Mason  🏃‍♂️ ✂️

or maybe norms weren’t needed to incentivize children before there was birth control

Birth control opened the door for childless family norms, but was that trajectory necessarily inevitable? My read on the pill's history is that it was initially intended as a tool for planning/limiting family size, not avoiding children altogether — that was unthinkable

Remember that eugenicists were very split on birth control ("good" couples could use it, gasp) & Sanger's central point (people should govern themselves re: BC) was not popular. Very interesting (& messed up) point in history, w/ forced sterilizations + an effective ban on sex ed

it seems like once the pill was out there, the creators’ intentions didn’t have any further effect on society

I also suspect it looks like more of flash point than it actually was. Tons of forms of BC already existed & were improving; anti-contraception Comstock laws weren't preventing the public sale of condoms & cervical caps. The gentry, in particular, knew how to avoid pregnancy

The proximate cause of dramatically reduced fertility rates is highly effective & available BC + abortion, but one layer up the stack it's "people very desperately want to avoid children. certainly beyond one or two" and the ultimate cause(s) have to do with why that's the case

IMO, the central reason you don't see more + larger families is that "you're a great parent" is a cultural product that's become more & more expensive. If you need a successful career, rock-solid emotional health + the perfect partner before kids, few will ever feel "ready"