Jennifer Aniston: Why the question of having children shouldn’t be asked

opinion

These are the questions that every woman from the age of 30 is confronted with: Do you want children? when do you want kids And even more extreme: Why aren’t you pregnant yet? Jennifer Aniston can also sing a song about it. But instead of being asked by acquaintances and family members, the Hollywood actress also had the press and a huge fan base on her neck.

Now she admitted in an interview with “Allure” that she tried for a long time to get pregnant, but it just didn’t work out. She underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. “Drank Chinese teas and stuff like that,” Aniston said. “I did everything for it.”

Jennifer Aniston talks about her unfulfilled desire to have children

In addition, there was the “narrative that I was just selfish,” said the 53-year-old. “I was just caring about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child. And the reason my husband left me, why we separated and ended our marriage, was because I gave him didn’t want to give a child. Those were absolute lies.”

For years, Aniston clung to the lonely deserted image after Brad Pitt ended his marriage and started dating Angelina Jolie. Her childlessness was taken as an indication that she was not over her great love. That’s how she was defined by her first marriage, the breakup, and Brad Pitt. This is not only unfair, but also sexist. She made movies after movies, celebrated successes and had relationships. And yet it seemed like most were just waiting for the news: “Jennifer Aniston is having a baby.”

Aniston and pregnancy were two terms that mostly appeared together in articles. Any curve on the actress was taken as proof that she was “finally” pregnant. It didn’t take much analytical skill to understand the subtext: A woman isn’t complete until she has a family and children.

The subject requires more sensitivity

Admittedly, sensitivity to the topic of having children has fortunately increased in recent years. Also because women are drawing more and more attention to it. When Jennifer Aniston was in her thirties, in the early 2000s, the tone in the gossip magazines was much tougher and there was hardly any sensitivity. While paparazzi went out to capture Aniston’s every bulge and magazines paid hefty royalties for it, the actress not only battled a sexist stigma that clung to her, but also concrete health challenges. Everything in secret. The pressure on her must have been enormous.

Not only since her interview with “Allure” is it clear: Jennifer Aniston deserves better. And so that we don’t misunderstand each other: She would have earned more, no matter whether she wanted to have children or whether she voluntarily chose not to have a baby.

Today she feels relief, Aniston said “Allure”. She no longer has to ask herself whether she could get pregnant. “I don’t have to think about it anymore,” she explained. Jennifer Aniston’s example could be representative of countless women who are still confronted with the questions about the desire to have children. Whether with friends or family. Their professional and private successes don’t seem to count as long as they don’t give birth to a child.

There are many reasons why a woman is neither pregnant nor will become pregnant. One answer is because it might not work. Because she doesn’t want children, another. Both answers must finally be accepted by society. It would be better, however, if women didn’t even have to give an answer – because they simply wouldn’t ask so insistently.

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