For International Men’s Day 2026, Michael, Berenice and Sarah talk with Ben (UK-born, Sydney-based coach and speaker) and Ed Ismail (actor, writer and podcaster), who are both childless not by choice. They ask what “The Future Is Everyone” means when so much of the imagery and language around IMD centres on fatherhood. They also cover legacy and mentoring, who looks after us in later life, the pressure men carry, silent grief, and what they’re most proud of.

Ben has a technology career and now works in consulting, speaking and coaching. He and his wife Jo presented a World Childless Week webinar on grieving and moving on.

Ed Ismail is an actor, writer and podcaster from England. He uses his writing, whether poetry or plays, to explore and express his feelings about being childless not by choice. He has interviewed childless men and is keen to meet more people on their childless journey. For fun and creative inspiration, Ed interviews actors and performers of all kinds on the Don’t Think, Act!podcast, available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

We're joined by two researchers, Dr Nicola Spurling and Professor Cristina Archetti, for a conversation that goes right to the heart of why the Full Stop exists. Nicola is a sociologist at Lancaster University who's turned her attention to childlessness. Cristina is a professor, psychotherapist, and the author of two books on involuntary childlessness, including her brand-new release, The Trauma of Infertility. Together they talk about what it really means to bring your story into your research, why childlessness isn't a single moment but a process that runs through an entire life

Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Lancaster University

"In my current work I explore how, over the past fifteen years, childless people have increasingly used autobiography and storytelling to share experiences, develop knowledge and make sense of childless lives collectively. I'm interested in what happens when social researchers take that knowledge seriously — not simply as material for research about childlessness, but as something that can raise new questions and reshape what researchers think it is important to study."

🔗 Nicola's Lancaster University profile

📄 Nicola's papers (both open access — free to read). A note for listeners: these are written for an academic audience, so the language is quite dense, especially in the opening sections. Nicola is happy to answer any questions if you'd like to dig in.

• Intergenerational (Im)mobilities: Living on without Children in the Family Tree — Mobility Humanities, 2022

• (Im)mobile Autobiography: the mobilisation of 'life without children' auto/biography and its significance — Mobilities, 2024

Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway — researcher, infertility survivor, and psychotherapist specializing in trauma

I am a researcher, an infertility survivor, and a psychotherapist specializing in trauma. I bring to the table my own lived experience of involuntary childlessness, a decade of research about the topic, and an understanding of how not becoming a parent can be a trauma, both in itself and connected to previous experiences in life. I am a Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway, and I am author of two books (both available open access, i.e. for free, by following the links): The Trauma of Infertility: The Experience of Involuntary Childlessness (2026); Childlessness in the Age of Communication: Deconstructing Silence (2020). I am also a psychotherapist specializing in trauma (https://cristinaarchetti.com). In fact, I became a psychotherapist precisely because I wanted to help others heal from the wounds of involuntary childlessness. I have been World Childless Week ambassador since 2018.

Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/Cristina.Archetti1; https://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/crista/

Psychotherapist website: https://cristinaarchetti.com

Psychotherapist Page: https://www.facebook.com/cristinaarchetti.psychotherapy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-archetti-a0830b15

What if the question "why don't you have children?" was one you spent your doctorate trying to answer for yourself?

That's exactly what Dr Naomi Menahem did. And what she found wasn't the misery she'd half expected. It was something nuanced and defiant, and ultimately more hopeful.

In Episode 89, Naomi joins us from Byron Bay to share her research on circumstantial childlessness, the concept of the Deferral Iceberg, and why she's chosen "robust pragmatism" over the quiet resignation of "acceptance." She also tells us about Childless Conversation — her new monthly in-person gathering for women who've been silent for too long.