How to be childless : a history and philosophy of life without children

249 Pages·2020·3.545 MB·English

by  Chrastil, Rachel

How to Be Childless

How to Be Childless
A History and Philosophy of Life
Without Children
RACHEL CHRASTIL
1
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chrastil, Rachel, author.
Title: How to be childless : a history and philosophy of life without children / Rachel Chrastil.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, [2020] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019015698 | ISBN 9780190918620 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190918637 (updf) | ISBN 9780190918644 (epub) |
ISBN 9780190066765 (online)
Subjects: LCSH: Childlessness—Psychological aspects. | Childlessness—Social aspects. | Infertility.
Classification: LCC HQ734 .C5554 2019 | DDC 306.87—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019015698
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
v
for Beeto
and
for John

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: How to Talk about Childlessness 1
1. Delay 19
2. Whispers 37
3. Interlude: The Baby Boom 57
4. Shouts 61
5. Flourishing 81
6. Regret 97
7. Home and Hearth 115
8. A Better World 135
9. Old and Alone 151
10. Legacy 169
Notes 191
Index 225

Acknowledgments
This project has benefited from many, many conversations with colleagues
and friends. Thank you to all who have read and discussed the project, in-
cluding Suparna Chatterjee, Hwisang Cho, Roger Chrastil, Liz Chrastil,
Bella DePaulo, Catherine Dunlop, Carolyn Eichner, Rebekah Eklund, Jean
Friedman, Walker Gollar, Gabe Gottlieb, Steve Harp, Jennifer McFarlane
Harris, David Mengel, Julie O’Hara, Paul O’Hara, Niamh O’Leary, Lisa
Ottum, Kristen Renzi, Kathleen Smythe, Vanessa Sorensen, Amy Teitelman,
Karim Tiro, Jim Uhrig, Miti von Weissenberg, Tyrone Williams, Jodi Wyett,
and the anonymous readers for Oxford.
I’ve also gotten advice and support from Margaret Andersen, Naomi
Andrews, Michael Bess, Jennifer Boittin, Steve Harp, Anne Kwaschik,
Karen Offen, Richard Polt, Sarah Sussman, Karim Tiro, and Rachel Weil,
along with audiences at Stanford, the University of Tennessee, the Western
Society for French History, the Society for French Historical Studies, the
Colloquium of the Deutsch-F ranzösisches Historikerkomitee, and the
Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities.
At multiple key stages, David Mengel, Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences at Xavier University, has ensured that I have had the time to de-
velop this project. John Merriman has given, as always, his unwavering
support. Early work on this project was funded by a Xavier University
Faculty Development Leave and by a fellowship to research at the Gustave
Gimon Collection on French Political Economy at the Stanford University
Libraries.
I owe special thanks to my editor at Oxford, Abby Gross, for believing in
the project, and to Susan Ferber for bringing me to OUP. Early portions of the
book were originally published in “Paths to Zero: Childlessness in France and
Germany in a Historical Perspective,” in La ‘condition féminine’: Féminismes
et mouvements de femmes aux XIXe–X Xe siècles, ed. Françoise Berger and
Anne Kwaschik (Göttingen, Germany:  Franz Steiner, 2016):  227–2 37.
In addition, portions appeared in two blog pieces, “Mary Astell: A Life
with No Children in the 1600s” (https:// internationalchildfreeday.com/
mary- astell/) and “No Kids in Pre-R evolutionary France: Louise Le Mace”