Standard issue for all women.

Hello, Hannah here to say goodbye to the week with another podcast

and to tell you a bit more about what's coming next week.

Yosra will be here for another flicking and Hazel Davis is going to be chatting to

Ronna Louise Butcher about her book going topless.

And then, and no offence to Hazel and Yosra, but the highlight for me

will surely be that I am finally getting Mickey to watch picnic at Hanging Rock. Well done me.

That's obviously going to be our rated or dated. And talking of the absence of children,

let's talk about today's podcast in which I chat to writer Helen Taylor about her new book, Childless by Choice, which is part memoir, part cultural history, about crazy cat ladies, no, about child-free women, an issue which is increasingly pertinent in many countries around the world. As you'll

likely know, I am also childless by choice, so I've got a lot to say about the topic, as you'd

imagine, and I really enjoyed talking to Helen, especially since, unlike almost all the child

free women I know, she's actually older than me. So she's perhaps better placed

to talk about things like regret and the looming issue of who is going to look after us when we get

old. I hope you find this as interesting as I did. And if you know someone you think might benefit

from listening, please send it their way.

Hi, Hannah here. I am joined by Helen Taylor, author of Childless by Choice, the Meaning and Legacy of a Child Free Life. Thank you for joining us, Helen. Thank you for inviting me.

Helen, you use both the word child free and childless in that title.

It's a very political topic, to be honest.

I wondered why you'd done that.

I deliberately did that because to say that you are childless,

suggests loss.

It suggests regret.

...