The Color of Women

Every once in a while, I hear from a new reader directly by email. It really makes my day/week/month. I have found that there is a similar ring to the correspondence. Sort of a non-audible, ahhhhh, the thud of a soft landing place for those of us who are not parents, and not particularly militant about it. I don't recruit, I explore, and I do it with the help of my fine Purple girlfriends (we're childfree)!

I chose the colorful honorific because I wanted to define myself, rather than to let others do it for me. Some would call me childless, some would call me childfree, (some would even hyphenate child-free, which I advocate against in this post). The side benefit is that the color purple makes a lot of people curious, and curiosity gets the conversation going.

Recently, I changed the name of the blog to Purple Women & Friends in hopes of encouraging broader participation and civil disagreement -- all in the name of enlightenment. This has already changed the dynamics of this space. Parents and non-parents alike are participating in the dialogue, even men and young women who are not sure about the big decision to parent or not to parent. I hope we all get to enjoy another year of interesting posts from multiple contributors and commenters.

As one young woman recently wrote:

“I have mixed feelings about being rabidly child-free, however: I like kids, I think I might like to have kids, but I'm not sure it's right for my husband and I for a few good reasons. When friends have kids, they disappear into the kid world, and I'm left with fewer and fewer people 'like me'... Refreshing to find this blog- thanks!”

Such a big life decision should be a conscious one. It’s a big choice to make, regardless of how long it takes you. The choice, whatever it be, and the act of choosing is very empowering. I think of this blog as a place to explore the other side of the fence. For those undecided, please check out this post: Fence Sitters. I suspect a lot of contemporary young women identify with childfree and are thinking it over, much more than the generation that preceded them.


Technorati Tag: Childfree