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"Childless on principle" gains ground in Russia
Published: 24 March, 2010, 08:27
Edited: 30 March, 2010, 12:01
TAGS: Children, Russia, Lifestyle
More and more young people prefer not to have children out of principle – simply because they do not need them.
Modeled after an American idea, Russia's online Childfree Community has thousands of members. Of different ages and sexes, they are brought together by their rebellion against social norms. They can have children, but simply do not want to.
Sergey Leonov is a successful cameraman. He spends his spare time working on designing clothes.
“Having children is about sacrifice, and I don't want to sacrifice doing what I like,” Sergey explains his choice. “When I told the women I was dating that I didn't want children, they thought I was joking. But then it created rifts, and many left me because of it.”
But the stance goes beyond an Internet community. Over the last thirty years, Russia has suffered from an extremely low birth rate. At various points, economic troubles and political uncertainty have been blamed. Although the 2000s have seen fast economic growth and relative political stability, the birth rate has not bounced back. So, at least to some extent, attitudes must be to blame.
Sociologists say that Russian women are following a Western trend by wanting to postpone childbirth. But many Russians are also reluctant to have children because they are often expected to look after and house them well into their twenties – longer than in many other countries.
But, for the most principled childless, there is a deeper cause.
“People treat others as they were once treated themselves. Many of those who don't want children simply did not feel needed when they were growing up,” says psychologist Anna Kartashova.
But although there may be several reasons for not having children there is definitely only one outcome.
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3 comments
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Rebellion against traditional moral values, the extreme individualism and a mistaken emancipation of women are undermining our society, at first in America, then in Europe and finally in Russia.. Therefore we are week and our demographic trend is negative (not in the USA, but I suspect that their trend is not at a loss thanks to the hispanic and islamic communities). On the contrary, the social organization in many African and Asian countries, especially the islamic ones, is often founded on the submission of women, but is stronger and their demographic trend is on the rise. Both Russia and the Western world would have to pay more attention to these problems, to help women willing to have a family etc. Unfortunatly most of our efforts are wasted in endless disputes and in the attempt of encircling militarily Russia.
Rebellion against traditional moral values, the extreme individualism and a mistaken emancipation of women are undermining our society, at first in America, then in Europe and finally in Russia.. Therefore we are week and our demographic trend is negative (not in the USA, but I suspect that their trend is not at a loss thanks to the hispanic and islamic communities). On the contrary, the social organization in many African and Asian countries, especially the islamic ones, is often founded on the submission of women, but is stronger and their demographic trend is on the rise. Both Russia and the Western world would have to pay more attention to these problems, to help women willing to have a family etc. Unfortunatly most of our efforts (or at least those of the American government) are wasted in endless disputes and in the attempt of encircling militarily Russia.
you'll still end up better off than canada. Canada's birthrate is around 1.6, I believe, and it is an AGING population. It sounds terrible, but because your life expectancy is not high in Russia, you will actually end up with fewer dependents in a couple decades' time. I just don't see a happy ending for canuckistan or for western europe; the entitlement culture is deep-rooted, the societies in question are aging rapidly, and they are facing systemic budget deficits. The excited states might remain a global power by default - and that would be tragic for humanity.