Introducing 'Life Without Children'

There's a new publication on Medium for those without children by choice or circumstances

Jun 16, 2024

Many of the Abnormally Normal subscribers don’t have children. I want to announce my latest project for readers and writers without children and anyone who has children but is interested in deepening their understanding of life without children.

Welcome to Life Without Children.

Finally, a place dedicated to those of us without children.

We live in a world that equates womanhood with motherhood and masculinity with how many children you’ve fathered. Not having children — for any reason — can be isolating and challenging.

I’m Ali and I’m childfree. My journey hasn’t been easy, even though I’m here by choice.

Once you’ve read this article, pop over to Life Without Children and familiarise yourself with our space.

About Life Without Children

Whether you are deep in the throes of grief due to your childlessness or battling obnoxious comments about your choice not to have children, this is a safe place for you.

Being without children is deeply nuanced, and we all identify differently. Some of the most common self-identifiers include: childfree by choice, childless, childless not by choice, childless by choice and childless by infliction. This list of identifiers is by no means exhaustive.

Our status may have been influenced by politics, culture, socio-economic position, climate change, health, relationship status, or anything else.

We are all at different stages of our journey.

Some of us have endured a painful battle with infertility and unsuccessful IVF. Some have known since childhood that we didn’t want children. We each have a unique story, and every story is valid.

While the path to a life without children is different for everyone, one commonality we all share is the impact of pronatalism.

And by the way — if you have children but are here to read and learn — thank you for your support. Also, if you want to write about how you show up for your friends and family who don’t have children, we are open to you.

Why is this space needed?

Statistics vary depending on the source. According to this study roughly one in five adults in Michigan (considered to be an accurate representation of America as a whole) are childfree and intend on staying that way.

The 2018 UK census shows that 19% of women aged 45 and over are without children; this did not distinguish between choice and infliction.

There are other statistics, all with slightly different figures, but ultimately, adults without children make up almost a quarter of the population.

And yet, we are often excluded, suppressed, othered, and made to feel invisible and less than. There is a grave lack of representation of people without children in the media.

Isn’t it about time we had our collective voices heard?

Submissions

Whatever angle your story takes and whatever writing style you adopt, the main theme must centre around not having children.

Remember that Medium rewards high-quality stories that promote a “deeper understanding, not misunderstanding or division.” And heck, as people without children, don’t we understand division!

We accept the following:

Personal stories, poetry, opinion pieces and persuasive essays about not having children.
Social, political and cultural commentary around not having children.

A powerful story builds resonance through vulnerability.

If you are writing more of a social commentary or opinion piece, ensure it’s credible by using facts and science (hyperlinked appropriately) to back it up and make it informative.

Whatever writing style you choose, weave your own personal experience into it. Medium is the home of human stories and experiences.

Most importantly, make us feel something. Use the highs and lows of your story to connect to your readers.

Take us on a journey of laughter and tears. Share your anguish, frustration or joy.

Use your authentic voice to leave readers feeling slightly altered by their sense of compassion and feeling more educated and informed about a life without children. Let’s give readers goosebumps.

Spend time reading through some of our published stories to understand what we publish.

Editorial guidelines

Life Without Children is part of an umbrella publication called Sista Publications. We are a collective of women-led publications, sharing best practice and working together to help your writing pop.

At Sista Publications, we have the same editorial guidelines for all the publications.

You can read the full guidelines here.

Please read these guidelines thoroughly before submitting any stories.

We have an interactive editing process and may make small editorial alterations to your story. We may also provide editing suggestions for you to consider.

If your submission requires extensive editing, it will be rejected.

We only accept unpublished drafts.

Please follow these guidelines set out by Medium.

If you are unfamiliar with submitting a story to a publication, check out a handy guide here.

Any submissions with AI detected will be rejected.

Absolutely no hate speech or derogatory language used to describe parents or children.

How to Submit

First off, make sure you follow Life Without Children.

Send us a draft link to a story you want published via this form.

If your story fits, you will be added as a writer with Life Without Children.

You will hear back from us within a week.

Money and Stuff

Life Without Children is a passion project that does not make money from your work. We can not offer any payments at this time.

However, if you are signed up with the Medium Payment Partnership Program your stories will earn money if they are published behind the paywall.

We do not have the BOOST power (yet), but our comrades at Sista Publications do.

If we think your story is boostworthy, we will flag it to our nommer friends.

Already blog about childlessness or being childfree?

Medium allows articles that are published on multiple platforms. This means if you have your own blog via your own website, Substack or any other, you can benefit from further reach and financial remuneration by posting on Medium as well.

So yes, if you already blog about being childfree or childless, your blogs are welcome here, too. If you do this, you may want to update the canonical link on your Medium story.

You can also direct Medium readers to your blog by inserting a small hyperlinked CTA at the bottom of your story, directing readers to your blog.

e.g. This story was originally published at XXXX

Win-win, right?

Life Without Children Community

We are just a tiny acorn. But from small acorns, mighty oaks grow.

There are many childfree and childless communities available. However, there are very few who intentionally build connections between the different identities of life without children. We believe there is too much division in this world; isn’t it time we build cohesion?

We are working on a list to direct our readers and writers to other useful resources, such as communities, professionals, support groups, books, etc.

Please contact us via this form if you have a resource you would like added to our curated list of resources.

Keep informed by signing up for our newsletter here.

We will endeavour to publish all articles within three days. Please be patient and kind with me. I will do my absolute best for you and your stories.

Thank you for showing an interest in Life Without Children.

Thanks for reading. Please share it with any of your childfree and childless friends. Or anyone else who may be interested in Life Without Children.

Abnormally Normal is on Instagram. We are for everyone who feels like they don’t fit in.