Interview With Podcast Host ChildfreeSista
And the Cradle Will Fall: A Childfree Look at True Crime.
The introductory episode of And the Cradle Will Fall: A Childfree Look at True Crime dropped this week on the Childfree Media podcast. We sat down with host and creator Jenn — aka ChildfreeSista, to discuss the origin of her show.
Is it safe to say you’re a podcast junkie? What sparked the idea to explore true crime from a childfree perspective?
Yes, I am indeed a podcast junkie. I’ve always been able to connect more with voices than with visuals. So, I often listen to a podcast or an audiobook rather than sitting in bed and watching TV. Unless, of course, a new season of Servant or Emily in Paris comes out! 😊 I’m also an unabashed true crime fan: I live, eat, sleep, and breathe true crime all the time! But, what may set me apart from the mainstream true crime crowd is that I’m childfree by choice, and I’ve decided to use a childfree perspective to explore true crime cases.
So as a childfree woman who is also a true crime junkie, I can’t ignore how much we normalize the unchallenged goodness and entitlement of parenthood in our narratives about true crime. That is why the tagline for my podcast is, “If it breeds, it leads,” because, in true crime journalism, pronatalism is supreme even though it claims to be objective. And I have news for you, most true crime media is drinking that pro-parent koolaid…..and from a sippy cup!
What can the audience expect from this podcast?
When I first started to think through the concept of a childfree look at true crime, I immediately thought of what we in the childfree community call bingo-ing or being bingo-ed.
This is when people with children or those who buy into the norm of having kids say certain things to us because we have decided to opt out of parenthood.
Being bingo-ed is how the pro-natalist agenda gets its point across, that parenthood is a right and not a privilege, that children are always a blessing that makes a family complete!
So, Imagine a childfree bingo for each of these awful cases:
Bingo: “Nothing is better than that ‘new baby smell!’” — Megan Huntsman, a Utah mother sentenced to life in prison for killing six of her newborn babies.
Bingo: “It’s different when it’s your own!” — Chris Watts, convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and their two young daughters.
Bingo: “What about the family name?” — The OG of family annihilators John List, who in 1971 killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey, and then disappeared.
Bingo: “It’s all worth it!” — Carola Arnau, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania mother that shot her 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son multiple times in a murder-suicide.
Bingo: “People who don’t want kids are selfish!” — The alleged patron Saint of Shady and Selfish Casey Anthony, whose acquittal for the disappearance and murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee sparked national confusion and outrage.
Bingo: “Your child could grow up to cure cancer!” — Killer twins Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead, 16-year-old sisters convicted of killing their mother.
This podcast will look at an assortment of cases and explore the questions that remain taboo even for stories often drenched in the blood of families: Which childfree bingo applies, and how does society’s obsession with having kids at any cost contribute to these kinds of tragedies?
Each episode will center around a bingo.
I’ve only shared a few but trust me; there’s more!
I’ll select a few cases to reveal a childfree perspective’s unique value and revelatory power.
I’ll listen to other true crime podcasts; I’ll watch documentaries and of course, cuz I’m old school, I’ll read books.
I’ll discuss my thoughts on true crime from the perspective of a childfree true crime junkie.
