Fred and Serena Waterford are, in The Handmaid’s Tales, desperate to have children – 2021 Hulu
- Some people childfree (childless by choice) lament the lack of representation of childless characters in the series.
- If some series like Grey’s Anatomy try to highlight characters childfree with Cristina Yang, others like Seinfeld do it in a more scathing way.
- For Jennifer Padjemi, “having more models of series like this would make it possible to decenter the fact that pregnancy is an end in itself and thus advance on the representation of people without children. “
A subject of society and ecology, not having children is now a matter of fiction. The Handmaid’s Tale – whose fourth season is coming to an end soon – is one of those series which have placed the desire for children in their main plots, to the point of provoking a civil war and the establishment of a totalitarian state… In the American series , based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, a company called Gilead faces an ecological disaster that has left its inhabitants sterile. To repopulate the declining population, fertile women, called servants, are forced to give birth to the wealthiest families.
A few weeks after the launch of this last season, Lucie is still marked by Bruce Miller’s television series. As childfree – a term that appeared in the 1970s in the United States to designate people who do not want a child by choice – Margaret Atwood’s fiction reminds this 27-year-old engineer of childhood memories: “I have never loved to play mom and dad. When I was forced to do so, I always took on the role of the father. Impossible for me, even small, to have children. It’s as if, deep down, I had always known that I would never be a mother, ”she says with a smile.
Although in France people childfree remain in the minority, with 5% of women and men not wishing to have children (INED), other countries such as Australia estimate that childless couples will become the most common type of family by 2023 (Australian Bureau of Statistics).
Lack of representation
However, by turning on your television to watch a series, we would be far from suspecting the emergence of the movement. childfree in the society. When many sitcoms like Malcolm or some
Simpsons place the parent / child relationship at the heart of the story, others like
Friends even go so far as to glorify the desire for children at all costs. “The heteronormous family is one of the most common societal models in series. It is as if the only possible evolution in the life of a woman was to have a child before 40, to tick the boxes of success, otherwise you have failed your life “, explains Jennifer Padjemi, author of the work
Feminisms and Pop culture.
For some actresses, this birth rate diktat even follows them off camera. Since her split from Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston has constantly had to respond to rumors of pregnancy and children. “With Brad Pitt, she was the perfect couple: stable, healthy, beautiful and married. So it was inconceivable for people that they did not want children. When Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie, another very beautiful woman with whom he had many children, we kept reminding Jennifer Aniston of what she had “missed” “, adds Jennifer Padjemi .
Athena, member of a group childfree on social networks, deplores this forced passage by the birth rate in the series. The young woman does not leave her disappointment unnoticed when the desire for a child takes over in a scenario: “I watched The Big Bang Theory and I really liked Penny, who finally seemed like a character who doesn’t want a well-built kid. But during the final episode, we learn that she is pregnant. It’s a bit making fun of us and making people tell us “you’re going to change your mind,” “says Athena.
Breaking the family model
So why is it so hard to put people on the screen who don’t want to be parents? For Jennifer Padjemi, “in family series, parenthood is obvious. To portray a female character who wishes to move forward in life without having children goes against the typical model of the family, which makes the characters childfree very rare. “
But some series take the plunge like the sitcom Seinfeld which tells the daily life of four New York friends. The characters are in their thirties, often go out together, seem relatively happy and above all express no desire to have children or even do not hesitate to show their disgust with babies.
A writing that is far from gaining unanimity within the community childfree : “Of course, people who choose not to have children may have some personality flaws, but they don’t deserve to be portrayed more disturbed than parents. It’s as if the writers thought that by making these characters unwanted and loathsome, the audience would find their non-parent status more acceptable, ”says Lindsay Pugh, in her articleTelevision’s Representation of Childfree Women Sucks.
Is there a successful childfree model?
But the people childfree have their heroine. In 2006, Grey’s Anatomy broadcasts an episode in which Cristina Yang, played by Sandra Oh, cannot find the courage to go and have an abortion. She then asks the child’s father to accompany her despite his accusing remarks such as “You killed our child”.
After more than ten years on the show, the consistency of Cristina’s character on her non-desire for a child is what makes her popular with people. childfree. “For once, we are breaking this tendency to show childless women as lonely, old and sad. Cristina is filled with joy and happiness and does not intend to change her mind to please her partners ”, says Lucie, childfree.
“The fact of not wanting a child was not changed according to his trajectory. It was a very thoughtful choice of the production which did not imagine Cristina mother no matter what, ”adds Jennifer Padjemi.
Challenging the codes of parenthood
If the issue of non-parenthood today tends to animate social debates, especially among celebrities, “this was not the case before,” says Jennifer Padjemi. For the author and journalist, a real evolution in terms of the representation of people childfree in pop culture is not impossible and will even be necessary to tackle another theme: better portray parents who want children. “They must be taken out of the normativity of parenthood by showing on the screen a couple who are wondering, a mother who regrets having had children, or a woman in postpartum for example” adds Jennifer Padjemi.
The journalist underlines the effort made in the series Trying, available on Apple TV, which questions the different stages of procreation and what it means to be a parent. “Having more series models like this would make it possible to decenter the fact that pregnancy is an end in itself and thus advance on the representation of people without children. You can’t have all of one without having all of the other, ”says Jennifer Padjemi.