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Kabu, thanks for your input here!
Deliberate population control, before there was effective birth control, or population management in an aesthetic sense, such as the Spartan ideal, has snuffed out a lot of infant lives.
posted by
Ciel
on May 12, 2012 at 7:01 AM
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CCT, I do understand that it is a choice made for personal reasons
and it is a good enough one, to simply not want to be a parent. Many who become parents, mothers and fathers both, don't want the job, or don't commit to it, or are incompetent at it, and the children suffer for it. I've known several couples who chose not to have children, each for their own reasons, some of which I know.
One just didn't want to invest in the future of this world.
One thought she would be a lousy mother, and was afraid of childbirth.
Parenthood is a huge, exhausting undertaking, and it's better not done than done really badly.
posted by
Ciel
on May 12, 2012 at 6:57 AM
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Well Ceil to be honest I would not have wanted children if I had been a woman and some women feel the same obviously. This does not mean one does not like children, they are mostly charming. Other reasons prevail, A kind of self moral judgement probably.
posted by
C_C_T
on May 12, 2012 at 12:02 AM
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societies used often to practice infantacide to keep the population at a
number that was sustainable and that was to recent times. From my studies it would seem that these decisions would be made by the elders or ruling group.
Any society where women are given choices and education one will definitely see the birth rate decline.
But one will also see women running around like chooks with their heads cut off determined to be perfect at work at play and definitely as Mommy.
posted by
Kabu
on May 11, 2012 at 5:14 PM
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Naut, culture has played an enormous role on human evolution
since we developed a sense of aesthetics, and started choosing mates for superficial qualities, more and more.
Also a factor in the overall birthrate, alongside infant mortality, is mother mortality: deaths in childbirth effectively cut back the numbers of potential future births, obviously.
Aesthetics and medical knowledge are both elements of culture, of course.
posted by
Ciel
on May 11, 2012 at 1:07 PM
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I think of a photo in the paper I once saw, of a Mexican woman who had just
had her 20th child. She is a small, frail looking woman, surrounded by children of all sizes, and sitting beside a big fat man who looks a lot more happy than she does.
posted by
Ciel
on May 11, 2012 at 12:59 PM
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Ciel
This is a fascinating topic, and I am tempted to write on it myself.
Let me leave you with this thought: In view of the fact that until the Neolithic Revolution (abt. 10,000 yrs ago) birthrates (as well as populations) were 'controlled' by biological factors almost exclusively - what is the effect on the gene pool that culture has played an ever increasing role? Our better brains(?) through culture have affected the selection process involved in the very high rates of infant mortality found even until fairly recently. Keeping in mind that nature and hence evolution are completely indifferent towards culture, the long-term effect may be highly negative from a purely biological point of view...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 11, 2012 at 12:48 PM
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I must admit that after having four baby boys in five years, I was thankful for an Rx for "the pill".
posted by
TAPS.
on May 11, 2012 at 12:21 PM
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