While the desire to perpetuate the human race is entirely natural, and necessary, the media portray childbearing and childrearing as the most glamorous and fashionable lifestyle choice a young woman can make.

Once the most-admired celebrities started having babies, young women began to believe they needed to squeeze out a kid if they were going to be as chic and stylish as their idols. And because celebrities are constantly photographed shopping with their progeny, we view offspring as a symbol of wealth.

Tabloid photographs of graceful and luxurious celebrity mothers with their perfect and gorgeous children cause “normal” women everywhere to feel as if they must make use of their own lady parts if they are going to be as classy as the women on television and on the big screen.

The Duggar family is more proof that childbearing has been catapulted to the spotlight as the ultimate fashion statement. The Duggars are a family of 20 that has its own television show on TLC called “18 Kids and Counting.” While the show is captivating because of the household’s seemingly boundless activity level, the camera never shows parents Michelle and Jim Bob as suffering the slightest bit of exhaustion or frustration. As a result, “18 Kids and Counting” instills the idea that parenting consists only of playing board games, roasting marshmallows, and buying new shoes, instead of depicting the tiring and difficult decision-making that goes into teaching another human being (let alone 18) how to become a fully formed member of society.

What ever happened to the days when you didn’t have to exhaust your uterus in order to be trendy?