Childless Is the Default
Childless Is the Default seeks to explore the core concepts of choice and uncontrollable outcomes connected to having children. We are all born childless, without a child (except for ourselves)—this is the default for all humans. Yet, in many cultures remaining childless is seen as an aberration, a deviation from social expectations of marriage and parenthood. This is especially true for women, whose value for centuries has been tied to ideas about beauty and fertility. But biology, happenstance, and luck are at play. Some who long to have children are denied that experience. Some are thrust into parenthood unexpectedly or against their will. Others make choices in response to pressures from partners, family, or society that they later regret.
I am childfree—remaining without children was an explicit choice I made with my spouse when we married over 20 years ago. While choosing to be childfree/remaining childless has become more widely socially accepted, it still carries significant stigma, and particularly in the U.S. has become politically charged. In 2021, JD Vance stated in an interview on Fox News that “the U.S. is being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” [1] Changes to abortion laws have removed some choices for people living in particular states. Doctors and health providers who refuse to listen to patients who want to pursue sterilization, or who condescendingly limit options for birth control have removed other choices. The complexity, pain, and expense of IVF and fertility treatments remove other kinds of choices.
This zine strives to underline the range of possibilities—the enormous, varied, nuanced spectrum—for humans when it comes to procreation. There are so many ways to be human—physically, emotionally, mentally, culturally—countless possibilities for sexual expression, gender expression, desires, preferences, motivations, goals for happiness. So too are there a multitude of ways to approach choosing to have a child or not. Social media has created a charged atmosphere around parenting and childless/childfree communities, creating spaces where harsh judgements and name-calling abound. But my choices don’t invalidate or de-value different choices made by others, and vice versa. My value as a human doesn’t hinge on my parental status. It is my hope that we can celebrate this range of possibilities and better support each other regardless of choice or outcome.
Childless Is the Default is a 24-page hand-bound zine featuring images and text that explore these ideas. It also features letterforms scanned from a collection of 1970’s Canadian Letraset.
[1] Treisman, Rachel. “JD Vance Went Viral for ‘cat Lady’ Comments. the Centuries-Old Trope Has a Long Tail.” NPR, NPR, 29 July 2024, www.npr.org/2024/07/29/nx-s1-5055616/jd-vance-childless-cat-lady-history.
This work was exhibited in the M(other)ing Exhibition at the Perspective Gallery at Virginia Tech University from March 18 through May 16, 2025. The exhibition was organized and curated (through a call for submissions) by Meaghan Dee (Virginia Tech University) and Bree MacMahon (University of Arkansas). The exhibition was described as “an exhibition dedicated to creating space for designers and creators producing work about motherhood, womb-bearing bodies, reproductive journeys, and living childless by choice.”