And you don't have to be female to get that pressure!
I have two younger brothers (no sisters) so Mom & Dad expected at least a few grandkids.
Chris (the youngest - 37) is single and liking it that way, no intent to marry any time soon.
Mike (the middle - 40) married a woman who has a daughter from a prior marriage (she's 20), and doens't anticipate any more.
They then started talking about "Chuckie will meet a partner and adopt" and to be honest, adopting a child was something I thought my future would hold.
However, after Brokeback, I look back on all the traveling I've done, and realize I really enjoy being able to pack a bag at a moment's notice and leave for somewhere, no worries of taking care of the needs of kids.
I've already broken this to my parents, and they told me they could see this was happening after I started my trips.
As for the general topic, I always wondered about divorces and that in most cases the women get custody of the kids. I've often wondered if there were situations where the mother simply wanted to move on with her life, and couldn't because she had the children at that point, while her ex-husband went on to being "single", while she became a "single mother".
Interesting! Like K, I was under no real pressure to have kids. In fact, the opposite was true, if anything was said at all. I remember being out at a family dinner, celebrating something or other. One of my aunt's daughters was there with her infant and she was having trouble feeding her and eating herself. When my cousin excused herself from the table, my aunt looked at me and said, "let this be a lesson for you. Look, she can't even enjoy a meal out." I didn't say anything. The only time someone told me that I would regret my decision not to have kids (my daughter was a surprise!) my mom told me I would be sorry one day. This is the only pressure I ever got. In fact, I was lauded that I wasn't in the hospital, huffing and puffing....yeah, someone actually told me this.
