Rant Time 3

Anti-Natalism

Antinatalism, or anti-natalism, is a philosophical position that assigns a negative value to birth.
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I'm getting ready to get my ass kicked for this one. No, this is not satire.

After thinking it through, my childfree choice and my pro-choice stance on abortion are much more than what they seem. They are pretty much just labels that define my reproductive choices and women's rights. However, there is something bigger. There is a term for what I am, and I didn't quite know it existed until I looked it up and found that the definition fit me: anti-natalist.

It's just how it sounds. An opposition or distaste for birth, procreation, and/or reproduction. It is more of a philosophy than a stance or position. I didn't realize that my pessimism and disgust towards birth and procreation had a name, or that it was even a philosophy. I just thought I hated procreation. No. I'm an anti-natalist who lives by the philosophy of anti-natalism.

Okay, yes, I'm young, slowly crawling towards 16 in exactly 24 days, but I know exactly what I want and exactly what I am. Some may think "How could someone so young make such a huge lifestyle choice?" Many factors contributed to my childfree lifestyle, pro-choice stance, and anti-natalist philosophy.

First thing is, why do I think this way? Especially in my mid-teens? I think knowing what you want in life at a young age is good. You don't worry about it so much and don't grow up trying to find yourself in every little decision you make. You get your head screwed on tight so it won't rust and fall apart later. I don't want to be thirty-something and still wondering what my life is or how I'm going to continue. It's my worst fear. I want to be able to go with the flow without having to stop and wonder what I'm supposed to be.

I know my my major life choices. I may not know what crap I'll have to wallow through to get to where I want to be, but I know one thing: children, at least biological, are not for me. Not only because I have a fear of pregnancy or that I know I'd be a shit parent, but because I think that procreating is the ultimate definition of both selfish and vain.

I should elaborate. What do you hear the most when you ask someone the common question, "Why did you have kids?" You're most likely going to hear, "Because I wanted them." You may hear them give another reason, many, if not all, of which only benefit themselves.

What I have to ask is: how does the person whom is unwillingly brought into this world benefit from it? What do they receive? Where is their benefit? They are born into a harmful environment, completely unknowing of the dangers lurking, all because of a choice two (possibly one) people made. They couldn't make the choice on whether to be born or not. Their mother said, "I want this, I will have it." And that was that.

The "gift of life" is a ludicrous, laughable, and invalid reason to bring a new human into the world by choice alone. When you think of life, ask yourself: is it really a gift? Define gift. A gift can have one of two outcomes: bad or good. By giving this oblivious person the "gift" of life, you are willingly subjecting them to a plethora of chances and risks that should not be taken, but thanks to procreation, must be taken at the human's risk.

Whenever I hear news of someone being pregnant or trying to conceive, I feel a bit sad. Not because the thought of parenting depresses me, but because I actually feel bad for that child. I look around me, take a good look at my past, think of the possible outcomes of suffering, overpopulation, earth's resources coming to a halt, and the very pain that comes with living a life that you were just thrown into without being able to choose.

You are automatically deciding a non-consenting potential life's fate by choosing to birth it. There are complications to this natural but risky act.