Another Myth Put to Rest
Q: Is there really such a thing as a biological clock?
A: If you mean some inner drive to reproduce, no. Since reliable birth control has only emerged in the last 50 years, there was no reason for such an urge to develop as we evolved. Breeding was a given, not a choice, and therefore certainly not something nature needed to compel us to do. Even if lower birth rates might cause an evolutionary shift and create some "biological clock" to make us reproduce since we have found so many wonderful reasons not to, such a mechanism would not evolve over a few decades. So all the pressure we supposedly feel comes entirely from culture, not nature.
p.s. I don't feel any urge to have children at all. The only clock I hear ticking is the desire for greater personal freedom, not less.
Comments
I'm 43 and never married no children, no interest in either. :-)
Posted by: Liz | April 30, 2006 02:02 PM
*blink*
Are you really saying that millions of years of evolution have somehow failed to instill in us (living things like other animals, and plants, and bacteria) a biological urge to, you know, propagate the species?
I agree that "biological clock" gets used politically against women, but that it exists is a silly thing to contest. It exists in every species on this planet that reproduces.
"p.s. I don't feel any urge to have children at all. The only clock I hear ticking is the desire for greater personal freedom, not less."
Sigh. Your choice, your privilege. To imply, however, that childbearing lessens personal freedom is something I've gotten mighty sick of lately. Yes, I understand the militantly "child-free." By the same token, don't go knocking my desire to bear and raise children. To each her own, eh?
Note that up until now my comments on your posts have been supportive. Which is to say: oh yes I do mean to pick an argument, precisely because you're a person worth arguing with. :)
Posted by: vika | May 13, 2006 06:31 AM
i am happy mostly - though terribly sick at times - the medicine is not a perfect fix - i think some weed would help but caant find any - Kant find any...
Posted by: bdsm fem dom | June 9, 2006 05:00 PM