The XX Factor

Women In Their 20s Are Aware of Their Biological Clocks

Amanda, I too was irritated by this week’s New York cover story , but what bothered me the most was how derivative it is.

From New York : “The fact is that the Pill, while giving women control of their bodies for the first time in history, allowed them to forget about the biological realities of being female until it was, in some cases, too late.”

From a Time cover story in 2002: “Childlessness was more like what one called a ‘creeping nonchoice.’ … By the time a woman is married and settled enough in her career to think of starting a family, it is all too often too late.”

From MSNBC in 2005 : “Priorities with men and women who delay having children often shift to starting a family by the time they’re in their late 30s, but by then it may be too late for some.”

The too late too late too late drum beat goes on.

I’d also like to add that it’s truly not the pill that leads the women I know to delay pregnancy. It’s having unstable jobs, or difficulty finding the right person. In fact, there is some evidence that the age at first motherhood is going back down again , after 35 fairly consistent years of rising maternal age. It’s possible that the decline is because my generation saw the fertility problems that women were experiencing and decided to make motherhood a priority at a younger age. Whatever the reason, I’m so with you that the idea that we’re deluded about our biological clocks is just silly at this point.