Pronatalism as empire-building
Meet the couple who wants women to sacrifice their lives for an anti-woke imperialist agenda
A few weeks ago, a New York Times report was published on the current administration’s growing efforts to persuade women to have more children. The piece revealed that two people, Malcolm and Simone Collins, a married couple, had sent the White House drafts of executive orders they believed would support their movement, including a proposed national medal of motherhood, to be bestowed on women who give birth to six or more children.
Though I had heard of these people before, when I read this latest news, I immediately texted
, and we decided to take our ragey text exchanges about these “technopuritan” figures public. Sara and I have previously discussed the ways neoliberal feminist discourse too often thinks of motherhood as a PR event for motherhood. But this time, we’re unpacking how pronatalism overlaps with dystopian, imperialist visions of the future, while masquerading as a kind of positivism— one that supposes there is some collective good in women birthing as many children as their bodies can handle.These two self-proclaimed provocateurs have become figureheads of the pronatal movement. The vibes are weird, but unfortunately, the ideologies at the center of their work are anything but fringe.
Sara: So in recent weeks, a smattering of new pieces covering the pronatalist movement have come out. And Trump’s administration has openly discussed potentially offering women financial incentives for having as many children as possible and/or a medal in the footsteps of Nazi Germany, which is VERY COOL AND NOT ALARMING. There are several choice quotes from these pieces, including ones from men who bemoan the low attendance of women at pronatalist conferences, for example, as being due to childcare concerns!
“We were going to have more women,” said the economist Bryan Caplan, a father of four. “But they all got pregnant.” (He meant this literally; the conference organizers said four female speakers had dropped out, citing either pregnancy or caring for a sick child.)
Ben Ogilvie, a 25-year-old law student from Chicago, who came single and eager to meet someone, said he was not surprised by the male skew: “A lot of pronatalist women are themselves having children,” he said. “They’re out there doing the work.”
I can’t say any of the recent news updates about the pronatalist movement are surprising (they’re awful, just not surprising), but I was STRUCK by the coverage of Simone and Malcom Collins, podcasters who have somehow become two of the most recognizable faces of the national pronatalist movement. Simone dresses like a milkmaid who wants to stay warm (but keeps it fresh with a bold red lip), and the couple have named their children things like Industry Americus and Titan Invictus.
You actually listened to a bit of the Collins’ podcast, right, Amanda? I imagine you have a hardwon insider perspective that those of us who’ve rubber-necked the many profiles simply don’t.
Amanda: Unfortunately, yes, I did. I’ve been researching how tech bros exert their influence in politics, and how this brand of political influence overlaps with the pronatal movement— and this couple really brings it all together. They want to rule the world and they’re having as many babies as it takes to make that happen.
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