THRIVE Trauma Recovery Coaching Blog

I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you how much pressure women feel to have children.  Five decades after the feminism's second wave, women who choose not to have children still face significant ostracizing and shaming.  Motherhood is still held up as a woman's highest aspiration and most cherished role. So being a childless, middle-aged woman can make you feel like the odd man out in any gathering . . . at best. At worst, you can find yourself shamed for not having children. Saying you don't want to have children is seen as synonymous with saying "I hate children".  People treat you like you are some type of insensitive monster. Selfish, self-centered, unfeminine, mean, bitchy. So in the face of such pressure and shaming, what woman would choose childlessness? Childhood trauma survivors do so all the time. And our numbers are growing. Fear of Repetition Abuse  If you were abused in childhood, inevitably you will ask yourself, "would I al