Kim Cattrall has always been a force to be reckoned with in my eyes. I don't care if she's Samantha Jones, or being herself, I respect her and I respect her opinions. That's why I wasn't surprised to be agreeing with her views on women without children. She said "It's the 'less' that is offensive - childless - it sounds like you're 'less' because you haven't had a child." I know that I won't be less of a person if I don't have children. But for women, the societal time limits which are in place for women are restrictive and not necessary. Its 2015, are we still valuing other people's happiness on if they are married or have children?
There comes an age when those around you begin to settle down and have children. But I know, for the time being anyway, that I don't want to have kids. I don't really want to be a parent. Yet, I won't be attached with the Bridget Jones-esque stigma of being single, childless and craving a relationship. This is because I'm a man and still in this day and age, we find ourselves dividing men and women into two different camps of what they should have and shouldn't have at certain points in their lives. Yet it seems an almost preposterous thought that women of a certain age can be living a life without a partner and without children and be happy.
Until August when she married Justin Theroux, Jennifer Aniston's marriage status had been a question on the media's lips for what seemed like forever. Despite her continued success as an actress, the press was certain on portraying Jennifer as half a woman who needed to be married and who needed to have children to make her complete. Her career never subsided at this period in her life, in fact it went from strength to strength, yet this was ignored in order to present her as a lonely, unhappy woman. Now love and marriage can be a valuable and important thing, but some people often forget that you can be successful, happy and content without marriage or children.
In contrast, single men in Hollywood are called bachelors and are never accused of being unhappy without a partner or children. Leonardo DiCaprio is never accused of being incomplete due to his single status. It's time that we start treating women in the same way no matter their age. Kim, I salute you for being the one to kick start this debate. Personally, I believe it will have a big difference in the way that some people view independent older women. But hopefully it will change the way that we view each other. Just because you may have something that another person may not have, it doesn't mean that they're less than you.
Kim's right when she says "it's the less that is offensive", I know that I won't be less of a person without children. I know that my friends won't view me as less of a person because I'm not a parent. It doesn't make a difference to the person whether they have children or not. I know if I'm happy or not, isn't that what's important?