Details of Fertility | Shen Qi: “Calculating Fertility”: A New View on Urban Women’s Fertility Based on Platform Hot Topics

**Press Uprising: Rethinking Fertility with an Analytical Eye**

Fertility is not just a personal desire but also a societal dynamic. With the trend of “low fertility” continuing, various fertility support policies have been implemented in many parts of China to boost the birthrate. However, the actual results are still being observed.

The reason lies in the fact that fertility behavior heavily relies on personal subjective will. As “urban women” – a group with a high fertility rate, good educational background, and high-quality births – their fertility desires play a significant role in promoting high-quality population development in China.

Recent research on over 87,000 posts from the popular social media platform Xiaohongshu reveals that the current trend is for “calculated fertility” to become the new fertility paradigm among urban women. The posts mainly discussed topics such as the value of fertility, cost of upbringing, physical pain, spouse responsibility, and women’s rights. The discussions are not just positive or negative but show a mixed emotional dynamic with various emotions intertwined.

The study suggests that in the future, attention should be paid to youth discussions on fertility topics on social media platforms to create a positive public opinion environment for building a fertility-friendly society in China. In practice, only by addressing three questions – “How does public policy guarantee women’s rights during fertility?”, “How can society build a fertility-friendly environment and cultural atmosphere?”, and “How can families reduce the concerns of women caused by fertility?” – can the new fertility paradigm continue to leverage fertility desires even after “fertility calculation.”

The concept of fertility is no longer a “must-have” option, and “calculated fertility” has become the mainstream. Our research finds that urban women’s discussions on fertility mainly focus on five themes: “evaluation of fertility value,” “cost of upbringing calculation,” “physical pain consideration,” “spouse responsibility division,” and “women’s rights discussion.” These discussions center on the costs and risks that fertility may cause in terms of body, time, work, and economy.

For instance, in the aspect of “evaluation of fertility value,” urban women question the meaning and value of fertility in their lives, as the uncertainty and risks associated with it have sparked discussions on its significance. The “cost of upbringing” not only refers to the high consumer spending on fertility but also considers it as a long-term investment. Under the cultural expectation of “intensive motherhood and meticulous childcare,” the focus on quality as the core of fertility has amplified the perceived cost of fertility, becoming an “unbearable weight” for women.

The theme of “physical pain consideration” focuses on the physical and mental harm caused by fertility. The long-standing “shame on sexuality” and “avoidance of fertility culture” in Chinese society have created a knowledge gap for many urban women on fertility issues. Information sharing by women who have experienced childbirth on social media has broken down information barriers, but it also triggered fear and anxiety, even leading to some women having a negative attitude towards childbirth.

The division of spouse responsibility reflects urban women’s dissatisfaction with the lack of male participation in fertility-related responsibilities. They call for a renegotiation of responsibility boundaries in fertility issues to ensure individual interests are preserved. This especially becomes crucial when women make sacrifices for fertility, face a lack of competitiveness in the job market due to career interruption, and reduced family labor ability after childbirth. In such situations, men should provide economic, mental, and domestic support. The discussion on women’s rights emphasizes the issue of empowerment and dis-empowerment brought by fertility, with some women calling for the right to自主选择 whether, when, and how to have children without external interference.

On the whole, urban women’s discussions on fertility present a rational feature of “calculated fertility.” They break down fertility into several sub-projects and measure the gains and losses to convert it into an investment that can be measured. They are not just choosing not to have children but are more actively choosing to have children in a flexible, dynamic, and conditional manner. Furthermore, fertility is no longer seen as a necessary life experience or an unavoidable heavy obligation. Instead, it is now a choice made by women after overcoming fear of physical pain within their economic capabilities and with family support.

Through machine learning analysis of emotions in urban women’s posts on Xiaohongshu, our research shows that slightly more than one-third (35.62%) exhibit negative emotions in their discussions on fertility issues with positive and neutral emotions accounting for over 60% (positive at 33.17% and neutral at 31.21%). Overall, urban women’s discussions on fertility issues present a mixed picture of joy and sorrow with fear or reluctance being a common thread but not the mainstream sentiment.

Specifically, within the discussions of love coexist both “love between spouses” and “concern from sisters”. Married