Is Avoiding Fatherhood an Indication of Responsibility?

Of course it’s always best to rely on statistics rather than your own lying eyes, but amongst my acquaintances, mainly middle-class professional males, fatherhood is quite rare. The ones who do have children have few, and even the married men seem not to be very thrilled about the idea of becoming fathers.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I live in an expensive city, but not all of them live here. It seems that there is a real, palpable wariness about fatherhood amongst professional, educated men under 40.

Interestingly, these are not men who have “dropped out” — for the most part they are productive workers, and many have advanced degrees. They are in the upper quartile of earnings, and perhaps higher where education is concerned. They are adults in every sense of the word, not mere “guys” as feminist academics would paint them.

This is why it seems so surreal to see feminists droning on and on about the refusal of men to take responsibility. The ones who are, objectively speaking, less responsible are those most likely to be fathers (yes, that includes me).

Has anyone else noticed this trend? Am I simply seeing things, or is it true that the more conscientious, responsible men are the ones who are least likely to be fathers today? If so, what does that say about the incentives surrounding fatherhood?

Men who are more responsible tend to be more risk-averse. My take on the situation is that these men have weighed the options, and are declining fatherhood because it is a very risky bet. Hence, the refusal of some men to take on the burdens of family and fatherhood is not an indication of immaturity and irresponsibility, but rather of foresight and clear thinking.

Therefore, the children of the future will be the progeny of us reckless romantics who followed our hearts rather than our brains. The feminists have it all backward. If they really want men to do as they wish, they should pray for a nation of fools, and preach abdication of responsibility. Only then can they hope to find men willing to buy the raw deal that’s on offer.