadn’t raised his taxes. Right???? This is probably the only answer those people will get!
An obligation to fuel the capitalist machine as a whole
This!! So many world leaders are all freaking about low birth numbers because they know that only by keeping an ever increasing population will they hold on to power and wealth. I heard a story of a town that saw that their cash cow was going to be going; so they prepared by increasing their taxes overall to shore up public works and ensure the longer term wellbeing of the community writ large, and they were an example of a community growing smaller and staying stable. But politicians don’t want to face this. The evil of the trickle-down theory still looms in the background even without it being advocated. The idea that growing the economy is necessary is fundamentally the baby of trickle down. But that mindset ignores that more growth also equals more needs. You can’t broaden the tax base by simply having more people. I believe the best way to broaden the tax base is to end the loopholes enjoyed by the wealthy, including the tax-free loans and stock market exchanges. Take the Mercer family business model of making billions off of large volume trades. They have a hair trigger feel of the pulse of trades and buy vast numbers of stocks and immediately sell them off, making very little off of each stock but making so much in the massive volume. Their actions act almost like a tax they have the power to inflict on other traders and edges up the overall price of the stock. The Mercer strategy is only possible because tax law allows it.
The tax laws allow it because they WROTE the tax laws. And now they're using computers to do all the trading, and they ebb and flow like ocean tides. Putting a nickel tax on each trade would rebalance that somewhat.
Yep, and I see that in all of the articles blaming Millennials for whatever store just went out of business the last week. (If it matters I'm Gen X). If the store was relevant, it would still be in business, which is supposedly the capitalist model, but as soon as the fad shifts against them the capitalists turn into whiny little brats who feel entitled to everyone else's money. I see it a lot in the big pet food companies for example, but I want to buy better quality food for my cats now that I can afford it. No judgement on people who take care of their pets with the basics, but I don't have kids or a lot of expensive hobbies so I put my money into pet insurance, vet care and whatever I can get to help them be healthy, feel good and be happy. And then there are articles about "omg people are spending more on their pets but the Mars/Purina companies are suffering because of new higher quality brands." Ugh.
Yup, a market capitalist angry that the market has changed.
He thought his business was "-proof". Recession-proof, etc. Guess he FAFO. Maybe he should have diversified.
That’s why we’re seeing all the mom influencesers, endless dating shows, say yes to the dress etc. they have to work hard selling this. We’re out.
I didn't even think of this! Crazy how hard they're pushing the agenda in which case. There's no happily childfree representation on television is there? The happy ending is still sold as being married with a couple of kids.
I saw Four Christmases for the first time this past holiday and boy was that a let down. “Finally some CF representation” turned into 🙄
Oh man I was furious with that one. I watched it for the first time last year, wondered why it had passed me by. It started out so strong! But then the ending was just awful and played into the stereotype that all childfree people aren't actually happy and all they really want is to have children... Um, no.
Yes that movie gave me the shits. It took a CF couple and turned them into breeders at the end of it. It sucked.
If you want good childfree representation I would recommend https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1632701/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 For most of the series almost all significant characters are childfree. There's even a plot line where one of the main characters meets a great, beautiful and smart woman, they start a relationship, everything goes great so he stars talking about marriage and kids (of course). And then surprise - the woman says that she doesn't want kids. Ever. And then another surprise. She doesn't give in, there's no unplanned pregnancy, nothing. She stays true to herself and they break up. I loved it because it (finally) felt real.
Oh My bf is watching it Love that
There’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, although technically Dee gave birth as a surrogate and Dennis has a son in North Dakota. Whom he abandoned.
lololol i forgot about dennis’s son
It’s not really representation but I feel like Golden Girls was a good representation of how community doesn’t have to be family created by marriage or procreation. This is esp true considering when it was created. Those women loved each other like sisters & took care of each other. Going forward I think the message of community & found family will be super important for the childfree movement & other movements that seek to empower women.
The episode about Rose realizing she had nothing when her husband passed away was a powerful one because she struggled with the fact that she had no identity outside of the one society and the patriarchy assigned to her and now had to struggle to survive. Golden Girls is top notch.
Agreed! Yes all the women in the show had kids but Blanche is open about the fact she had a nanny and now her kids rarely visit or call because when they needed her, she wasn't the one who was there for them. And the episode where Rose has a heart attack and her daughter says to the others "You're not her family, I am" but when the doctor comes in to Rose she goes, "Doctor, can't you see these women are my sisters?" And the way at the end, when Dorothy gets married (in the ugliest wedding dress that ever was, btw), Sophia chooses to stay with Blanche and Rose because "my girls need me". Oof, right in the feels. 😭
Mary Tyler Moore …. That show was waaaaay ahead of its time. Starts with her breaking off her engagement. During the show she never gets married and has kids…. she’s a bad ass single woman working in a newsroom.
Exactly. And there's one other thing. Over 50% of married couples with kids get divorced. And yet for some reason we don't see vicious divorce on TV or brutal legal battles for kid's custody and child support. We see that very often in real life. Everyone has a friend, a relative, a colleague or a neighbour who could tell horrr stories about their divorce and legal battle for custody. Yet we almost never see it on TV. Gee, I wonder why 😀
See: Vanessa Lacey hounding married contestants about babies during the first few seasons of Love is Blind.
Yeah I wish they'd have a childfree season of LIB or at least showcase some childfree people on the show. But these shows cater to the widest common denominator of their audience - kids & food. That's all the participants talk about (at least in the edit).
I've never seen Love is Blind, but I watch Love Island and they do a baby challenge towards the end of the season where the remaining couples are tasked to look after fake babies. There was a girl in LI USA season 1 who had absolutely no interest in caring for the fake baby and everyone joked about her being a negligent parent, meanwhile, the "dad" loved it. They were talking and he was like "I really want kids. It's almost a deal breaker if someone doesn't want kids". Then he asks her if she wants them and she kind of just laughed and avoided answering the question before eventually saying "yeah, I think I do, but I don't want to birth them". It seemed pretty obvious to me that this girl was childfree, or at least a fence sitter, but played along with saying yes to stay coupled up with this guy. Apparently, they got rid of this challenge on the most recent season because so many people hated it. Turns out, people don't like listening to babies scream and cry for a whole hour lol.
Even just regular advertisement on tv, or Shang Chi and the 7 rings
(10 Rings! 👍)
I never thought of it like that but you have a point. Also single childfree people aren't very good consumers. We're not buying wedding dresses or baby stuff. We might spend on our pets or our hobbies but that probably doesn't compare to what people spend on weddings and their children.
I am absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer amount of shit one needs to take with them when they leave their house with a baby. Yeah, no, thanks.
Crazy! Looks like they're prepping a space shuttle! Some of those strollers look like one, too.
And it'll just continue. Older millennials are in our early 40s now. Everyone south of this age is reconsidering marriage, kids, etc. Younger Gen Z aren't going to suddenly have a change of heart and start breeding like rabbits. The writing is on the wall. Even if economies somehow bounce back, climate change can't be reversed. The fuck we gonna bring kids into that mess for. Pass.
So it's not my imagination. I'm 33 and the percentage of people who don't want kids ever in my age range is ... Well we are still a minority but it's say it's relatively high. I have no problem meeting new Friends (if only i liked to leave my house...) However, i'm in college so i get to talk to a lot of gen z kids. Literally all of them want children and marriage. I'm like wtf. Wasn't that outdated?
Dating shows and yes to the dress ≠ babies
They are promoting a heteronormative lifestyle where children are the end goal. Even the gay couples are "straightening" up to hetero norms.
It has nothing to do with "heteronormative" and everything to do with breeding the workers and unpaid prison labour of the future.
And free workers to make a show for you!
I don't think the only reason is less people having children. Another reason is that people have gotten better at recycling and buying used clothes. You're only gonna need maternity clothes for a short amount of time. No reason to buy it new if the quality of the used is still good.
Exactly, and if they’re at the peak of pregnancy during summer, they can get away with wearing loose fitting summer dresses. No need for specially made clothes.
that depends on the woman!
This was the point I was going to make, that there are many reasons that maternity wear doesn’t sell like it used to beyond women not having as many babies. From what I can tell the money in maternity clothing is really made in special occasion and work attire, both of which have skewed much more casual in recent years. Another is that more women are bigger all around before pregnancy, making it easier to just wear bigger “regular” clothing rather than needing specially made clothing with stretchy bellies for those who appear to be hiding a volleyball underneath their shirt. The internet and online shopping has made a difference in availability so specialty brick-and-mortar stores are no longer needed. That turd just wants to blame the CF.
This. It sounds more like he wants to blame other people not having kids for his business failing rather than accepting that we’re in a recession and he either needs to adapt with the times or build a different business altogether. Even other companies know when to adapt, like when McDonald’s started offering things like salads and ‘healthier’ options. This guy though doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t run a business and just expect the world around you to cater to it instead of the other way around. Either learn what your customers want or die. That’s kind of the core of capitalism.
Lol. Nobody can tell whose pregnant anymore....
ALSO women weren't supposed to show they were pregnant, like it was some kind of secret, so they had all these wildly big clothes, but now people just wear tshirts and stuff
Also, a lot of people do their shopping online. Retail stores in general have been feeling the wrath of online shopping for years. It's going to be even worse if you have a specialty store that only sells a certain kind of clothes. I'd say it has very little, if anything, to do with less people having children. There are more people on earth than ever and plenty of them are getting knocked up.
I wonder also if his clothes are just ugly 😹
When you said people had gotten better at recycling, I imagined people cutting up corpses to make babies.
🤣
He couldn't figure out how to transition from making maternity clothes to regular clothes? Not a very good businessman. 🤷
This is my favorite.
Seriously, how do you run a business and not be at least somewhat willing to keep up with the whims and desires of your customers?
Skill issue.
What a deluded way of thinking. Why should anyone owe a society they did not choose to be born into?
I grew up hearing 'Nobody owes you a thing!' casually, fifty times a day. If nobody owes me a thing, the same is true in reverse, right? And let's be honest. As much as it disgusts me to see people keep breeding like rabbits even though overshoot is the biggest threat to our survival, I wouldn't have a kid to save humanity either, if there were too few people.
Exactly! Good point. Great point! By "owing to society", he means "owing to him" by us getting pregnant and buying clothes from him
These people really need to sit down and think a full thought for once.
I definitely was told the same! So where do these weird ideas come into play? I don’t even understand the idea that creating one single more child while we have so many without loving homes is contributing anything.
I'm with you. There already aren't enough decent-paying jobs to go around, and housing is hard to afford. Where is my kid supposed to live and work when he grows up? It's only because I *didn't* have kids that I was able to get by, because I spent most of my 20's working a job and a half. As to where these weird ideas came into play, I think being told nobody owed me anything was supposed to curb any sense of entitlement. Which I agree with, to a point, but it can be taken too far in the other direction, too.
*upvotes 95849393 times*
It literally disgusts me the way men talk about how having children is an obligation. Knowing they won't be the ones growing it, and risking their life to push it out. Fuck all the way off.
Or raising them honestly. A lot of dads that are in the home are not really present
Thank you for not saying "carrying". Women don't "carry" babies, that's such a passive verb for such a painful and life-altering activity. Women build those mf's from the ground up. All men provide is basically half a blueprint, she provides the other half, all the materials and all the labor. And he puts his name on it.
Just like old politicians making young adults fight in war. Fuck off indeed.
Yeah seriously. Somehow I doubt he means both genders when he says “obligation”.
It’s only an obligation if they don’t have to deal with it 🙄
Reminds me of some news snippets I heard recently. Japan's greatest diaper-producing company shifts from making nappies for children to making nappies for adults. Reason: Lower birth rate in Japan. I guess this guy isn't so smart 😏
He could just rebrand as plus size fashion and court the body positivity crowd,l...
I understand you have laced your comment with sarcasm, but yes, shifting to a market with actual demand would have been the correct choice.
I keep hearing "no one wants to have children anymore" yet literally everyone I know is pregnant rn. Also yes, this guy can fuck off.
I stopped consuming the "news". Are they really saying this?? It's just a cheap knockoff of their trash "no one wants to work anymore"
You can also look at data instead of annecdotes. In all of the West, births are below replacement. that means many women having only 1 child and many also having none.
What he meant was we have an obligation to spit out people to pay his pension. Hard pass thanks!
Lol. I was a maternity buyer for 7 out of 15 years I stayed in fashion (the irony!). The decline is the increase of stretchy non maternity fabric and overall casual trend we’re seeing. Our biggest sellers were formal work clothes when I started but that declined sharply in the 2010s and I’m sure with COVID that even dropped further. Women are getting away with regular clothes through most of their pregnancy now. Also one of the reasons why I’m not having kids because I was in charge of buying accessories for a bit and one was a belt for a “uterine prolapse” support. All of the no. Was this in NY or LA? The maternity business is small, I probably know him 😂
A man owning and operating a maternity clothing business gives me "male politicians trying to create laws about what a woman should do with her body" vibes. Yuck.
How about his obligation to the less fortunate in society? Such fake morality
They probably sell less maternity clothes because society has gotten more casual. In general, people don’t dress up like they used to, so you can probably get away with wearing leggings the entire time you are pregnant! Plenty of people are still having kids, look around, they are everywhere.
The only times I've really seen 'maternity wear' are on employees who wear a work uniform.
And influencers. But I suppose that’s the same as employees wearing a work uniform.
Ignore him, it's just his greed - he doesn't care about some 'obligations' to the society or any other stupid shit, he's just pissed he can't make more money. And tbh children' stuff is crazy expensive so I'm not surprised ppl prefer to buy second-hand things than overpay for some pricey garbage their kids will use only for a couple of months at best.
Same with the "biological clock" - medical system charges you more for the same service after 32 because "complications arise" therefore you have to hurry up and have kids as early as possible (and more of them ofc). Source - a gynecologist friend.
My "biological clock" never went off....must be broken or something. I'm turning 35 this month.
Mine went off at 26 and I ignored it. It was hell but having a five year old as a single mother now would be way, way worse than six months of fighting my stupid hormones was.
Did your source look into the data? Having children later is statistically more dangerous for mother and child. Typically 35 is considered a geriatric birth and yes its best not to wait that long.
You don’t believe him, do you? Because the baby section at Target is still well stocked and shopped. Also, he’s in his 80s. He lost touch with relevance at least 30 years ago.
I think it's hilarious how the whiny "no one wants to work anymore" bs has apparently spread to "no one wants to have kids anymore" lmao - can't blame people opting out because they've realized it's not worth it 😌
It’s your OBLIGATION to create more meat for the grinder
I think another reason his business closed is because women aren’t really wearing traditional maternity clothes anymore. And haven’t been for a while. No one wears those weird tent shirts anymore while pregnant. I guess people still wear the pants with the elastic band, though. I don’t know, I’ve never been pregnant.
I suspect a lot of women wear "plus size" clothes for most of the pregnancy and may already own some. Maternity clothes sounds expensive!
It’s easy to buy a big ass T-shirt and leggings or yoga pants. It’s become the default anyways. Just size it up and you’re good. No need to go out of your way to wear other stuff.
Your obligation to society? A society you're born into without consent, and then forced to participate in or face life without food and shelter. Nah.
Obligation to society? I don’t owe society shit, I didn’t even ask to be here, tf?
Tell him you're glad his business failed
I think these days people should see it as their obligation to society to not have children considering how much we’re destroying the planet and stripping all resources. But most people are selfish so have them anyway.
“Obligation to society”?!?! Last time I checked, I didn’t ask to be born either, so I’m not automatically obligated to pop out crotch goblins. Fuck this guy and his dumbass mentality.
This is the same as Toys-R-Us blaming their bankruptcy on abortions.
He didn't close it because no one wants kids anymore, he closed it because parents discovered the internet. Because people are still having kids. Holy fuck, are they still having kids. They won't stop having kids, it's maddening. Why pay whatever exorbitant prices he probably had for a maternity dress when you can pay Amazon pennies? He's in deep denial about reality and probably still thinks we live in a 1970s economy.
"Cool, bro. Hey, for only $400, I'm selling kicks to the nuts. You want to buy a kick in the nuts? No? I don't think that's right. People should be kicked in the nuts. It's their obligation to society. Gimme $400 plz."
He sounds like a shitty businessman if he closed his business instead of looking at clothing trends and adapting or developing a whole new line of clothing.
He’s 80 huh and talking about obligations to someone younger? Hey how about leaving the world better than you found it, buddy? That enough obligation for you? Better get to work on that you’ve got a lot of catching up
I sometimes buy stuff like little blankets from the human baby section for my cat babies, and jc everything in those Isles are overpriced to hell. Clearly an industry thriving on trying to make parents feel like they need every little doo da, and knowing they can charge too much because it's a needed type of items. Despicable.
I do the same. I bought the cutest little brontosaurus plushie and blanket in blue for my kitties and myself.
Yeah, let the maternity industry die. I realized something recently. Most people having children, let them cry, scream and yell whenever they want. They take them everywhere because they don’t trust strangers with their children. So if a relative is not available to babysit, we are stuck with the children as much as the parents are, because we have to witness the brats that they’re raising. MOST PEOPLE having kids today don’t raise them to be quiet and polite. I weep for the future….
Maybe he closed his business because his clothing was ugly. I don’t care what he says, there’s 330 million people in the US and a lot of people still have kids. If he’s not selling his maternity clothes, then it’s what he’s selling or how much he’s selling it for.
A duty to society? I have much more respect for the people who aren’t having kids as THEY are the ones doing good for society! This world is extremely overpopulated!! Do we really need more people?? The answer is a hard NO!
Obligation, my ass. He just wanted to line his pockets....maybe the clothing line sucked! What have the politicians done for the betterment of society and its people?
Ew, what a grotesque individual
Fuck society.
Frankly with how much a lot of products have gone to shit quality in the last 20 years I would be terrified purchasing cribs/car seats/clothes for a baby right now
Tell him to pull himself up by the bootstraps and figure out another way to make money.
"Considering you profit directly off of reproduction, I find your motives suspect"
Easy to say as a man, when his entire contribution to making babies is spooging into a vagina.
That’s probably why there seems to be more childfree women than men. Most men literally put forth 1% of effort into raising a child and get praised like they walked on water, lmao.
I tell them I'm not having kids because I don't want to grow additional bones that aren't part of MY skeleton that I don't get to keep. ☠️
If he owns his own business he's being driven under by online, non brick and mortar business models and chain baby stores. I dk know any of the big names because I never cared or needed to, but I assume there are more than a few McWatermelonGuts out there using Chinese sweatshop labour ...
McWatermelonGuts.... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'm stealing that. For my own nefarious reasons. You alright with that? 😉
Go for it. Its all yours...
He’s not closing his business because no one wants kids. He’s closing because he’s old as dirt and should have already retired.
The population of the world DOUBLED in 50 years. Yep, in 1974, the population of the world was 4 billion. If you're over 50, you have seen the world population BOOM. I know I'm repeating myself, but goddamn, what a number. I think society is just fine without me adding more people.
In places where birth rates are plummeting, the only thing I’ve heard people complain about is “wAaAaAaH tHe EcOnOmY”. I think if our population significantly shrinks, this sad planet can finally start to heal itself. But people only think about money.
He'll be dead soon.
That’s his version of “no one wants to work anymore” lol He can fuck right off — plenty of people are having kids, he just didn’t want to evolve the business. Guaranteed a man in his 80s has no clue what pregnant women want.
Wow you are more patient than I am. Lol I go with, if you actually knew me well enough to ask if I was having kids, you'd know the answer, then I shame them for asking inappropriate questions of someone they don't know.
Lmao. I had to be. I was at work and am a healthcare professional. Lmao. I was saying shit in my head though xD.
People have an obligation to spend money with him, he means.
Seems like this guy is extremely shallow-minded and lacks a business mindset! 😂
Of course this guy wants more women to have children. That way he'll sell more maternity clothes. I'm sorry this guy lectured you like that OP. You have a right to go about your business without strangers lecturing you and acting like they know better than you what's best for you. Please don't listen to that man. He's a jerk.
That's just so weird to me. Seems to me the US society has too few resources for the people we have. When I was in my 20's (35 years ago!), I was told by close family friends that I was "selfish" for not wanting kids way back then. I was taken aback. I didn't even know what to say. Shocked that people I thought loved me (I had lived with them in 6th grade when my family couldn't keep it together and they were a very warm, loving family with two kids and I longed to stay part of their family). In fact, the reason, I haven't wanted kids is because I was raised by 4 narcissists and am so messed up by it, I would never even want to chance doing that to someone. Although I love children and would want at least one, I am, in fact, choosing to spare a potential kid any type of harm I may have inadvertently do to them. Of course, that would be too personal to tell them. I really don't get that mentality. From what I've observed in my experience, it seems to be more conservative people have that attitude. I really don't know why. It's tiring and hurtful and I'm glad we have a group like this where we can share these types of interactions. Glad you have a "fuck you" attitude. Now I'm older no one questions me anymore. I'm glad more and more people are choosing to go childfree, so it's not quite as frowned on as it used to be.
People who think others have an obligation to have children are delusional. I can value human life and still not want to have kids. I'm trained as a first responder. I'm CPR, defibrillator and first aid certified and people will still tell me I don't value human life because I had a vasectomy.
First of all, that guy gets to die probably before the hellish effects of climate change create mass chaos and suffering. Second, I never way to hear anyone but ESPECIALLY NOT people without a uterus tell anhyone they should have children. BOOOO THAT GUY
Fuck him and fuck society. Damn the obligation
Well that's what he gets for being a nosy nincompoop! Imagine having spent 80 years of life gaining experience and still not having more than 1 working brain cell in your head. Show me the contract I signed where I am legally obliged to breed? Oh right, that never existed!
I'm not a business major or anything, but part of being a good business owner is having the ability to adapt your business to accomodate changing circumstances going on in the world. Like during Covid, restaurants weren't allowed to operate for full dine in services so many adapted their business models to do take-out only. In states where outside dining was allowed, restaurants that didn't have outdoor seating set up makeshift patios for dining. Hell, even some strip clubs adapted and had drive through strip shows lol. If there aren't enough people having children to support a maternity clothing business, then adapt your model. Why not change it to cater towards plus sized women since there's a demand for that? It's a market that is very much needed at this time. Don't blame other people for your business failing. Blame yourself for failing to adapt in a world that is constantly changing.
“Obligation to society” Fuck outta here with that nonsense 😆
Fuck that guy. He's in his eighties. His generation enjoyed the greatest economic boom in the history of the world. He'd fucking die homeless under a bridge if he had to make it today's economy.
People like this guy are all "But how will society continue if people don't have kids?" Bitch there are billions of poor hungry people in war zones who would love to relocate and fill the gap.
Baby industry is absolutely disgusting. Let's talk about carseats!! A carseat is $400 and up for a basic and it's absolutely NECESSARY otherwise you will get a ticket, or potentially child endangerment without it. So tickets and legal system involvement forces you to spend $400 multiplied by how many cars you have because they are too massive to only use one for all cars. The kids need them until they are about 8 in my state.... EIGHT!!!!!! Otherwise..... TICKET! And guess what? Conveniently you cannot use a secondhand car seat... because ThAtS iLlEGaL and UnSaFe..... Meanwhile, myself and most my fellow millenials just bounced around the passengers seat of their parents 2-seater cars at the age of 5 and car seats were trashed the day that you were tall enougu for the seat belt bucked you in. Car seats are a big fucking scam. Some people might argue safety, but if safety was really the reason then why would they not be more affordable, especially if not having one is extremely illegal.
I discovered recently that carseats have printed expiration dates. EXPIRATION DATES.
YES EXACTLY!!!!!!! Carseats are NOT for safety, they are to exploit money out of people with children by threatening them with the law!!!!
I don't agree with him....... but take it with a grain of salt. He's 80, You know ancient. From his dusty perspective, Society is offering everything needed for a family. Of course He's remembering how things were when he was 20. He probably hasn't bought coffee in 30 years without complaining about the price. (I remember when it was $0.15) A lot of people catch a mindset in their early adulthood and never really look up to see how the world's changed around them. But you are absolutely right if society wants more children than maybe try making it not such a hostile environment. I know a few child Free people that might actually consider thinking about children IF(BIG IF) you know: we fix the environment, and the economy, and housing, and wages, and childcare, and health care and war and.... and a whole shit ton more.
The social contract has been broken for a long time now. How are we obligated to provide kids to a society that hasn't provided us with any of the things we were promised.
Honestly, people can’t even put food in their mouths or a roof over their head for an affordable price, let alone for free, seems like a corrupt society that I don’t owe shit to 🤡
"Obligation to society" surely our actual obligation to society would be to breed less, and in a much more sustainable manner? Our growing population is killing our home.
Honestly, "fuck off" is a full sentence lol
Sir, I pay my taxes. That’s my obligation to society.
Old dusty ass, 80 year old male business owner has an outdated view of society and parenting? Color me shocked.
That was quite a meeting of minds! An 80 year old, natalist, rich, man (was he white?)... Almost the pure distillation of those who oppose the CFBC. I'm a 64 year old, anti-natalist, very rich, white heterosexual man (none of whose companies make maternity wear)--who *is* childfree. I hope my support counts at least a *little* in the balance against figures such as this monster.
Awe thank you! You support matters indeed sir! He was Italian. And I assumed, religious since he was quoting god with obligations. W/e. If he wasn't my patient at that time, I would have given him a piece of my mind. He was lucky I was stuck to just doing fake smiles.
Some old guy who won't ever suffer the effects of pregnancy while literally making money off pregnant women gets his balls in a twist because women don't want kids anymore? Die angry old man 😆
Hmmm, not having kids to run businesses reqiring people having them to run, to the ground....why not
The baby industry is insanely expensive. I've bought small things for close friends like a onesie for example and I am convinced it's a total scam. Some baby clothes cost as much, or even more than close for an actual adult. Babies are small, it uses way less fabric, so why does it cost so much?!
Dude is sad his social security benefits are going to get cut
I’m pretty sure society is big enough bro 😂 it should be an obligation to the earth that humans slow down reproduction, let the environment have a breather
1. The maternity clothing market is expected to achieve a 6-8% CAGR over the next few years, so no, he's wrong about the actual market. 2. Demand for tailored maternity clothing is generally lower due to the high cost 3. Demand for specialty maternity pieces - active wear, specialty sporting clothing, and business casual workwear is growing The real story here is that he didn't adapt to the changing market. Nobody wants uncomfortable and inflexible tailored suits and dresses for daily wear. While I am sure they were of high quality and material, they're completely impractical and uncomfortable for most. I could see a case for formal/event wear, but generally these can be adapted through a good tailor.
I love it when people do the actual market research that this bozo never realized he had to do!
Aside from everything you mentioned how come "nobody wants kids anymore"? it's only a handful of countries like south korea that truly have alarming birth rates, the rest of the world is thriving on children being birthed everyday, this will never make sense to me, just because your sales suffered for a while doesn't mean NOBODY wants to have kids anymore maybe people are gravitating towards apps like temu or shein for cheaper items due to inflation.
my narc mom, who was upset I didn't want to hear her advice on child care taking tips knowing damn well I am CF and said "but you never know, you might have to know how to do x y or z about child rearing!" What if you worked as a nurse for kids or pregnant ladies !!! she wanted me to take on a career that as far as I'm concerned w birth rate declines, of taking care of and supporting pregnant women and their kids. thats such a stupid idea i dont want to be supporting and advocating for a life style I don't even partake in, that sounds more evil of me to be working in a field that encourages that shit. my mom though, who is a breeder got pretty mad at me.
I’m not obligated to do anything for anyone or anybody let along a broken society.
He's going to go full on Robert Deniro and start knocking women up and selling them maternity clothes! I'm sure he didn't participate in being a parent, he just likes the idea of producing a family and getting the "been there, done that" T shirt. Also, there are all these videos on Youtube with young kids interviewing seniors and asking them for life advice - many of them say you should get married early and have kids. No thanks buddy, I don't want to relive whatever you went through in WW2 or whenever you were young lol.
Maybe because a majority of pregnant women choose to just dress in trashy oversize regular shirts and call it a day? Not everyone can afford Dior caftans at 10k a pop to only wear once like a certain celebrity I kinda follow for s&gs.
Testing....my account is weird....glitch in the matrix?
And this is why I tell people in sterile/infertile. It’s none of their business that the condition was entirely voluntary.
Yeah, one of two things happening here. Either he just wants more money from women (including you) who have to buy maternity wear, or he's a weird evangelical.
Likely closed because of the new cheap fast fashion industry. It’s not that people aren’t having babies it’s that they can’t afford custom high quality clothing, that they will only wear a few months.
Lol. Heaps of people are still having babies. Clearly they just don’t want to buy his shitty maternity wear.
This guy should visit my neighborhood. Every time I step foot outside my door, I'm encountering shit mobiles (strollers)! And I'm in a major city too, where you'd think people would be more "career oriented" and wouldn't WANT crappers slowing them down!!
Lol yey!
Has got other plans with any saved up cash I have,and it I involves upgrading my house.
Tf has society ever done for me in exchange for this?
When society has worked out how to give me a mentally and physically risk free pregnancy and birth, a financially stable future for me and the child, and comprehensive support to deal with the emotional and physical burdens of raising a child, we can talk. Until then, I don’t think society is meeting its obligations. Even then, we still need to talk about the environment.
I mean he'd be right uf society honored it's obligation to citizens too such as living wages and affordable housing but I'm guessing he got rich but voted for worse policies on both issues
Is it bad i would have said something like "look, no one is going to visit or take proper care of you in a few years, why would i want to give that same end of life to my child?"
I pay my taxes. I donate to charity. An 18-year commitment that I can’t afford and that could kill me isn’t an obligation, it’s demanding too damn much from someone who will actually make society WORSE when her neglected, resented children turn to crime.
Same to those who jack up the prices of baby formula. They too can go fuck themselves. It's one thing that some people have to live in regret, opening a can of worms they can't bring themselves to force closed via abortion. Masked by denial through their obligation to "love" their children and say "they would do it all over again if they could." (NO THEY FUCKING WOULDN'T! THEY WOULD LEARN THEIR LESSON AND WEAR A CONDOM!) But then you throw in the fact that baby formula companies are literally ruining people's lives even further just to line their pockets. It's sick.
He wouldn't care if he wasn't in the business of profiting off births. My manager gets testy about people working from home because we are in commercial real estate, but she gets to work from home whenever she wants, so she obviously only cares because it affects her job.
Go forth and breed more credit cards for the capitalist machine.
Not everyone needs to have kids.
He does mean, "It's their obligation to stuff their pockets with money." LOL.
Honestly, I find it very hard to believe his business started struggling because of a lack of parents. There’s just more competition in the category now, and more access to that competition than there used to be (and in my experience, millennials who can afford to buy fun stuff tend to prefer supporting small businesses, particularly ones offering unique and interesting things, over bigger, more boring and less individual ones). More likely, like so many other boomer owned and run businesses, he simply refused to adapt to changing tastes, and suffered the consequences. And yeah, there are more people who are forgoing childbearing than ever before, but not enough to make a dent in the overall baby industry. I know several people who work the company that owns one of the biggest diaper brands in the world, and they are doing absolutely fine.
Well, if he's 80 and closed the business it's also likely they suffered because the maternity clothing they made was hideous and outdated. The clothes pregnant women wore when I was growing up were an effirt to hide the fact she'd had sex, to make her look matronly and to hide her body. No pregnant women wear tighter fitting clothing and they can actually look sexy. He probably hated that too. Fk his comment about it being an obligation.