Daniel Eden

I’m convinced that all these guys who come up with proposals to “fix the fertility rate” have never talked to a woman. They treat it like an economics problem they can optimize, or even worse they just tell women to have kids to “save civilization.” If you actually spend time with women who aren’t having kids, you’ll find they almost all fall into one of five buckets: 1. Dating problems. They were in some 5+ year relationship (or a series of relationships) that stole their youth and left them so jaded that they’ve given up on finding a man who could be a good father. 2. Family problems. They come from such a dysfunctional home that their own childhood holds few happy memories, and they’re terrified of recreating those conditions with their own children. 3. Health problems. A ton more women than you think have conditions like endometriosis or PCOS or other health complications that can affect fertility and make having kids more dangerous or harder to do. 4. Career goals. They’re convinced that they have something huge and unique to contribute to the world either professionally or creatively, whereas “every woman can have a kid,” and so to them, having children sounds like a waste of their potential, like giving up. 5. Lifestyle goals. They’re really into traveling and being independent and getting into “adventures,” they want to explore the world and experience everything, and the idea of giving all that up to sit at home and raise kids makes them want to die. If you really want to fix the fertility rate, and you’re not addressing at least a few of these, your solution is useless.

That’s life.