Natalism's angry-man problem

And some other thoughts from my time at NatalCon

“They want us dead!” shouted Jack Posobiec.

The alt-right conspiracy theorist was delivering a keynote speech at the Natal Conference opening dinner in Austin, Texas, and I knew he was referring to me, my friends, and the Kamala-loving horse I rode in on.

Since I drink full-strength WOKE ideology straight from the tap every day in my cobalt blue hometown of Falls Church, Virginia, liberalism clings to me like a subtle, overpriced cologne. People sniff it the instant I walk into a room. I had been warned that Natal-Con would have a MAGA locker room vibe, and I began to picture what might happen if my identify were exposed. I glanced nervously at the people seated at my table, which included Peachy Keenan, a fire-breathing culture warrior and mother-of-five who calls herself a “domestic extremist.” When I declined to clap at the end of Posobiec’s jeremiad, I half expected Keenan to stab me with her fork.

Instead, I noticed that many other people also withheld applause for Posobiec’s speech (which one mother in the room later summarized as “Have more kids to own the libs”). Everyone at my table continued to eat and chat politely. And at no point during the two-day conference was I treated with anything short of genuine hospitality.

NatalCon was a lively, well-organized event that included some serious social scientists along with the well-documented cabal of alt-right agitators. The prescience of the organizers cannot be overstated. Judging by the ratio of speakers to accredited reporters (approximately 2 to 1) and by the volume of media coverage it has subsequently generated, NatalCon uncorked a geyser of pent-up anxiety not just about declining fertility, but about how hard it has become for young people to meet someone and form a family.

These trends are impossible to ignore. Some of the media attention can be dismissed as progressive anxiety surrounding the Trump administration’s rumored family and fertility agenda. But the half-dozen reporters who interviewed me seemed very well prepared, and they’ve produced several pieces that grapple honestly with the scale and complexity of the problem.

Despite its media success, NatalCon (and conservative pro-natalists in general) really do have a branding problem. Posobiec was not the only man who shouted from a podium in Austin. During the main session, Malcolm Collins gave a bizarre presentation on the link between sexual arousal and pronatalism as if we were all hard of hearing. I could not follow his argument (though it included a slide that referenced my writing on Latin American fertility declines), but his delivery reminded me of Pentecostal preachers who whip their congregants into a state of spiritual crisis (or ecstasy) as a prelude to a fund-raising plea or an altar call.

Only in this case, there was no altar call—just a lot of dubious ideas and a conference room where men outnumbered women five to one. This problem is so glaring that it seems childish to point it out. Politics aside, so long the most visible advocates of natalism are loud-mouthed middle-aged white guys (myself included) who have never gestated a human being, this “movement” will be little more than a source of eye-rolls and acid jokes.

Put another way, we’ll know natalism is becoming a legitimate movement when it is dominated by women’s voices. And that may be starting to happen. In recent weeks, Substack has been boiling with smart debates about the birth dearth led by women from every point on the ideological and religious spectrum. I’m helping to organize an event in June where some of them will be featured. Stay tuned!