President-elect Donald Trump’s billionaire best friend wants to teach young people to “fear childlessness.” He will be in government and could influence US birth policy.
Elon Musk and Neuralink’s Shivon Zilis – director of special projects at Neuralink – have three children together. Photo: @shivon/Instagram . |
Knowledge – Znews quotes and translates a commentary on the Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi – journalist and author of the feminist documentary Strong Female Lead .
At dinner parties, Elon Musk repeatedly mentioned his habit of donating sperm whenever possible — including one incident in which he accidentally donated sperm to a couple he “met socially a few times” in Silicon Valley, according to an October New York Times article.
Musk denies ever donating sperm to strangers. However, it seems to fit his interests. Musk has repeatedly said he wants people in developed countries to have more children, while he is the father of 12. The SpaceX CEO has three wives. He has become one of the most prominent advocates of the procreation movement, a phenomenon that has many similarities to eugenics and is full of misogynistic ideas.
Musk has every right to his own interests. The problem is that he is a close friend of Donald Trump, who has given him the opportunity to bring the fertility movement into public policy. Despite the controversy surrounding his role in the soon-to-be-created Department of Political Effectiveness, the billionaire wants to do more. He doesn’t want to stop at pouring money into Trump’s campaign. He wants to have a say in the sex lives of Americans.
On November 16, Musk responded to a status about the declining birth rate on X: “Instead of teaching people to fear pregnancy, we should teach them to fear childlessness.”
His comments were controversial. Many pointed out that every two minutes, an American woman dies from pregnancy or childbirth. This rate is increasing. Musk was criticized more because he did not have to be pregnant or give birth and had fewer risks due to his huge fortune.
However, after singer Grimes, with whom he has three children, nearly died while pregnant with their son X Æ A-12, Musk became more sensitive. He and Grimes hired a surrogate for their next child.
Elon Musk and his son pose for a photo with President-elect Donald Trump’s family. Photo: Tiffany Trump/X. |
What else does the owner of X want to say to young people to “teach them to fear childlessness”? Especially when living conditions in the US force people to earn a lot of money if they choose to have children. The US is also the only industrialized country without a parental leave policy.
Or do you want to instill fear in them that they will have to wake up at 5am and listen to the Frozen soundtrack a million times with their kids? I love my kids (I even love the Frozen soundtrack) but parenting isn’t for everyone. There are ways to live a fulfilling life without raising kids.
What I want to say to Musk is this: being a sperm donor is very different from being a parent. While Musk parades his kids around Mar-a-Lago, Florida, he leaves most of the hard work to others.
He has six children under the age of six, runs several large corporations and spends much of his time in political circles. He has not been a devoted father to his family. He has shunned his transgender daughter Vivian Wilson and has said at least twice that she is “dead – killed by a mind virus.”
Musk’s parenting skills are questionable. It’s worth noting that he and his obsession with reproduction are part of the next administration. There are signs that he wants to roll back reproductive rights and open up a world where women are forced to have children. I’d rather ignore Musk, but clearly reproductive rights are at stake. He’s trying to tamper with women’s uteruses.
Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of billionaire Elon Musk, has criticized her father after he made a bizarre post targeting Taylor Swift. |