Hag. Spinster. Crone. Childless cat lady 🐈‍⬛ The words have barely changed - and neither has the patriarchal playbook.

In this episode, we trace the threads between the women burned as witches and the childfree women demonised today: fear of females outside of men’s control, the suspicion of our time and money, the medical misogyny that came after midwives and still shows up in doctor’s offices to this day.

Join us as we get dark, summon the spirits of our long-dead sisters, and gather a coven of powerful childfree women ✨

BBC Radio 4 podcast: Witch

Jody Day: The Symbolic Annihilation of Childless Women in Films and Media

Harpy: A Manifesto for Childfree Women by Caroline Magennis

Guen, Berlin: “People wonder, when left to our own devices, what trouble childfree women get up to.”

Roz, UK: “It was all men making decisions about my body.”

Monica, Berlin: “I was struggling to find a job, until I started to bring up being childfree in interviews. The results were staggering.”

Childfree Stories: My Body, My Choice

Podcast: The Devil You Know with Sarah Marshall

We are Childfree podcast: Birth Rate Panic! Not our problem.

Shop Hag merch on the We are Childfree store

Vice: 50-Year-Old French Author Says Women Over 50 Are ‘Too Old’

Helen Parish: “Paltrie Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils”: Witches, Familiars, and Human-Animal Interactions in the English Witch Trials

Come see us at Storyhouse Childless in September in the UK! We’ll be giving a keynote speech about the birth rate panic, hosting panels on ageing without children, creating community, and childfree men - and we’d love to see you there. Grab your weekend pass here.

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

“Feel the fear and do it anyway” could be the motto of 67-year-old aussie legend Karen. She’s skydived despite her fear of heights, dived with sharks even though she didn't quite trusting the cowboys running the operation, and tried stand-up comedy - because of her terror of public speaking 💪

For Karen, being childfree has meant freedom. Freedom to leave her husband who thought she’d change her mind and only wanted to dim her (intense) light. Freedom to move on a whim, from Adelaide to Singapore, and then Hong Kong. And freedom to date men as young as her friend’s grown-up children ❤️

Karen has so many stories, we kept the juiciest ones for our Dolly Patrons. Subscribe now to hear about Karen’s trip to a brothel, how many children she had in a past life, and what she did on her honeymoon with the toast and the jam… 🍞

Whatever you wish for your childfree life, we hope this conversation inspires you to not let fear stand in your way!

Come see us at Storyhouse Childless in September in the UK! We’ll be giving a keynote speech about the birth rate panic, hosting panels on ageing without children, creating community, and childfree men - and we’d love to see you there. Grab your weekend pass here.

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

The alt right media is asking, "Why do the 'child-free' want EVERYBODY to devalue motherhood?", and warning women that "The Childfree Dream Is A Scam"... But who's selling who, and what are they peddling?

In this ep, we meet the two genders of modern conservative media, Blaze and Evie, and dive deep into their grift: tricking you into giving up on feminism and becoming a trad-wife-in-training. Their ultimate goal? The Motherhood Scam.

This one's so shocking, James' jogging pants flew off! (...the front of our camper van...) Listen in to find out the state of modern motherhood, why patriarchy wants to keep the truth from you - or at least make you shut the eff up about it - and how, as ever, childfree women are getting the blame 🤬

Blaze: Why do the 'child-free' want EVERYBODY to devalue motherhood?

Unladylike podcast: Gender War Games Pt. 1: Womanosphere Rising with Diabolical Lies

Evie: The Childfree Dream Is A Scam

We are Childfree podcast: Taking the road less-travelled, with 65-year-old clinical psychologist Shelley

@peanut on Instagram: The 2026 Motherhood Index

Come see us at Storyhouse Childless in September in the UK! We’ll be giving a keynote speech about the birth rate panic, hosting panels on ageing without children, creating community, and childfree men - and we’d love to see you there. Grab your weekend pass here.

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

Rae is a legend! From birth, she’s always been very sure of who she is and what she wants, feeling a powerful sense of inner strength - an absolutely no maternal instinct 🙅‍♀️

Now 72, she was the baby of her family, but always treated like an adult, especially by her pharmacist father, who supplied her with the contraceptive pill among his other support. Rae seized the opportunity to create a life of her own, working behind the scenes in TV, training as a handwriting expert and now campaigning as an animal rights activist.

Rae has gathered around herself a feathered family, anchored by her husband Bob AKA Daddy Bird! And while theirs is a beautiful love story which will end in a graceful green burial, Rae’s sense of self holds strong. We completely co-sign these words of wisdom: “be your own best friend and be ready to be there when no one else might be”.

Get ready to meet an absolute icon 💎

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together. Next cohort coming soon from We are Childfree!

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

Another week, another birth rate panic!

We recorded this ep before Dr Oz starting shrieking out about “under-babied” Americans, when the UK was freaking out about the death rate possibly exceeding the birth rate…

But guess what bro, the birth rate’s been falling for 50 years! It might be time to accept that and adapt - unless what you’re really worried about is being “replaced” by people who don’t look or live like you?

And even if you believe the birth rate is a problem to be solved, as childfree people, is it our problem? 📉💥

The Independent: UK population growth set to slow due to reduced migration and lower fertility rates

OVERSHOOT podcast: Falling Birth Rates are Not a Crisis | Philip N. Cohen

BBC: More UK deaths than births expected every year from now on, ONS projects

The Telegraph: Britain’s demographic timebomb is about to blow. We have three terrible choices

Statista: Fertility rate hits record low in England and Wales

We are Childfree podcast: Childfree Elder Judi: “I Feel Joyful Every Day”

Daily Mail: UK fertility timebomb: Crisis as birth rates drop to all time low with some areas becoming 'baby deserts' as so few are having children

Diabolical Lies podcast: Gen Z Women's New "Anti-Woke Voice”

The Guardian: The tipping point: what happens when deaths outnumber births?

Our World in Data: Fertility rate

Life Without Children: Russia Is Sending Women Who Don’t Want Kids To Have Their Heads Checked

Journal: Earth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future

Come see us at Storyhouse Childless in September in the UK! We’ll be giving a keynote speech about the birth rate panic, hosting panels on ageing without children, creating community, and childfree men - and we’d love to see you there. Grab your weekend pass here.

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

Get curious with Judi, 68, who’s truly made the most of her freedom. Born an only child in a time and place when that was rare, she grew up in Los Angeles and spent summers with her countless cousins in Tennessee, having her eyes opened to different lifestyles and different choices from a young age.

Determined to make the most of opportunities her grandmothers never had, Judi started her own business - Mannequin Madness! - nurtured kids her own way as a mentor in a Big Sister programme, explored her spirituality as a Buddhist, travelled the world and now wants to learn Spanish and move south of the border.

Judi’s secret to feeling joyful every day? Practising gratitude, even in the hard times, and staying curious about the world. We hope this conversation brings a big smile to your face lovelies 😃

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together. Coming soon from We are Childfree!

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

We’re always warned we’ll end up unhappy if we don’t have children, but a recent study’s shown that parents are no happier than non-parents - and that’s SCIENCE! Cue the pronatalist backlash from self-proclaimed experts, including a bunch of dumb dads, claiming that what we’re really missing out on is meaning. But what’s the purpose of “Purpose” if it doesn’t make you, or anyone else, happy? Listen in to hear the parental happiness myth busted, how you don’t have to earn your place on the planet and why hedonism is a good thing, actually 🍾

Having children DOESN'T make you happy: Becoming a parent provides no boost to wellbeing, study claims – but it does ruin your relationship

Dinky Podcast: stories from regretful parents

Parents are not happier but have a greater sense of meaning in life

We are Childfree podcast: No regrets, with 78 year-old childfree trailblazer Marcia Drut-Davis

Am I a happier person for having a child? It’s the wrong question to ask

We are Childfree podcast: You are enough, with Dr Kate Tomas

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together.

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

Meet Esther, 67, based in New Zealand. She's dedicated her life to teaching kids how to be curious and independent, and thinks of her students as her "lights in the world", her living legacy.

Esther's come a long way from being adopted in Germany, and raised by neglectful parents who sought - unsuccessfully - to control her. She's travelled the world, campaigned for Greenpeace, championed underprivileged kids... and she says that every decade of her life just gets better!

Hearing from childfree elders brings us so much hope and pride, and it's our pleasure to introduce you to the ever-inspiring Esther 💝

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together. Coming soon from We are Childfree!

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

A third of Gen Z men believe that a wife should always obey her husband. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! James takes us on a deep dive into young men’s attitudes about women, themselves and - most worryingly - gender equality. A survey that dropped on International Women’s Day shows how badly patriarchy drives men to hurt themselves, other men, and especially women. Listen in to hear Zoë get horrified about the state of the genders across generations, and maybe find a little bit of hope for the future 🙏

“Gen Z males twice as likely as baby boomers to believe wives should obey husbands“

Joan Smith in The Guardian: "As a boomer, I’m shocked by gen Z’s attitude towards women – something has gone very wrong"

Katie Jagielnicka: Gen Z Men Will Never Be Breadwinners

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together. Coming soon from We are Childfree!

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com

Spoiler alert for Love Is Blind Season 10! And yes, we know he’s called Mike - but sometimes it’s hard to tell these guys apart 😅 Zoë dives deep into the toxic reality TV trope of “You’d be a great mom!” and reveals to James - and all of y’all - just how deep the pronatalist rabbit hole goes. You’re welcome? Seriously, we loved dissecting one of our guilty pleasures - if you enjoyed this too, let us know and we’ll do more eps like this!

Liz Plank never lies: Love Is Blind Is Not a Dating Show It’s a Nature Documentary.

Listen to Taking the road less-travelled, with 65-year-old clinical psychologist Shelley.

Find out the problems with genetic testing, with this Ill Conceived podcast on Surrogacy.

Join the waitlist for Hearth, an intimate live programme for childfree women who are ready to stop carrying the questions alone, and start finding answers together. Coming soon from We are Childfree!

Support our mission of celebrating childfree lives by becoming a Dolly Patron. You’ll get full-length episodes of the pod, access to all our beautiful portraits, exclusive BTS from our journey, and more!

Follow We are Childfree on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.

And find out more at wearechildfree.com