Hating Kids Is A Lucrative Career
Chappell Roan, the miserable Gen Z popstar has jumped on the anti-kid bandwagon, and it pays
One of the most sinister Instagram accounts I follow is called @childfreemillennial. I’ve followed her for years now, first becoming interested in the cult of “child free influencers” when I was a few weeks pregnant and my online algorithm started pushing their content to me. What hooked me, and led to me spending months investigating these accounts, was how uniquely sinister they were. One would make videos of herself, walking down children’s clothing aisles and gagging at the baby outfits. They didn’t just talk about not wanting children, about choosing a different path in life to other women, but how they hated children. They hated the inconvenience other kids brought to their lives. They also hated the women who had these kids, and made videos to mock and torment them.
That’s why, when singer Chappell Roan — famous for some hit songs but mainly for hating her own fans and complaining about fame — spoke in a recent interview, she reminded me of these sinister accounts. Roan was asked if she could see herself one day getting married and starting a family. When it came to kids, she replied, “All my friends who have kids are in hell. I don’t know anyone – I actually don’t know anyone who’s like, happy and has children at this age.” She went on to say, “I literally have not met anyone who has like light in their eyes, anyone who has slept.” People online were quick to point out that because of her age, which is 27, it is very likely that Roan’s friends with kids are in the thick of the baby phase or toddlerhood. They probably vented to her during those vulnerable nights after no sleep that we all have as parents in the beginning, and would probably be very upset about her airing this on a podcast. One mom on X said, “Chappell Roan going on call her daddy saying none of her friends with kids are happy is a prime example of why you cannot just vent to anyone because I guarantee she has this perspective because a few of her mom friends are going through it and may a friendship like that never ever ever ever find me.”
It’s an ungenerous assumption from me that Roan is also saying these things to further her career. But hating kids right now is in vogue, and I have found out over the last year and a half, it’s also a very lucrative business. I have interviewed a handful of Instagram influencers who are raking in thousands a month by bad-mouthing kids. I have also interviewed multiple “child free therapists” who are paid by women to tell them whether or not to bother having kids. All the ones I’ve seen are childless and pretty vocal about it. The account I mentioned earlier, @childfreemillennial, once replied to a comment from someone who also doesn’t want to have kids, who asked her why she is so aggressive towards mothers and why her decision not to have kids is something she feels she needs to post about daily. “This is a career for me,” she replied, adding it is how she makes money, and insinuating that maybe, like all other kinds of influencers, she doesn’t always believe the vitriol she posts.
Chappell Roan and the accounts I’ve mentioned do have another thing in common. Neither are happy, and are constantly choosing to tell the world about how unfair their lives are. Chappell has said that fame has caused her great distress, saying, “nothing about my life is like me anymore,” and @childfreemillennial is in therapy for severe anxiety and, it seems, can barely leave her house without suffering some kind of panic attack. Maybe, just maybe, they should both offer the grace and humility to mothers that they expect in return.