One of the biggest issues here is that how a woman looks is so intrinsically tied to her standard of living. Better looking women have better jobs, more friends/romantic prospects; the better you look, the better you're treated. Who wouldn't stress over that?

Well yeah, why wouldn't they? Most of their value and power in western culture comes from their looks.

I'm not sad about this at all. Brooke Burke-Charvet is a terrible, awful TV hostess. Well, perhaps that's unfair. She might do well in another venue, but her "work" on DWTS was just awful. She never looked comfortable in front of the camera and she can't improvise to save her life, which is kind of a skill one…

If you are a parent, hopefully you do enjoy the experience for the well being of you and your family. However, many parents speak as if the lives of adults without children are worthless, and some then turn around and ask for help with their children.

I would say your relationship with your pet or spouse isn't comparable or that you think mine isn't. You have no way of knowing where I get my pure joy.

We are bitter because people say stupid shit like. "Now my life has meaning" to us after they have kids— as if our lives have no meaning. I get it— this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to you and you want to express that, but damn, think about the words you're using and how they come off to people who are…

Sounds like typical pandering for attention parents do via crying to anyone who will listen, "I'm martyr raising my child...in a thankless world." They've always seem to got some sort of victim playing story to share.

I'm exactly where you are. There's part of me wishing for that miracle you hear about "So and so had a surprise pregnancy at 44/45/46!" and part of me wishing menopause would hit already so I can just move on.

How about the people who can't have kids and don't really want you telling them how INCREDIBLE & SINGULAR the experience is when they can't experience it themselves? There are SO MANY infertile people in the world who haven't told anyone about their struggles lest they be labeled Debbie Downers. So they suffer in…

THANK YOU!!!!!! I cannot tell you how many time people, knowing full well that I lost three pregnancies before giving up the hope of having a child, have told me some variation of "you don't know the meaning of love until you have a child" or "it's the greatest joy a person can experience" Gee thanks. I guess I'll…

Exactly. It's just silly and arrogant for people to think they can generalize subjective experiences as though they have achieved some kind of pinnacle that would be impossible to surpass. For a particular person, raising a child might be their most rapturous experience. But others may be having similarly rapturous…

Eh, there's some rite of passage stuff that happens in your 40s and you're childless....everyone seems to have some of it ... if you never wanted kids then it's coping with and rising above society thinking you're an outcast; if you did want them and didn't have them (that would be me) it's a long mourning period. I…

That's such a cruel thing to say. Why do you assume she doesn't want them? She also spoke of women with fertility issues. She wasn't bitter at all.

Not to mention that there's usually a tacit devaluing here of same-sex couples and infertile straight couples.

1. You're being condescending.

No need to be sorry, but I'm with the OP — I am emphatically NOT bitter. It's completely ridiculous to play into the "mommy wars" by saying that your experience is, "Sorry, but better than yours," which is pretty much what you're doing in this comment. I would never say my life experience is better or worse than…

I'm not bitter, I just don't want to be condescended to, which is exactly what you're doing. I'm glad you enjoy your children, but please do not assume that I am less than because I don't want them.

Directly from the article:

Can we please stop painting parenting as the only way to get "the highest highs" in life? It's extremely self-righteous and condescending to those who don't want kids, and a knife to the heart of those that do but are having fertility issues. People are different and varied and value different things. You do you &…

Again. The idea that there are millions of healthy babies waiting to be adopted (here and abroad) is a total myth. It really is. The bulk of children who are adoptable are older and/or have severe emotional problems.