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I think the mechanism is ubiquitous poison -> fucked up minds and bodies -> unwillingness and inability to have kids.
oooh and I forgot the British angle/excuse: we're too poor, and kids are too expensive!
But then largely you agree with me... it's just I don't understand what "(in)ability" has anything to do with it? I'm pretty sure, flick-of-a-wand change everyone's mind (on kids, specifically), and we'd be back to 2.5-3 children/woman in a generation
I think people are physically less able to conceive than they used to be, even aside from birth control eliminating so many accidental pregnancies.
That’s sort of anecdotal, from knowing lots of people who had trouble conceiving, but also from known causal mechanisms like obesity reducing fertility.
A big part of this might be that women are often STARTING to try to conceive after the age of 26 or 27. Peak fertility years start around age 18 or 19 for women.
Fertility starts declining MUCH sooner than most people think (but, they think this because that's what the propaganda is).
I’m sure that’s part of it. This is part of why I think it is significant that so many women spend their young adulthood essentially sterilized.
In many ways I view modernity as a struggle against biology - the human will unwilling to accept physical limitations
We'll see which prevails
I see it as an iterative process of making lifestyle changes that improve some aspect of life and then gradually learning what the tradeoffs of that choice were.
Before there was so much nonsense about women easily having children in their 40's and 50's, the trade-offs were much more apparent.
Now women have to discover it the hard way, by themselves.
perhaps not... as in: you don't "see" many people, or hear them "brag", about being unable to conceive.
Maybe you're right and that's just selection (or, you know, hidden) and there are sways of people desperately trying for kids and are prevented by obesity/chemical infertility etc etc.
I just don't believe it. There's a simpler explanation: values suck, kids are seen as burdens rather than blessings
Might be different over here. Americans are much more poisoned than Europeans.
The simplest explanation, that is definitely true, is the opportunity cost one. Your preferred explanation being a subset of it. There are just a lot more things to do with your life other than being a parent than there used to be.
because it's not like we have loads of women complaining "oh, I want children but Monzanto fucked me and I'm now sterile!"
It's boss ladies freezing their eggs or thinking men are ick #1583964 or worrying about climate change or "bringing a child into this horrid world."
(If you tell me the mechanism is chemistry -> fucked-up heads/values -> stupidly decide against children, I'd be more sympathetic to the case.)