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“Say no to life”: Reproductive Futurism and Antinatalist Responses to Environmental Crisis in Contemporary Britain
Örebro University, University Library.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0126-5655
2023 (English)In: Journal for the Study of British Cultures, ISSN 0944-9094, Vol. 30, no 2, p. 175-191Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Environmentalist discourse has long relied on various reproductive futurisms, ranging from the now almost clichéd appeals to our ethical responsibilities to future generations to more radical demands to end human dominance over the planet by ending humanity itself. Such antinatalist stances are burdened by the legacies of Malthusianism, colonialism, classicism, and racism, and tend to pit current humans against future ones. This article explores the intersection of climate change discourse and antinatalist ideas in contemporary British public discourse and cultural expressions by considering some recent examples which highlight tensions between the individual and collective spheres. These include much publicised calls to reduce the human population for environmental reasons, spectacularised poverty and its associations with uncontrolled reproduction, as well as controversial contradictions between the public stances of prominent figures on overpopulation and their personal reproductive choices. This is followed by a reading of the satirical take on antinatalist environmental policies presented in the recent dystopian novel The Offset (2021), published under the pen name Calder Szewczak. The novel, set in a future Britain ravaged by climate change, troubles the ethics of environmentalist antinatalism by showing how easily environmentalist measures morph into ecofascism. Finally, the quandary of imagining an ahuman future is briefly discussed. While all imaginaries of the future necessarily entail considerations of reproduction, art allows for insightful probing of nonreproductive futurisms.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2023. Vol. 30, no 2, p. 175-191
Keywords [en]
antinatalism, environmentalism, population, cultural representation, satire
National Category
Cultural Studies General Literature Studies Ethics
Research subject
English
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-102565OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-102565DiVA, id: diva2:1810018
Available from: 2023-11-06 Created: 2023-11-06 Last updated: 2023-11-07Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf