as a vegan antinatalist (who wanted biological kids for a long time), it’s super frustrating to hear antinatalism be mischaracterized. Many within the movement DO NOT believe that people in majority world/global south/whatever your preferred term are to blame for unfettered reproduction. Those that willfully reproduce when birth control is accessible to them AND are aware of how messed up bringing more kids into this garbage fire are culpable. I’m also not antinatalist because I’m worried about any possible biological children of mine not being vegan. I am more concerned about not being able to guarantee that my offspring won’t suffer and/or won’t regret their existence. Which is impossible, and the ethos of antinatalism.
Antinatalism, like veganism, is fundamentally a philosophical movement, which is not rooted in the conditional. I can imagine that the hosts of this podcast are not vegan solely for environmental reasons, just as antinatalists don’t hold their position because of climate change/capitalism/perhaps arguably “fixable” issues. Antinatalism is not a distraction from those issues, or even a response to them. The “inconveniences” of life, even for privileged people, go beyond merely standing in line or needing to fill out forms, which the hosts dismissed callously. Fundamentally, no unselfish reasons to reproduce exist. I would encourage the hosts to further educate themselves before speaking about a topic they clearly know so little about.
