I hate kids. No, really, I do. I don't mean I steal lollipops from strollers and rip the heads off of toys, I just don't like children. Even from a young age, it was apparent to me that I lacked some kind of maternal instinct that was natural in other people. When I played house, the "baby" was never mine and often was a younger sibling. I simply wasn't born to have children, and couldn't think of a future that involved kids for me.

However, this concept of me not wanting children blows some people's minds. Since I identify as cisgender female, I am societally expected to bear and raise my own children. This expectation can damage and ruin lives similar to my own. Women and even young girls are forced into and through pregnancies that end poorly for both parties, whereas men do not have that same agenda put upon them. It's endlessly frustrating as someone who values bodily autonomy above all to be told that children are an inevitable part of my future.

My biggest issue with this obsession with my hypothetical children is the pressure it puts on one gender -- cisgender women. I have rarely seen the same burden placed upon my male identifying friends, and never the same expectations. Men are allowed the option to have kids, but it isn't expected, at least not these days. And by insinuating that a woman's only purpose is to bear children, you are excluding women who are infertile, or women who are born without a uterus(which includes trans women). Not only is that inconsiderate and derogatory, it's downright offensive.

The most annoying phrase that I hear on a daily basis is that I'll change my mind when I grow up. Even if my mind was somehow miraculously changed, that doesn't invalidate my opinion on child-rearing now. Consider a friend who didn't like spinach when they were little. Maybe now they crave spinach salads on the daily, but you would never dare to say that they'll "change their mind" when they grow up -- you'd assume it was a personal preference and leave it at that.

Another pretty insulting phrase is how my lack of maternal instinct makes me inherently selfish. I would just as soon not have a child than subject another to an intolerant and hateful world. There's too many human beings on this planet, and if I can help stop the plague that is humanity by not creating a mini me of my own, I think that's a noble cause.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but you get the idea. Just because I don't want kids doesn't mean I'm selfish. It means I'm self-aware enough to realize that I wouldn't be the greatest parent, and therefore should not attempt to raise a human being against my will. As much as I play "mom" to my friends and take care of other people, I am fully conscious of the fact that I genuinely do not have the mental toughness that it takes to be a parent. I can hardly take care of chickens; what makes anyone think I'm capable of bearing a baby?

In the end, the decision of whether or not I want children is mine and mine alone. No senator, parent, friend, guardian, or advisor will ever change my mind, even with such "harmless" expressions as seen above. I mean, it's 2017 people! Wake up and smell the revolution. In a world that places high value on independence, you'd think that we would allow women to make their own choices.

I love kids. No, really, I do. I love kids enough to recognize that they're not for me.