In case you missed it, China has decided to raise the cost of condoms and other contraceptives by imposing a 13% value-added tax (VAT) to combat declining birth rates. You read that right: instead of making parenthood more affordable, they’re making it more expensive to avoid getting pregnant.

Many conservative influencers built their platforms on autonomy and feminist gains — education, financial independence, career exploration — then pivot to pressuring other women to shrink their lives, limit their ambitions, or pursue early motherhood as a moral imperative. The pattern is consistent: enjoy the freedoms yourself, then discourage the next generation from doing the same.

From “you’ll regret it” to religious hospital bans — why women are still fighting for the right to control their own fertility.

Do you really think a woman who bakes her children’s fucking cereal from scratch, homeschools five kids under eight, keeps a spotless house, and exists solely for her husband’s happiness also has the time and energy to film an endless stream of content for millions to consume? The tradwife aesthetic is a business model, not a belief system. It’s curated, filtered patriarchy: soft enough to look appealing, but still designed to keep women small and in check.

Every childfree woman has heard it. The backhanded comments, the guilt trips disguised as “concern,” the relentless insistence that her life is incomplete without children. It’s wild how confidently people will question your happiness, your love, and your purpose simply because you chose not to reproduce.

So, consider this my public service announcement — or maybe my therapy session in writing. Here are 10 things you should stop saying to childfree women, and what we’re really thinking when we hear them. Spoiler: it’s not what you expect.

Every time a politician cries about falling birth rates, they’re not mourning lost babies. Let’s be honest: they don’t care about you or your children.