Some women have chosen to lead a childfree life. And Therese Shechter is telling some of these women’s stories.

“My So Called Selfish Life”

Therese Shechter is running a Kickstarter to help fund her new film, “My So Called Selfish Life”. If the Kickstarter is funded, “Selfish Life” will become a documentary-style film featuring women who have decided to not have kids.

Although the film is about childless women, it isn’t a takedown on traditional motherhood. The movie also is for the men and women who support their childless friends.

In addition to giving historical context concerning how women are typically treated as potential, current, or past child bearers in pop culture, politics, etc., the movie also will introduce viewers to:

• A Red State couple under pressure to procreate from unexpected sources.
• The childfree founders of a LGBT seniors’ community.
• A college student on a five-year quest to get her tubes tied.
• An artist and rapper searching for her “Golden Girls” family.
• And a woman whose unsuccessful fertility treatments led to a life transformation.

Support is there, but it depends on your community

Shechter says most of the Kickstarter feedback is supportive. “I’ve been getting lots of comments on Facebook from mothers who enthusiastically tell me they’re backing our Kickstarter campaign to support their friends who choose not to be parents,” she says.

“It’s really heartening to see that kind of love.”

She adds, though, that this support truly depends on a person’s community. “I just got back from the NotMom Summit, a conference for women without kids, and there was a lot of discussion about losing friends over this choice,” she adds.

“When women suddenly get left out of social occasions. Or hearing the ‘you’ll change your mind’ commentary too much… Or because their friends get defensive thinking there’s some judgement on their own choice to be parents.”

Changing opinions via media activism

Shechter says she believes in media activism; basically, she wants to use her documentary to get at the politics behind why our society seems so scared of women who don’t want to reproduce. “My documentaries are seen all over the world and are part of college curricula. So, this is a chance to ignite some important conversations. Especially where there aren’t any conversations happening at all,” she says.

“My last film, ‘How To Lose Your Virginity’, was about myths around female sexuality. When we showed it in Turkey, audience members said they had never talked about this subject until our screening. I’d like to do that with the choice to be childfree.”

If you want to help Kickstart “My So-Called Selfish Life”, donate here before October 18th.

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