In a normally ordered world, children are the greatest blessing that a woman could ever hope to attain. In a world enslaved to the materialistic religion called liberalism, children become her greatest oppressors. Not men, not male patriarchal society; not that old chestnut that has been rolled out ad nauseam for the past five or six generations. It is children that oppress women.
Liberalism is the worship of the self, the elevation of the individual to being the thing of most importance; ye shall be as gods. Liberalism is a zero sum game. There is no room for generosity when the self and self actualisation is the thing of greatest importance. In liberalism, if a woman gives something away then that is something that she has lost that could have been for herself. Nothing causes a woman to lose more of herself than children. She loses her time, she loses sleep, she loses the chance of a career, she loses the opportunity to go out at night with her friends, she loses control of her very body for a time.
Selfishness is a virtue in the world of liberalism. You can have it all, went the slogan for women. You go girl, when a woman thinks only of herself. Eat, pray, love, but only if you stand to benefit. This is not a world for motherhood.
Which is why birthrates collapse in liberal societies. This is the primary reason why liberal societies cannot maintain a stable population, let alone grow a population. Because the benefits that liberalism promises women are at complete odds with motherhood. At best you can treat children as an optional lifestyle accessory, as a project that you begrudgingly do until they turn 18 and then you can go back to full time self worship. In this regard, one child is acceptable, perhaps two children at a push. But the norm is for no children at all.
In a rightly ordered society, motherhood is meant to be transformative. Women are meant to surrender to motherhood, surrender themselves in service and love. Not to lose themselves, but to transcend themselves, to expand themselves, to become more of the true selves that God made them to be. And they do this with the guidance and support of their husbands who are meant to transcend themselves as well, both of them rightly ordered in their marriage before God.
Accepting this surrender and leaning into it is the path to death and resurrection. Fighting against the surrender leaves only death. Lindsay Clancy acted out this evil paradigm in full colour, fighting for her very self against its biggest threat – her little children. Most women would never go this far, and the resentment and struggle and misalignment stays below the surface. It is culturally acceptable to complain about losing yourself in marriage, losing yourself to a husband. It is not yet acceptable to complain about losing your self to your child. It is not yet acceptable to openly resent your children. The Lindsay Clancy case is a canary in the coal mine that these underground rumblings are coming to the surface.
Motherhood, (and fatherhood for that matter), does not end when a child turns 18. A father and mother should continue to help, support and guide their adult children as best they are able to without being intrusive. Not make them start out in the world from zero. Not set them up just to fail. But liberalism can make no allowances for such generosity of spirit. The self is all that matters. When selfishness is a virtue then any and all bad behaviour can be excused.
As the endless number of glittering restaurants are filled with smiley, happy, beautiful couples all enjoying the fine dining and company of others, our society withers on the vine. Surely Satan’s cup verily overfloweth.
You can find Adam Piggott at Substack, and purchase his books here.
