So this is 2012. And reports today in Britain suggest Katy Perry, shock horror, chose her career over having a baby with Russell Brand.
First of all I find it very hard to believe having worked with Russell Brand on several TV shows, that the loveable lad would insist on Katy quitting her global music plans to have children with him. I really do.
But it does throw up the question - what right does anyone have to insist that a woman should put their partners needs to spread sperm before her own needs? This is not 1952.
Hell no, this is an era where women are climbing the career ladder much more effectively than some men. Babies or no babies.
More and more women I know are making the most of both worlds - working full time and being a mum whilst sending their MEN home to be house husbands. And I dare say the blokes are doing a decent job at it too (although their multi-tasking abilities may never be a strong point, think feeding and faxing whilst doing an online shop).
My point is this. Katy Perry has been singing since she was a child. At the age of 17 she was working hard to become a signed solo artist. She's not relied on cheap publicity or reality TV to make her fame. She's a true talented artist who made a name for herself in her own right.
Some may say she could have kids then come back to her glittering career. But this is a woman who knows what she wants and has fought tooth and nail for the success she has today. And she's clearly happy doing her own thing.
Unlike some men.
A friend recently dated a guy who was 36 - she, 24. It was all going well until the recent phone call. "I don't mind you having your career til you're 28," he says seriously. "But then I want kids."
Understandably she ended it there and then. I'd be keen to hear from men who disagree and think it is okay for women to put their careers on hold to have kids. Sure, there's an element of deciding what you'd both like from life before throwing yourself into commitment.
But I'd love to know I'm not alone thinking there's something strangely grotesque and weak about women churning out children just because a man says so....