Being childfree comes with a sexist price.
A 22-year-old woman recently went viral on TikTok after reenacting a conversation she had with her gynecologist about the possibility of getting her tubes tied — a procedure formally called tubal ligation that is a form of medical sterilization.
“Hi, Mrs. Gynecologist! My name is Olivia. I never want children. I’ve had this made up in my mind since I was old enough to think of the concept. Can I please have my tubes tied?” the video starts.
Playing the role of the gynecologist herself she says, “No. It’s permanent.”
“Yeah I know,” Olivia says. “That’s why I asked. I’d like that option.”
“Well, no. You might meet Mr. Right and change your mind,” says her gynecologist.
But Olivia was stubborn in her decision. “No. It’s not my plan. It’s not in my five-year plan, it’s not in my ten-year plan, my fifty-year plan. I don’t want that,” she explains in the video.
Her doctor pushes back by saying, “Yeah, but you might change your mind, and it’s permanent, so here’s a brochure for an IUD.”
Olivia then waves around her IUD brochure and says she told her gynecologist “no thank you” in regards to getting one.
This video has since received 2 million views and almost 500,000 likes.
According to the Pew Research Center, this is a common situation as 44% of adults claimed it is “not too likely or not likely” that they will have children someday.
Women flocked to the comment section in order to show their support for Olivia. One person said, “THIS! YES!! I NEVER WANTED AND NEVER WILL WANT KIDS!! I’ll be 40 in four years.”
Others pointed out the sexist factor beyond her doctor mentioning Mr. Right. “I’ve always hated the ‘what if you meet a man’ argument because, yes, let’s make life decisions on the chance a man comes into the picture,” one user said.
Olivia responded by saying, “Whoever I end up with, I’m going to ensure that they also want to be childfree.”
Some men even showed up and criticized her decision to live childfree. She responded with, “I don’t go to the grocery store clerk to do my taxes, and I’m not going to ask a man what I should do with my fallopian tubes.”
In follow-up videos Olivia said she would not be getting the IUD or any form of hormonal birth control.
She’s now leaving birth control up to the man instead.
“Whatever boo I end up with, I guess he’ll just have to get a vasectomy,” she says. “Apparently you can get one with the snap of a finger because they’re reversible.”
