Although Ferguson withdrew his theory in a din of recrimination, it was not miles away from getting at a truth about the rational incentives that face childless people, gay or straight. To be childfree is to encounter what economists call a steep discount rate: money is worth more now than in the future. Pension provision aside, there is little reason to defer gratification. College fees, a nest egg, a house big enough for a playroom – there sure are a lot of things to not bother saving for.
This is why the procreating majority sometimes resents voluntary childlessness as an expression of decadence and self-regard. There are, of course, poor childfree couples, ascetic childfree couples, munificently philanthropic childfree couples. But the classic Childfree Couple – the one in people’s heads, the one gloss-published on magazine covers – always radiates a gilded narcissism. He is a banker, she is a barrister, their lifestyle is a king’s ransom of Nespresso machines, luxury holidays in adults-only resorts, stress-free nights on the town.
This picture of denatured affluence is grossly wide of the mark but it is worth asking ourselves what would be so bad about it if it were true. A conceptual challenge to which even the most liberal societies are not yet equal is accepting that, for a good number of us, this life – the material, temporal here and now – is enough, thank you very much. We accept that many people do not hunger for a connection to the transcendent through God but we struggle to understand people who do not seek transcendence through progeny either. We assume that everyone must want to subsume themselves into “something greater than ourselves”. But many of us do not. If our lives lack meaning as a consequence, it is not obvious why a life with no meaning is any less enjoyable than Churchill’s “pudding with no theme”.
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