Believe It or Not! On April 29th, 2005 Ripley’s included VHEMT in their syndicated comic.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
“May we live long and die out”
Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth’s biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense.
Translations welcome Articles
Scorpions
“Humanity” From Humanity Hour 1
May 25, 2007
Humanity
Auf wiedersehen
It’s time to say goodbye
The party’s over
As the laughter dies
An angel cries
Humanity
It’s au revoir to your insanity
You sold your soul to feed your vanity
Your fantasies and lies
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Be on your way
Adios amigo there’s a price to pay
For all the egotistic games you played
The world you made
Is gone
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Run and hide there’s fire in the sky
Stay inside
The water’s gonna rise and pull you under
In your eyes I’m staring at the end of time
Nothing can change us
No one can save us from ourselves
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
Now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Scorpions
“Humanity” From Humanity Hour 1
May 25, 2007
Humanity
Auf wiedersehen
It’s time to say goodbye
The party’s over
As the laughter dies
An angel cries
Humanity
It’s au revoir to your insanity
You sold your soul to feed your vanity
Your fantasies and lies
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Be on your way
Adios amigo there’s a price to pay
For all the egotistic games you played
The world you made
Is gone
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Run and hide there’s fire in the sky
Stay inside
The water’s gonna rise and pull you under
In your eyes I’m staring at the end of time
Nothing can change us
No one can save us from ourselves
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
Now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
“Humanity” From Humanity Hour 1
May 25, 2007
Humanity
Auf wiedersehen
It’s time to say goodbye
The party’s over
As the laughter dies
An angel cries
Humanity
It’s au revoir to your insanity
You sold your soul to feed your vanity
Your fantasies and lies
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Be on your way
Adios amigo there’s a price to pay
For all the egotistic games you played
The world you made
Is gone
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
And now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Run and hide there’s fire in the sky
Stay inside
The water’s gonna rise and pull you under
In your eyes I’m staring at the end of time
Nothing can change us
No one can save us from ourselves
You’re a drop in the rain
Just a number not a name
And you don’t see it
You don’t believe it
At the end of the day
You’re a needle in the hay
You signed and sealed it
Now you gotta deal with it
Humanity
Humanity
Humanity
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
ABOUT THE MOVEMENT
Q: What is the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement?VHEMT (pronounced vehement) is a movement not an organization. It’s a movement advanced by people who care about life on planet Earth. We’re not just a bunch of misanthropes and anti-social, Malthusian misfits, taking morbid delight whenever disaster strikes humans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Voluntary human extinction is the humanitarian alternative to human disasters.
We don’t carry on about how the human race has shown itself to be a greedy, amoral parasite on the once-healthy face of this planet. That type of negativity offers no solution to the inexorable horrors which human activity is causing.
Rather, The Movement presents an encouraging alternative to the callous exploitation and wholesale destruction of Earth’s ecology.
As VHEMT Volunteers know, the hopeful alternative to the extinction of millions of species of plants and animals is the voluntary extinction of one species: Homo sapiens... us.
Each time another one of us decides to not add another one of us to the burgeoning billions already squatting on this ravaged planet, another ray of hope shines through the gloom.
When every human chooses to stop breeding, Earth’s biosphere will be allowed to return to its former glory, and all remaining creatures will be free to live, die, evolve (if they believe in evolution), and will perhaps pass away, as so many of Nature’s “experiments” have done throughout the eons.
It’s going to take all of us going.
Graphic by Nina Paley
Colorized by Aaron Hackmann
Q: Are you really serious?
We’re really vehement.
Many see humor in The Movement and think we can’t be serious about voluntary human extinction, but in spite of the seriousness of both situation and movement, there’s room for humor. In fact, without humor, Earth’s condition gets unbearably depressing—a little levity eases the gravity.
True, wildlife rapidly going extinct and tens of thousands of children dying each day are not laughing matters, but neither laughing nor bemoaning will change what’s happening. We may as well have some fun as we work and play toward a better world.
Besides, returning Earth to its natural splendor and ending needless suffering of humanity are happy thoughts—no sense moping around in gloom and doom.
Q: Do Volunteers expect to be successful?
VHEMT Volunteers are realistic. We know we’ll never see the day there are no human beings on the planet. Ours is a long-range goal.
It has been suggested that there are only two chances of everyone volunteering to stop breeding: slim and none. The odds may be against preserving life on Earth, but the decision to stop reproducing is still the morally correct one. Indeed, the likelihood of our failure to avoid the massive die off which humanity is engineering is a very good reason to not sentence another of us to life. The future isn’t what it used to be.
Even if our chances of succeeding were only one in a hundred, we would have to try. Giving up and allowing humanity to take its course is unconscionable. There is far too much at stake.
The Movement may be considered a success each time one more of us volunteers to breed no more. We are being the change we want to see in the world.
Q: Does VHEMT have any enemies?
After we’ve seen a few hundred TV dramas where the good guy kicks the bad guy’s butt, it’s tempting to look at the real world with this same knee jerk, zero-sum mentality. We might look for an enemy to attack when championing our righteous cause, but in reality our enemy doesn’t have a butt to kick.
In the end, the real “enemies” are human greed, ignorance, and oppression. We can achieve more by promoting generosity, awareness, and freedom than we can by vainly kicking at a buttless foe.
Great progress will be made toward improving the quality of life on Earth by countering greed with responsibility, ignorance with education, and oppression with freedom.
Instead of meeting the bad guys in the street at high noon and shooting it out, why not invite them into the saloon to work things out?
Examples of unity.
Q: What is the official position of VHEMT?
Since the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement isn’t alive with a brain or a mouth, it can’t take positions or have opinions. It can’t get into arguments, tell people what to do and think, nor get punched for doing so.
Voluntary human extinction is simply a concept to be added to existing belief systems, not a complex code of behavior to live by. No committee of Movement shakers decides what position everyone else should take.
Most Volunteers subscribe to the philosophy embodied in the motto “May we live long and die out”, but if someone doesn’t want to live long that’s their business. Really, the only action required for becoming a VHEMT Volunteer or Supporter is not adding another human being to the population. A couple could conceivably be expecting and decide to become VHEMT. That new human would be the last one they produced. VHEMT Supporters are not necessarily in favor of human extinction, but agree that no more of us should be created at this time.
Volunteers are so diverse in religious, political, and philosophical views that it would be divisive to begin formulating official Movement positions. Beware of dogmas. We speak with our own voices.
Q: When and how did VHEMT start?
Roots of VHEMT run as deep as human history. Potential for a voluntary human extinction movement has been around for as long as humans have.
When Ice Age humans hunted animals to extinction, at least one of the sapient neanderthals among them may have reasoned beyond bewilderment. As the Fertile Crescent became a barren desert, and the Cedars of Lebanon were sacrificed for temples, someone must have thought, “this bodes ill.” When Romans fueled their empire by extracting resources from near and far, surely someone remarked, “Humanus non gratis,” or words to that effect. Someone had to get the idea that the planet would be better off without this busy horde.
Someone, that is, besides the middle-eastern god, Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah. Tradition tells how, in prehistoric times, this creator-god realized his mistake in making humans and was going to flush us from the system, but in a weak moment he spared one breeding family. Oops! (Genesis 6: 1-22).
The Story of Atrahasis, an earlier Sumerian myth recorded in Babylonian text, tells of multiple gods conspiring to rid Earth of the bothersome creatures they had molded out of clay. One sneaky god warns a human to build a boat before the flood, and the rest is our history.
We call The Movement VHEMT, but it’s undoubtedly been given other names throughout history. None have been recorded, as far as we know.
There must be millions of people around the world who are independently arriving at the same conclusion. A large portion of today’s Volunteers were vehement extinctionists before they learned of the title “VHEMT”.
The true origins of The Movement can be found in the natural abundance of love and logic within each one of us. Our in-born sense of justice guides us to make the responsible choice.
Q: Who is the founder?
No one person is the founder of VHEMT. Les U. Knight gave the name “Voluntary Human Extinction Movement” to a philosophy or worldview which has existed for as long as humans have been sapient. It’s an awareness which has been arrived at independently in many places throughout history, but had become lost amid societies’ pronatalism.
Like millions of other people, Les followed a simple train of logic, guided by love, and arrived at the conclusion that Gaia would be better off without humans. He could be considered the finder, having identified The Movement by giving it a name, though each of us finds the truth for ourselves.
Although Les has become known internationally as a spokesperson for The Movement, no one can speak for all VHEMT Volunteers. There is no official position on issues beyond what is implied in the name of The Movement.
Q: We have children. Can we still join?
Today’s children are tomorrow’s destiny. Our children have the potential for achieving the awareness needed to reverse civilization’s direction and begin restoring Earth’s biosphere. Most could use our help in realizing their full potentials.
Naturally you’re welcome to join, and you won’t be alone. When people gain the VHEMT perspective, they decide to add no more to the existing human family. They don’t pressure their children to give them grandchildren and might encourage them to make a responsible choice with their fertility.
There is no reason to feel guilty about the past. Guilt doesn’t lead to positive solutions. Being VHEMT has little to do with the past. It’s the future of life on Earth that Volunteers want to preserve.
Q: Are some people opposed to VHEMT?
At first glance, some people assume that VHEMT Volunteers and Supporters must hate people and that we want everyone to commit suicide or become victims of mass murder. It’s easy to forget that another way to bring about a reduction in our numbers is to simply stop making more of us. Making babies seems to be a blind spot in our outlooks on life.
The idea of all of us voluntarily refraining from procreation is often dismissed without much consideration. These examples are considered elsewhere at this site:
- “People are going to have sex, you can’t stop that.”
- “It’s a human instinct to breed.”
- “But I just love babies.”
- “Some of us should reproduce because we’re better than others.”
- “Humans are a part of Nature.”
- And so on.
VHEMT is naturally in opposition to involuntary extinction of any species, as well as any efforts encouraging human extermination. There are presently concerted efforts supporting both of these horrors. For example:
- Production and use of weapons.
- Toxin production, such as petrochemical and nuclear.
- Exploitation of natural and human resources.
- Promotion of reproductive fascism.
- And so on.
VHEMT is opposed to what these people are doing, but it’s doubtful any would bother to return the favor. Really, there isn’t much point in opposing a voluntary movement which harms none and benefits all.
I think voluntary human extinction is misguided or worse.
Q: How do I join?
Being VHEMT is a state of mind. All you have to do to join is make the choice to refrain from further reproduction. For some, this is an easy decision to make. For others, it’s a moot issue. But for many, joining The Movement means making a monumental personal sacrifice.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement is not an organization, so no membership dues go to officials in offices. We are millions of individuals, each doing what we feel is best. Join with other VHEMT Volunteers and Supporters.
Latest About The Movement
More impetus was added to our momentum on September 5, 2009, when the Discovery Channel’s Focus Earth included the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement’s solution in their episode about over population. Bob Woodruff’s interview of Les Knight and Nina Paley may be viewed online: “No More Children.”
Bob Woodruff discusses human breeding with Les Knight in Portland, Oregon
On July 3, 2008 in a half-hour radio broadcast, Stephanie Potter interviewed Les about VHEMT. Archived at: The Recovery Zone.
In Time magazine’s number one non-fiction book of 2007, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman generously presents the VHEMT perspective.
A November 16, 2005 article in SF Gate - the San Francisco Chronicle online - by Gregory Dicum: “GREEN Maybe None: Is having a child—even one—environmentally destructive?” was picked up by UPI, appearing in many newspapers.
From there, quite a few radio talk shows invited Les to be interviewed and sometimes take calls from listeners. Les was a guest on “FOX News Live With Alan Colmes” radio show on November 29th, 2005. Alan also hosted Les for two Earth Day shows, April 27, 2004, and April 22, 2005, receiving calls from across North America. Les was on Alan’s show again on February 2, 2009.
On December 2, 2005, an MSNBC TV program, The Situation with Tucker Carlson, featured Les in a segment entitled, “Taking on the [Voluntary] Human Extinction Movement”. Although Tucker wasn’t fully in agreement with VHEMT, his questions allowed the main points to be shared with the audience. A transcript and video may be seen at their site. Tucker’s final comment: “I will say, that is the sickest thing I think I’ve ever heard, but you are one of the cheeriest guests we’ve ever had. I don’t know how to—how the two fit together, but I appreciate you coming on. Thanks a lot.”
Selected articles, interviews of Les, mixed reviews, and so on may be seen at: Media Mentions
A major goal of our web site is to advance the population-awareness movement, which seems to have become stalled, and may have slipped back to where it was more than 35 years ago. Progressive population awareness groups advocate a one-child average and two maximum, but few, if any, dare to advocate zero procreation. Environmental groups, with the notable exception ofThe Center for Biological Diversity, avoid the controversial topic, preferring to work on consequences of our excessive breeding. Scientists acknowledge population’s effects, but also decline to include it in their suggested solutions.
Several online forums for sharing and discussing ideas related to voluntary human extinction are available in English, French, and Spanish.
On April 8, 2010, French TV, Global Arte, broadcast a 2:16 minute anti-natalist, pro-planet video which included VHEMT. (in French) “Les anti-natalité font leur buzz”
Giving a talk, “Thank you for not breeding”, on February 16th, 2010, Les presented the VHEMT concept at Oberlin College and Conservatory, sponsored by Oberlin Animal Rights.
Les participated in a panel titled,“Human Population Density: Patriarchy’s Influence, Positive Signs, and Reproductive Freedom.” at the 26th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon March 9th, 2008. The panel also included Kelpie Wilson, Environmental Editor for TruthOut and author of Primal Tears, and Richard York, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon and co-editor of the journal Organization and Environment.
Q: How do I order bumper stickers (car stickers), buttons (badges), T-shirts, and back issues of These EXIT Times?
These items are readily available by postal mail from These EXIT Times, or online from CafePress.
BIOLOGY AND BREEDING
VHEMT Volunteers love babies as much as anyone else. “Having babies” is not so much the problem—having adults is what’s causing the problems. The environmental impact of disposable diapers is heavy, but we are adults much longer than we are children.
People who envision having a baby often forget that they are creating an entirely new human being who will leave in a few years as an adult.
Youth is a wonderful phase of life, whether it’s people, panda, or panther. It’s sad to imagine there being no more of any of them. A baby condor may not be as cute as a baby human, but we must choose to forgo one if the others are to survive.
Children’s welfare will improve as there are fewer of them to care for. Considering the future world we are creating for future generations, procreation today is like renting rooms in a burning building—renting them to our children no less.
Choosing to refrain from producing another person demonstrates a profound love for all life.
Q: Aren’t the wrong people making babies these days?
Some say, “The wrong people are having children these days.” How many times have you heard this expressed? We can be sure they’re not talking about themselves: it’s those wrong people. It’s “those stupid, slack-jawed degenerates who shouldn’t breed. Those too poor to raise children, or so warped they don’t even like children and might abuse them.” Certainly, this logic follows, “bad genetic specimens should never duplicate their defects.”
Implicit in these opinions is the attitude that some people are the right people to pass along their genes. Smart, financially secure, responsible, socially aware people with superior genes ought to make more of each other. After all, someone is going to, right?
Maybe so, but even if intelligence could be measured or inherited, there’s no evidence that smart people’s exhaust stinks less than morons’. And, since the wealthy are better able to provide materially for their dependents than are the economically disadvantaged, they’re also likely to do the most damage to the environment with their excessive consumption.
Some say that their religious or political belief system needs more members to make the world a better place, but there’s no guarantee that offspring will follow the traditions of their parents. In fact, just the opposite seems to be common in modern societies. Besides, if the only people who will accept a belief system are those born into it, there must be some serious flaws in that system.
Others contend that their race or ethnic group is in the minority, or will be soon if they don’t keep up. Carrying on the family name has long been an unquestioned justification for reproduction, and when a couple says they want to “have one of our own,” they mean “make one that has our genes.” The mindset behind this bloodline mentality is deep and strong: more of “Us” and less of “Them”. Smell like racism to you? When couples try to conceive a specific gender, sexism is also in the wind. It goes beyond elitism for us to create replicas of ourselves while tens of thousands of Others’ children die from lack of care each day.
Anyway, simply increasing the sheer numbers of people who share a philosophy or genetic makeup doesn’t always improve their status. “Breeding wars” between rival groups have shifted political power in a few majority-rule governments, however, members of those groups usually aren’t any better off just by being in a larger voting block. Breeding for power is a remnant of that ancient tradition of mass murder we call genocide. The motivation remains the same.
Really, as VHEMT Volunteers know, it’s the wrong species “having children.” Regardless of our superficial differences, we are all Homo sapiens. As long as extinctions of wildlife continue at an outrageous pace, the intentional creation of another one of us can’t be justified.
Selective breeding advocates:
Eugenics: Future Generations
Racial: American Renaissance
Religious: Efrat, Quiver Full, Quiver Full on NPR, Escape from Quiver Full Movement, inherent natalism.
Ideological: The liberal baby bust.
Eugenics: Future Generations
Racial: American Renaissance
Religious: Efrat, Quiver Full, Quiver Full on NPR, Escape from Quiver Full Movement, inherent natalism.
Ideological: The liberal baby bust.
Q: I’m extra smart. Shouldn’t I pass on my genes?
Well, could you pass a minimal intelligence test if one were required for a “license to breed”?
To find out, simply answer this question:
In light of the tens of thousands of children dying of malnutrition each day, and considering the number of species going extinct as a result of our excessive reproduction, do you think it would be a good idea to create another of yourself?
Q: What about the human instinct to breed?
Humans, like all creatures, have urges which lead to reproduction. Our biological urge is to have sex, not to make babies. Our “instinct to breed” is the same as a squirrel’s instinct to plant trees: the urge is to store food, trees are a natural result. If sex is an urge to procreate, then hunger’s an urge to defecate.
Culturally-induced desires can be so strong that they seem to be biological, but no evolutionary mechanism for an instinct to breed exists. Why do we stop breeding after we’ve had as many as we want? If the instinct is to reproduce, how are so many of us able to over ride it? There are too many who have never felt that urge: mutations don’t occur in this high a percentage of a population.
Looking to our evolutionary roots, imagine Homo erectus feeling the urge to create a new human. He then has to understand that a cavewoman is needed, sexual intercourse must be engaged in, and they will have to wait nine months.
Considering how often our species has the urge for sex, it’s likely human sexuality serves primarily a pair-bonding function rather than procreative. Human infants are vulnerable for so long that their survival, in prehistoric times, may have depended on a strong pair bond between parents. Bonobos, perhaps our closest biological relative, are reported to engage in sex for social reasons more than for reproductive reasons.
If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation, as to spare it the burden of existence? Or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood.
~Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Sufferings of the World 1851
Like the Greek philosopher Diogenes, searching all day with a lighted lantern for an honest person, the search for a rational, ethical reason for creating one more human today goes on without success. Ask someone why they plan to create another of themselves, and they’ll most likely offer one of the reasons listed in the chart below. Their real reasons are given in the middle, and alternatives to breeding for those reasons are given to the right.
Why Breed?
Reasons given
|
Real reasons
|
Suggested alternatives
|
| I can’t help it, it’s a biological urge. | Unexamined motivations. | Institutions await those who can’t control their biological urges. |
| Want to give our parents grandchildren. | Still seeking parental approval. | Live your own life and encourage your parents to do the same. |
| I just love children. | Out of touch with inner child, and with existing children. | Adopt, step, and foster parenting. Big Brother/Sister. Work with children, teach. |
| I have superior human genes. | Doesn’t recognize an oxymoron. Megalomania. | Do great things with your genes, rather than expecting the next cultured batch to do it. |
| Need help on farm or in family business. | Too cheap to hire help. Child labor laws inconvenient. | Mechanization gives faster return on investment. |
| Want someone to care for me in my old age. | Fear of aging. Exploitative personality. | Save money and prepare for retirement. Be nice to people so they will visit you in the home. Build social support network. |
| Pregnancy and childbirth are life experiences. | Life choices limited by social indoctrination. | Rent pregnancy simulator. Choose different life experiences. |
| A good family is essential to career advancement and strong standing in the community. | Social insecurity. Wants trophy children to improve social status. | Rent children from talent agency on special occasions. Have white picket fence installed. |
| We want to create a life which embodies our love for each other. | Ego, times two, minus imagination, equals three plus. | Garden. Adopt a stream, trail, or hiway. Rescue animals. Protect & restore ecosystems to embody love. |
| I want my kids (who don’t exist yet) to have all the things I didn’t have. | Unfulfilled childhood desires and fantasies. | Deal with regrets & make best of life. Provide for existing children. |
| To carry on family name. | Trying to please Dad. Duped by bloodline superstition. | Create something enduring & give it family name. Donate blood to pass on bloodline. |
| Want to see a little me. | Self-absorption. Lack of ego gratification. | Order custom-made, life-like doll. Create a gratifying life of your own. |
| God wants us to. | Mindless obedience to dogma peddlers who want larger flocks. | Seek true nature of God, whatever you perceive God to be. |
| My wife/husband wants a baby. | Giving in out of fear of losing partner. | Communicate true desires. Spouse may feel you’re the one who wants to breed. Rent baby simulator doll. |
| Want a child with our bloodline. | Ego extension. Racial identity. | Recognize value of people with different genetic makeups. |
| It’s a spiritual thing for me. | Other reasons too easily refuted. | Find truly spiritual experiences. |
| I’ve always wanted to have children, it’s what people do. | Unquestioned cultural conditioning. | Consider alternatives. Question expectations. Adopt. |
| To cement our relationship. | Fear of failed marriage. | Communicate to strengthen relationship. Attend retreats for bonding couples. |
| I love babies. | Short-sighted view of reality. | Babies soon turn into children, then adults. Infant care work is available. Life-like infant doll may help. |
| Being a mother is a woman’s highest calling. | Beguiled into believing compliance is noble free choice. | Motherhood, and fatherhood, may be achieved without breeding. Many children wait for good homes. |
| My child could find a way to save the world. | “Mother of God” complex. (Also applies to men). | If you want something done right, do it yourself. |
| We’d like to try for a boy/girl this time. | Ego extension. Gender identity insecurity. Dissatisfaction with existing offspring. | Appreciate who you have, they might resent their sibling whose gender is preferred. |
| I just want to. | Just wants to. | Choosing to breed precludes most other things you’ll just want to do. |
| I want someone who will love me and not leave me. | Fear of rejection. Unresolved relationship issues. | Give love to get love. Accept change and deal with loss. |
| Our economy needs young workers to replace retired workers. | Willing to sacrifice offspring to gods of National Economy. | Automation reduces need for wage slaves. Consider rights of unconceived to stay that way. |
| The world needs more of us or we’ll be outnumbered. | Elitism. Xenophobia. Eugenics easier to conceal than genocide. | Convert others to your views so there’ll be one more of your kind and one less of Them. |
| We may as well, the planet is doomed anyway. | Nihilistic natalism. | Consider ethics of sentencing an innocent person to life, and death, in ecological collapse. |
| I’d like to achieve a sense of immortality. | Fear of death and non-existence. | Accept mortality. Spread memes not genes. Socrates’ heirs are not apparent, but his ideas linger strong. |
| My biological clock has gone off. | Women’s normal heightened sexual desire in 30s & 40s difficult to accept in puritanical societies. | Disarm that culturally-implanted mental time bomb. It’s okay to make love and not babies. |
| I don’t know. | Never thought about it. Unthinking conformity. | Think before you breed, and you might not. |
| I might regret not having had the experience later, when it’s too late. | Fear of future worries and life passing too fast. | We can’t experience everything. Far better to regret not breeding than to regret breeding |
| I do not want to deny my kids (who do not exist yet) the joy of existence. | Ignoring lack of joy in existing children. | Promote existence of joy rather than imagining joy in mere existence. |
| Procreation has traditionally been a source of personal empowerment for women. | Feels powerless. Desires power and respect society appears to give to mothers and withholds from others. | Mothers get more lip service than respect. Picking up family’s slack is not empowering. Seek self-defined sources of power. |
Admittedly, having VHEMT Volunteers judge reasons for people breeding is like holding a contest for the most intelligent species, and appointing the “most intelligent species” to set the standards for winning. So, you be the judge: are any of these reasons compelling enough to justify creating a whole new human being today?
You may read selected reasons from others if you like, or you may go to Why breed? to offer your own reasons.
Top Ten Reasons to not create another of us today.
Although nearly half of conceptions are unintended, a desire to conform to what society considers normal is probably the number one cause of wanted pregnancies. Many who continue to breed have never considered doing otherwise. Natalist propaganda remains insidiously rampant and rampantly insidious.
Like a copy of the above chart? It’s yours for free: Why breed? chart (pdf)
Q: I’ve always wanted to have a baby of my own. What else is there to life?
For many of us, it isn’t enough to say, “just don’t do it.” Most people who aren’t already parents need alternatives to fill the needs which procreation seems to fill.
Both men and women can feel a need to nurture, and nurturing Earth’s other “children” can be a viable alternative. Wildlife rehabilitation and protection, habitat preservation, reforestation,Adopt-A-Stream, and gardening offer possibilities.
For those who prefer not to substitute Nature for humans, there are plenty of children in need of parenting. Adoption, step and foster parenting, borrowing relatives’ children, and Big Brother - Big Sister Programs might fill the need. Also, occupations in child care and education can provide ample opportunity for sharing and caring.
Young people aren’t the only ones in need of care. We humans, like other domesticated animals, need to be cared for at some time in our lives. Helping the elderly, handicapped, sick, or other disadvantaged folks could also satisfy altruistic needs.
Companion animals have less of an impact on the environment than humans, and many childfree people find adopting a dog or cat to be emotionally fulfilling.
The first step to finding an alternative to procreating is to rethink the pronatalist mindset of the past. From an early age, we are told we’ll have children of our own some day. We are asked, “How many and when?” When our answer is “Nevermore,” alternatives begin to have meaning.
Non-Parenthood groups and information
Macleans magazine, The case against having kids.
For many of us, it isn’t enough to say, “just don’t do it.” Most people who aren’t already parents need alternatives to fill the needs which procreation seems to fill.
Both men and women can feel a need to nurture, and nurturing Earth’s other “children” can be a viable alternative. Wildlife rehabilitation and protection, habitat preservation, reforestation,Adopt-A-Stream, and gardening offer possibilities.
For those who prefer not to substitute Nature for humans, there are plenty of children in need of parenting. Adoption, step and foster parenting, borrowing relatives’ children, and Big Brother - Big Sister Programs might fill the need. Also, occupations in child care and education can provide ample opportunity for sharing and caring.
Young people aren’t the only ones in need of care. We humans, like other domesticated animals, need to be cared for at some time in our lives. Helping the elderly, handicapped, sick, or other disadvantaged folks could also satisfy altruistic needs.
Companion animals have less of an impact on the environment than humans, and many childfree people find adopting a dog or cat to be emotionally fulfilling.
The first step to finding an alternative to procreating is to rethink the pronatalist mindset of the past. From an early age, we are told we’ll have children of our own some day. We are asked, “How many and when?” When our answer is “Nevermore,” alternatives begin to have meaning.
Non-Parenthood groups and information
Macleans magazine, The case against having kids.
Q: Do we have to stop having sex?
Sex is the way most babies are started, but is sexual intercourse really the primary cause of human reproduction? Let’s consider the statistics:
The World Health Organization estimates that 100 million couples engage in sexual intercourse on an average day, which is only 3.3% of the world’s six billion humans. This pitifully low amount of love-making results in around 910,000 pregnancies, thanks in part to contraceptives and sterility. For a variety of reasons, 55% of these zygotes don’t make it through fetushood to live birth. According to a current U.S. Census Bureau estimate, 359,000 do make it daily.
So, less than 0.4% of each day’s heterosexual trysts result in the creation of new humans—a statistically insignificant correlation for proving causation. In fact, it rounds to zero.
Try it for yourself. Estimate how many times you’ve engaged in sexual activity in your lifetime. Now estimate how many times you were trying to make a baby. Divide the little number by the big number to give you the percent of times sex and procreation have simultaneously motivated you.
Perhaps if there were more opportunities for sexual gratification, so many people wouldn’t feel the need to fill a nagging emptiness with a needy dependent.
[Please note: the above shows how statistics may be manipulated. If we approach the equation from the other end, more than 99% of us were started by sexual intercourse.]
Q: Does VHEMT favor abortion?
Only when someone is pregnant.
Seriously though, pregnancy should be prevented whenever possible. Unwanted pregnancy is the cause of almost all abortions, and VHEMT certainly doesn’t favor unwanted pregnancy.
The Movement doesn’t even favor wanted pregnancies. Unfortunately, accidental conceptions still happen, so an available and safe safety net is essential for the well-being of girls and women. Criminalizing abortions has never prevented them from being performed, it just makes them unsafe: illegal abortions cause an estimated 68,000 to 74,000 deaths, with five million suffering from complications each year.
Abortion is inconceivable without conception, so contraception prevents abortions.
The Silver Snip Award
The Golden Snip Award
Percentage of women using any modern method of contraception among those aged 15-49 who are married or in a union. 2011 UN report.
Sex is the way most babies are started, but is sexual intercourse really the primary cause of human reproduction? Let’s consider the statistics:
The World Health Organization estimates that 100 million couples engage in sexual intercourse on an average day, which is only 3.3% of the world’s six billion humans. This pitifully low amount of love-making results in around 910,000 pregnancies, thanks in part to contraceptives and sterility. For a variety of reasons, 55% of these zygotes don’t make it through fetushood to live birth. According to a current U.S. Census Bureau estimate, 359,000 do make it daily.
So, less than 0.4% of each day’s heterosexual trysts result in the creation of new humans—a statistically insignificant correlation for proving causation. In fact, it rounds to zero.
Try it for yourself. Estimate how many times you’ve engaged in sexual activity in your lifetime. Now estimate how many times you were trying to make a baby. Divide the little number by the big number to give you the percent of times sex and procreation have simultaneously motivated you.
Perhaps if there were more opportunities for sexual gratification, so many people wouldn’t feel the need to fill a nagging emptiness with a needy dependent.
[Please note: the above shows how statistics may be manipulated. If we approach the equation from the other end, more than 99% of us were started by sexual intercourse.]
Q: Does VHEMT favor abortion?
Only when someone is pregnant.
Seriously though, pregnancy should be prevented whenever possible. Unwanted pregnancy is the cause of almost all abortions, and VHEMT certainly doesn’t favor unwanted pregnancy.
The Movement doesn’t even favor wanted pregnancies. Unfortunately, accidental conceptions still happen, so an available and safe safety net is essential for the well-being of girls and women. Criminalizing abortions has never prevented them from being performed, it just makes them unsafe: illegal abortions cause an estimated 68,000 to 74,000 deaths, with five million suffering from complications each year.
Abortion is inconceivable without conception, so contraception prevents abortions.
The issue of a woman’s right to a legal and safe abortion is somewhat beyond the scope of VHEMT. However, the first word is “Voluntary” and coerced births are not. A wide range of opinions on this subject exists within The Movement.
United Nations chart on availability of abortion and contraception by country 2007
World Fertility Patterns 2007
United Nations chart on availability of abortion and contraception by country 2007
World Fertility Patterns 2007
Prestigious Awards for Reproductive Responsibility
This handsome trophy is awarded to those outstanding citizens who acknowledge 7+ billion humans on Earth is more than enough, and who put their money where their gonads are.
The Silver Snip Award
Anyone, including biological parents, who has chosen permanent, surgical contraception (vasectomy, tubal ligation, hysterectomy, etc.), may download this animated gif. Please include a link tothis page when proudly displaying the Silver Snip Award on your website.
The Golden Snip Award
This award is reserved exclusively for those brave pioneers who have never never reproduced, and never will. The Golden Snip Award honors childfree individuals who have chosen permanent, surgical contraception (vasectomy, tubal ligation, hysterectomy, etc.), in order to not create more Homo sapiens. Adoptive parents who have never conceived, and who do not support the fertility industry (surrogate mothers, egg donors, IVF, sperm banks) may also download this animated gif. Please include a link to this page when proudly displaying the Golden Snip Award on your website.
2. Positive social pressure. There’s only one socially acceptable response to news of pregnancy or birth: “Congratulations”. Despite a lack of social benefit, society gushes mindlessly about joys of adding more people. For most of us, resistance to fertile is futile.
3. Positive economic pressure. Economic incentives to breed come from those who control enough money to provide them. Corporate-controlled governments all over the world are paying baby bounties with the hope of future economic benefit. People higher up in the pyramid scheme know they need a large base to support their privileged position.
4. Negative social pressure. Childfree couples endure society’s disapproval for shirking their duty to provide fodder for factory and cannon. Accusations of decadence, immaturity, and selfishness pressure couples to conform and procreate. In extreme cases, shunning and even death await women who fail to produce an heir—preferably male.
5. Negative economic pressure. Those who choose to eschew breeding aren’t directly fined, but they subsidize others’ choice to breed. It takes a village to raise a child, so pay up.
6. Pure pressure. Mandatory breeding rarely reaches the horrific level of Romania’s under Ceausesu, but wherever contraceptive services and reproductive freedoms are restricted, pure pressure to breed is automatically exerted. Hundreds of millions of couples are denied their basic human right to stop creating more children than they want or can care for.
The most important decision a couple will face is whether or not to bring another of us into the world. Pressure to make either choice disrespects autonomy. Any level of pressure to take on the life-altering, all-consuming task of child-rearing is unconscionable. Reproductive freedom and responsibility are based on respecting personal choices of those considering co-creating a new human being.
Denial of reproductive freedom has dire consequences:
Vatican’s role in restricting reproductive freedom
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI oppossed condom use, even for HIV prevention, but mercifully gave his blessing to condoms in 2010—as long as they’re not used to prevent pregnancy.
Women’s lack of reproductive choice
Total Fertility Rates ranked by country. Generally, the greater the gender inequality, the higher the birth rate.
Unmet need for contraceptives in Uganda, and in other countries.
International recognition of our basic human right to not breed in the POLITICS section of this site.
Couples are under varying amounts of pressure to breed, depending on their society and government
Gauge the pressure you’re forced to endure.
1. Personal pressure. Cultural conditioning to procreate begins early and continues insidiously into adulthood. It’s so strong that most of us have never considered not breeding. It’s so pervasive that we don’t realize we’ve been indoctrinated by society to act against our own best interests. An instilled desire to create children feels natural, almost biological. A choice isn’t much good if we don’t know we have it.Gauge the pressure you’re forced to endure.
2. Positive social pressure. There’s only one socially acceptable response to news of pregnancy or birth: “Congratulations”. Despite a lack of social benefit, society gushes mindlessly about joys of adding more people. For most of us, resistance to fertile is futile.
3. Positive economic pressure. Economic incentives to breed come from those who control enough money to provide them. Corporate-controlled governments all over the world are paying baby bounties with the hope of future economic benefit. People higher up in the pyramid scheme know they need a large base to support their privileged position.
4. Negative social pressure. Childfree couples endure society’s disapproval for shirking their duty to provide fodder for factory and cannon. Accusations of decadence, immaturity, and selfishness pressure couples to conform and procreate. In extreme cases, shunning and even death await women who fail to produce an heir—preferably male.
5. Negative economic pressure. Those who choose to eschew breeding aren’t directly fined, but they subsidize others’ choice to breed. It takes a village to raise a child, so pay up.
6. Pure pressure. Mandatory breeding rarely reaches the horrific level of Romania’s under Ceausesu, but wherever contraceptive services and reproductive freedoms are restricted, pure pressure to breed is automatically exerted. Hundreds of millions of couples are denied their basic human right to stop creating more children than they want or can care for.
The most important decision a couple will face is whether or not to bring another of us into the world. Pressure to make either choice disrespects autonomy. Any level of pressure to take on the life-altering, all-consuming task of child-rearing is unconscionable. Reproductive freedom and responsibility are based on respecting personal choices of those considering co-creating a new human being.
Denial of reproductive freedom has dire consequences:
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI oppossed condom use, even for HIV prevention, but mercifully gave his blessing to condoms in 2010—as long as they’re not used to prevent pregnancy.
Women’s lack of reproductive choice
Total Fertility Rates ranked by country. Generally, the greater the gender inequality, the higher the birth rate.
Unmet need for contraceptives in Uganda, and in other countries.
International recognition of our basic human right to not breed in the POLITICS section of this site.
Percentage of women using any modern method of contraception among those aged 15-49 who are married or in a union. 2011 UN report.
If you were ruler of the world, where would the contraceptive pressure gauge arrow point when you announced your global family planning policy? Each level has pros and cons to consider. Join the fun and add your own.
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