The startling new data revealing the sharply declining fertility rate in the UK taps into the fraught and personal conversations that we’ve been having since turning 30: are we ready to have kids, financially and emotionally? How has everything from increased gender equality and the thriving child free movement to social media and the pandemic skip affected our reasoning? We try to answer all these questions and more in this two-part series on the societal and cultural issues shaping how we think about parenthood in modern Britain. 

Next week we will discuss: male infertility, IVF & egg freezing, the child free movement, the taboo of the ‘unnatural’ mother, how pop culture has influenced our idea of parenthood, plus loads more listener DMs.

As mentioned in the intro hunnies, this is a re-run of our most popular episode from this year, so our new listeners can discover, and because it feels so timely still given November's new fertility data! Plus we didn't want to leave you without anything during the holidays. If you've already listened, maybe give it another go! Part two will run next week.

DM us your thoughts on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@straightuppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠ and as ever please, please, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and a rating on Spotify, lysm!

Get an extra month free on top of BFI Player’s 14-day free trial using our code STRAIGHTUP at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠player.bfi.org.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Official London Theatre has amazing discounts on over 50 London shows until Jan 31, from Mean Girls to Tina the Tina Turner Musical, Stranger Things and more! Check them out at ⁠OfficialLondonTheatre.com/seeitlive

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.