I’m honestly not surprised that everyone on reality tv wants kids, and I think your last little image about the stats on women taking their partners name ties in perfectly. Everyone who goes on reality tv, while it isn’t a traditional way to meet a partner, ARE traditional people. They all want their man to ask their daddy for their hand in marriage, they’ve been dreaming for their whole life of becoming a wifey, they can’t wait to take their husband’s name, they want their dad to walk them down the aisle and literally give them away like property, and on and on. I don’t personally know anyone with opinions like that, which is also probably why I do know people who don’t want to have children.
omg kelly im SO glad you touched on this. the heteronormativity of these shows (and i say this as a straight married woman) is so IRRITATING. all of them scrambling to take their mediocre men's surnames, all of them prattling on about their babies with men they JUST met, it's all sooo nauseating in its play-by-play similarity. not one woman who's interested in a long term partnership but not in the other accoutrements.
It made me genuinely sad when Sabrina on LIB celebrated giving up her last name to become “Mrs. Smith” (no offense to any Smiths out there!), as if taking on a fairly generic last name attached to a very generic man was the ultimate celebration.
Admittedly, I don't watch a ton of reality TV but this sentence really got me, "And if anyone dares to admit they *might* not want children, it’s treated as a “problem” to solve. Something to get over or work through."
“Show me two formerly on-the-fencers who decided they don’t want kids after all (ending their previous relationships over it) and then they meet and fall in love! I’M BIASED BUT I SWEAR THAT STORY IS INTERESTING!!!!!!!!”
YES PLEASE GOD. I am also biased, as a mid-30’s woman who doesn’t want children, but is the barest representation of child-free stories really too much to ask for?? I hated how Sabrina came into the pods uncertain of whether she wanted children at all, and the compromise they landed on was definitely children (that might be adopted). I have friends who are parents, friends who don’t want kids, and friends who are undecided, yet only one of those groups has their life choices positively reinforced in this facet of media. Biggest eye-roll INDEED.
I’m honestly not surprised that everyone on reality tv wants kids, and I think your last little image about the stats on women taking their partners name ties in perfectly. Everyone who goes on reality tv, while it isn’t a traditional way to meet a partner, ARE traditional people. They all want their man to ask their daddy for their hand in marriage, they’ve been dreaming for their whole life of becoming a wifey, they can’t wait to take their husband’s name, they want their dad to walk them down the aisle and literally give them away like property, and on and on. I don’t personally know anyone with opinions like that, which is also probably why I do know people who don’t want to have children.
omg just commented something very similar!
omg kelly im SO glad you touched on this. the heteronormativity of these shows (and i say this as a straight married woman) is so IRRITATING. all of them scrambling to take their mediocre men's surnames, all of them prattling on about their babies with men they JUST met, it's all sooo nauseating in its play-by-play similarity. not one woman who's interested in a long term partnership but not in the other accoutrements.
It made me genuinely sad when Sabrina on LIB celebrated giving up her last name to become “Mrs. Smith” (no offense to any Smiths out there!), as if taking on a fairly generic last name attached to a very generic man was the ultimate celebration.
Admittedly, I don't watch a ton of reality TV but this sentence really got me, "And if anyone dares to admit they *might* not want children, it’s treated as a “problem” to solve. Something to get over or work through."
It's maddening!
“Show me two formerly on-the-fencers who decided they don’t want kids after all (ending their previous relationships over it) and then they meet and fall in love! I’M BIASED BUT I SWEAR THAT STORY IS INTERESTING!!!!!!!!”
YES PLEASE GOD. I am also biased, as a mid-30’s woman who doesn’t want children, but is the barest representation of child-free stories really too much to ask for?? I hated how Sabrina came into the pods uncertain of whether she wanted children at all, and the compromise they landed on was definitely children (that might be adopted). I have friends who are parents, friends who don’t want kids, and friends who are undecided, yet only one of those groups has their life choices positively reinforced in this facet of media. Biggest eye-roll INDEED.