No one asks women about the fertility panic. Why?

Plus, why so few women become highly-paid YouTubers, and other links we loved this week

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Women are talking. Is anyone listening? Photo by Maia Habegger on Unsplash

This week, Lane weighed in on the sometimes thorny conversation about how — and whether — to incentivize women to have more children.

“I don’t think that people should be “persuaded” to have more kids. The notion of breeding to prop up the economy, or social security, or anything, is gross,” Lane wrote.

“I think that true freedom would mean the opportunity to have kids if you wish, or have no kids at all. Right now in this country, we have neither.”

Of course, much of what’s coming out of the bro-natalist White House is based on the idea that women should be used to produce bodies to keep the economy running, or create more white Christian babies to prop up a Christian nationalist vision of the U.S.

But even if the intentions there weren’t so nefarious, the fact is that, as Lane points out, no one is listening to what women themselves actually say on this issue.

And when Lane asked members of the MR community what they think women need to have a thriving family — of whatever size — they weighed in with clarity.

“They asked for equal partnership and childcare, they asked to be able to expect to not die in childbirth, they asked for patriarchy to simply leave them alone to live their happy single lives.”

“They were incandescent with rage, they were tired, they were fulfilled with what they already have.”