# Has a male pro athlete ever chosen to be childless? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 12, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918 "2016-01-12T11:35:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/1 "2016-01-12T11:35:33Z")
With respect to the intent of my inquiry, this is excluding cases of fertility problems, asexuality or anyone with non-heterosexal preferences. Another exception would be a religious athlete who believed sex outside marriage is wrong and who never got married. From the lenses of evolutionary biology, social status and risk taking, it seems to me few classes of people could be more incentivized to start a family or just spread their seed than male pro athletes. Especially ones in leagues where a minimum salary makes you among top earners of the general public. Anecdotally it’s very evident how common it is for active male athletes to be fathers. They are themseles out there enough on social media and media exposure nowadays you can probably tell in the majority of cases if one has kids (that he knows of). Not that it’s necessarily anyone’s business to know. I would wager there have been male pro athletes who quietly chose to never have kids for some reasons other than the above exceptions. But has a male pro athlete ever publicly identified himself as such a person who made that choice and why? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/2 "2016-01-12T13:21:08Z")
> [@yezlles](#): > > From the lenses of evolutionary biology, social status and risk taking, it seems to me few classes of people could be more incentivized to start a family or just spread their seed than male pro athletes. But why would those be the primary factors in anyone’s decisions on this of all questions? > [@yezlles](#): > > I would wager there have been male pro athletes who quietly chose to never have kids for some reasons other than the above exceptions. But has a male pro athlete ever publicly identified himself as such a person who made that choice and why? Why would they wish to do so? After all, as you yourself observe: > [@yezlles](#): > > Not that it’s necessarily anyone’s business to know. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/3 "2016-01-12T13:58:20Z")
Let’s move this to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![ElderSign](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eldersign/32/8263_2.png) [@ElderSign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElderSign)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/4 "2016-01-12T13:59:20Z")
I do not believe so. It is socially unacceptable to not have kids and come out and give a reason about how the world sucks, you don’t want to change your lifestyle, don’t want the responsibility, don’t see the need, etc. The social justice warrior lynch mobs destroyed a poor woman who dared post her happiness about not wanting to have kids. Derek Jeter has quietly skipped the kids part of his l life with no media inquiries. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/5 "2016-01-12T16:11:37Z")
> [@yezlles](#): > > With respect to the intent of my inquiry, this is excluding cases of fertility problems, asexuality or anyone with non-heterosexal preferences. Another exception would be a religious athlete who believed sex outside marriage is wrong and who never got married. > > From the lenses of evolutionary biology, social status and risk taking, it seems to me few classes of people could be more incentivized to start a family or just spread their seed than male pro athletes. Especially ones in leagues where a minimum salary makes you among top earners of the general public. > > Anecdotally it’s very evident how common it is for active male athletes to be fathers. They are themseles out there enough on social media and media exposure nowadays you can probably tell in the majority of cases if one has kids (that he knows of). Not that it’s necessarily anyone’s business to know. I would wager there have been male pro athletes who quietly chose to never have kids for some reasons other than the above exceptions. But has a male pro athlete ever publicly identified himself as such a person who made that choice and why? Your thought experiment is a little too precious. Why in the world would any pro athlete with an ounce of common sense do this even if he or she felt this way? There is little overt social pressure on professional athletes to have kids or not have kids. It’s deemed a private matter and not something any fan really cares all that much about, and beyond that there’s nothing but probable negatives if the athlete gets on a soapbox about their choice to be child free. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/6 "2016-01-12T17:55:51Z")
Billie Jean King is female, of course, but she [wrote](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean_King#Personal_life) in her autobiography that she had an abortion because she did not believe her marriage was stable enough to raise a child. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/7 "2016-01-12T22:05:45Z")
> [@ElderSign](#): > > I do not believe so. It is socially unacceptable to not have kids and come out and give a reason about how the world sucks, you don’t want to change your lifestyle, don’t want the responsibility, don’t see the need, etc. The **social justice warrior lynch mobs** destroyed a poor woman who dared post her happiness about not wanting to have kids. > > Derek Jeter has quietly skipped the kids part of his l life with no media inquiries. Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/8 "2016-10-23T01:20:34Z")
A lot of pro athletes display patterns of a lack of common sense. And whether it even is an issue of common sense (esp. in the case of retired athletes), sometimes athletes take stances, say or tweet things which make them pariahs. When I made this thread I didn’t have MGTOW (men going their own way) in mind…I would think by this point there is some male athlete somewhere in the world openly on that wagon, so that would count. I’d be wowed if there ever were a pro athlete who was an antinatalist. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/9 "2016-10-23T02:28:12Z")
> [@ElderSign](#): > > It is socially unacceptable to not have kids and come out and give a reason about how the world sucks, you don’t want to change your lifestyle, don’t want the responsibility, don’t see the need, etc. The social justice warrior lynch mobs destroyed a poor woman who dared post her happiness about not wanting to have kids. “Social justice warriors” are against non-procreation now? Fascinating. I might have guessed that population pressure and _lack_ of reproductive choice were the concerns, but what do I know. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-male-pro-athlete-ever-chosen-to-be-childless/742918/10 "2016-11-08T03:29:59Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > “Social justice warriors” are against non-procreation now? Fascinating. > > I might have guessed that population pressure and _lack_ of reproductive choice were the concerns, but what do I know. SJWs are not a unified group. Different people can have different ideas about what activities are appropriate in society. That it tends to be conflated with whiny liberals doesn’t mean there aren’t reactionary people with the same sorts of desires to change people’s behaviors.