The Century-Long Battle to Disprove the Myth That All Women Want Children

The concept of maternal instinct had figured prominently in scientific theories since the time of Charles Darwin. Late 19th-century psychologists believed women possessed a unique need to create and care for offspring. In the late 1800s, experts attempted to use biology to shore up this theory, positing that maternal instinct was located in the female reproductive organs.
Hollingworth wasn't buying it. "There is no verifiable evidence to show that a maternal instinct exists in women of such all-consuming strength and fervor as to impel them voluntarily to seek the pain, danger, and exacting labor involved in maintaining a high birth rate. We should expect, therefore, that those in control of society would invent and employ devices for impelling women to maintain [the] birth rate."

She believed the circulation of the myth was itself one of these devices. Other ways society pressured women into having more children included the promotion of the idea that only abnormal women don't want babies; stigmatization of interests other than the maternal as dangerous, melancholy, or degrading; female sterility as grounds for divorce; limited education opportunities for women; and the widespread depiction of the "sacredness and charm of motherhood" in art, literature, and music.
Additionally, contraception was illegal and considered obscene, and dissemination of any family planning information was outlawed. Hollingworth was writing in the same year that Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the US, which police immediately shut down.

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/the-century-long-battle-to-disprove-the-myth-that-all-women-want-children?

Jennifer Aniston Refuses to "Be Whittled Down to a Sad, Childless Human"

Aniston explains why she raised her voice in Marie Claire's December 2016 issue (on stands Nov. 15). "My marital status has been shamed; my divorce status was shamed; my lack of a mate had been shamed; my nipples have been shamed," she says. "It's like, 'Why are we only looking at women through this particular lens of picking us apart? Why are we listening to it?'"
After three decades in showbiz, she'd finally had enough. "I just thought, 'I have worked too hard in this life and this career to be whittled down to a sad, childless human,'" Aniston said.

 

http://www.eonline.com/news/807546/jennifer-aniston-refuses-to-be-whittled-down-to-a-sad-childless-human 

Is motherhood central to your identity as a woman? Marriage?

Poll finds that while parents worry about bullying and unhappiness, they are more concerned about their child’s performance

"There is an instinct as a parent to want to make a comparison, both in what is expected for a child of that age and as compared to other kids in the class. But there’s so much pressure now, it feels, around educational performance and how best to help our children succeed, and that’s getting harder as exams are getting more difficult."

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/02/parents-concerned-about-results-than-childs-happiness-says-survey?
 

What is the point of raising a child?

The standard ways of thinking about morality don’t apply well to parenthood

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/26/what-is-the-point-of-raising-a-child-by-alison-gopnik?CMP=fb_gu

How the Childfree Decide

When researchers explore why people do not have children, they find that the reasons are strikingly similar to reasons why people do have children. For example, “motivation to develop or maintain meaningful relationships” is a reason that some people have children — and a reason that others do not. Scholars are less certain on how people come to the decision to to be childfree. In their new article, Blackstone and Stewart find that, as is often the case with media portrayals of contemporary families, descriptions of how people come to the decision to be childfree have been oversimplified. People who are childfree put a significant amount of thought into the formation of their families, as they report.
https://psmag.com/how-the-childfree-decide-b0e16c2f3fe3#.d16ny23ea

Sonia Bragra Childfree choice

Aos 66 anos e retomando a paixão pela atuação, a atriz Sonia Braga falou à revista "Elle" de agosto sobre cinema, trabalho e a decisão de não ser mãe, com a qual ela precisa lidar até hoje.

"Há mulheres que, se não tiverem um filho, enlouquecem. Nunca senti essa necessidade", conta.

http://f5.folha.uol.com.br/celebridades/2016/08/crime-e-o-aborto-nao-ser-legal-no-brasil-diz-sonia-braga-que-interrompeu-primeira-gravidez-aos-17.shtml