---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The fact that everyone between seventeen…"
description: "\"“The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) \"tied down to childbearing,\" implies that no one is qui..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg"
---

#  The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five…

![“The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) "tied down to childbearing," implies that no one is quite so thoroughly "tied down" here as women, elsewhere are likely to be--psychologically or physically. Burden and privilege are shared out pretty…” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg)

> ““The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) "tied down to childbearing," implies that no one is quite so thoroughly "tied down" here as women, elsewhere are likely to be--psychologically or physically. Burden and privilege are shared out pretty equally; everybody has the same risk to run or choice to make. Therefore nobody here is quite so free as a free male anywhere else.””

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote highlights that in the depicted society, both genders share reproductive responsibilities and risks, making traditional gendered freedom less distinct.

**In simple terms:** Both sexes share childbearing duties, reducing gender gaps in freedom.

Key Takeaway

Recognize how shared responsibilities affect perceived liberty.

Themes

gender roles freedom equality responsibility social structure

Mood

thoughtful analytical

Type

sociological philosophical

When to use this quote

- policy analysis
- gender studies
- social planning
- cross‑cultural comparison

Key Concepts

feminist theory anthropology political philosophy

Questions to Reflect On

- How does shared childbearing reshape power dynamics?
- What other factors influence freedom in this society?

A Different Perspective

The analysis may overlook individual agency and cultural nuances beyond reproductive duties.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Burden Privilege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burden-privilege-2050885/) [Childbearing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childbearing/) [Childbearing Implies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childbearing-implies-3100771/) [Free Male](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-male-3100772/) [Tied Childbearing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tied-childbearing-3100770/)

## Related quotes

> [“Consider: Anyone can turn his hand to anything. This sounds very simple, but its psychological effects are incalculable. The fact that everyone between seventeen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/consider-anyone-can-turn-his-hand-to-anything-this-sounds-very-simple/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“You will never be a burden to me. It is my privilege to be available to you whenever you may need me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-day/you-will-never-be-a-burden-to-me-it-is-my-privilege-to-be-available/)

[Sylvia Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-day/)

> [Liberty is never fully paid off, and to be deserving of it, one must be willing to fight for it on the battlefield, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-loesch/liberty-is-never-fully-paid-off-and-to-be-deserving-of-it-one-must-be/)

[Dana Loesch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-loesch/)

> [“Taking care of those you love should never feel like a burden to you. It should never be a burden to you. If it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-megan-varnadore/taking-care-of-those-you-love-should-never-feel-like-a-burden-to-you/)

[Jennifer Megan Varnadore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-megan-varnadore/)

> [I suppose the most important thing, the heaviest single factor in one's life, is whether one's born male or female. In most societies it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-suppose-the-most-important-thing-the-heaviest-single-factor-in-one/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [ “\[The Spartans\] ordered the maidens to exercise themselves with wrestling, running, throwing the quoit, and casting the dart, to the end that the fruit… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/the-spartans-ordered-the-maidens-to-exercise-themselves-with/)

[Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/)

> [Feminism is really the right of women to be full human beings and to not be defined only by their childbearing function. Feminism is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/feminism-is-really-the-right-of-women-to-be-full-human-beings-and-to/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [In my practice, the majority of mutation carriers choose mastectomy; however, for those without cancer, they have much more control over the timing. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristi-funk/in-my-practice-the-majority-of-mutation-carriers-choose-mastectomy/)

[Kristi Funk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristi-funk/)

> [Ninety-eight percent of women in childbearing age who are Catholic use contraception. Ok, so in practice the church has not enforced this and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-pelosi/ninety-eight-percent-of-women-in-childbearing-age-who-are-catholic/)

[Nancy Pelosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-pelosi/)

> [It had never occurred to him that the body of a woman of fifty, blown up to monstrous dimensions by childbearing, then hardened, roughened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-had-never-occurred-to-him-that-the-body-of-a-woman-of-fifty-blown/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [Women should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children...If a woman grows weary and, at last, dies from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/women-should-remain-at-home-sit-still-keep-house-and-bear-and-bring/)

[Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/)

> [“When Dr. James Young Simpson sought to apply anesthesia to a woman in childbirth, the clergymen of his day foamed at the mouth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-lewis/when-dr-james-young-simpson-sought-to-apply-anesthesia-to-a-woman-in/)

[Joseph Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-lewis/)

> [By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/by-all-means-there-should-be-no-children-when-either-mother-or-father/)

[Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/)

> [No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/no-more-children-should-be-born-when-the-parents-though-healthy/)

[Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/)

> [Childbearing is the most consistent of human events. Male and female alike, we have all been gestated inside a woman's body. As a phenomenon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-raphael-leff/childbearing-is-the-most-consistent-of-human-events-male-and-female/)

[Joan Raphael-Leff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-raphael-leff/)

## More by Ursula K. Le Guin

> [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

[Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

## More Childbearing quotes

> [Childbearing is the most consistent of human events. Male and female alike, we have all been gestated inside a woman's body. As a phenomenon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-raphael-leff/childbearing-is-the-most-consistent-of-human-events-male-and-female/)

[Joan Raphael-Leff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-raphael-leff/)

> [No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/no-more-children-should-be-born-when-the-parents-though-healthy/)

[Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/)

> [By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/by-all-means-there-should-be-no-children-when-either-mother-or-father/)

[Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/)

> [“When Dr. James Young Simpson sought to apply anesthesia to a woman in childbirth, the clergymen of his day foamed at the mouth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-lewis/when-dr-james-young-simpson-sought-to-apply-anesthesia-to-a-woman-in/)

[Joseph Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-lewis/)

> [Women should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children...If a woman grows weary and, at last, dies from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/women-should-remain-at-home-sit-still-keep-house-and-bear-and-bring/)

[Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/)

> [It had never occurred to him that the body of a woman of fifty, blown up to monstrous dimensions by childbearing, then hardened, roughened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-had-never-occurred-to-him-that-the-body-of-a-woman-of-fifty-blown/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [Ninety-eight percent of women in childbearing age who are Catholic use contraception. Ok, so in practice the church has not enforced this and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-pelosi/ninety-eight-percent-of-women-in-childbearing-age-who-are-catholic/)

[Nancy Pelosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-pelosi/)

> [In my practice, the majority of mutation carriers choose mastectomy; however, for those without cancer, they have much more control over the timing. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristi-funk/in-my-practice-the-majority-of-mutation-carriers-choose-mastectomy/)

[Kristi Funk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristi-funk/)

> [Feminism is really the right of women to be full human beings and to not be defined only by their childbearing function. Feminism is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/feminism-is-really-the-right-of-women-to-be-full-human-beings-and-to/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [ “\[The Spartans\] ordered the maidens to exercise themselves with wrestling, running, throwing the quoit, and casting the dart, to the end that the fruit… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/the-spartans-ordered-the-maidens-to-exercise-themselves-with/)

[Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/)

> [Simply put, when there is no home birth in a society, or when home birth is driven completely underground, essential knowledge of women’s capacities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ina-may-gaskin/simply-put-when-there-is-no-home-birth-in-a-society-or-when-home/)

[Ina May Gaskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ina-may-gaskin/)

> [I made it to the childbearing phase without TV dependence, then looked around and thought, Well gee, why start now? Why get a pet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/i-made-it-to-the-childbearing-phase-without-tv-dependence-then-looked/)

[Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/)

> [Childbearing is glorified in part because women die from it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-dworkin/childbearing-is-glorified-in-part-because-women-die-from-it/)

[Andrea Dworkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-dworkin/)

> [The birds sang, the proles sang. the Party did not sing. All round the world, in London and New York, in Africa and Brazil,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-birds-sang-the-proles-sang-the-party-did-not-sing-all-round-the/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [“Vous travaillez pour l'armee, madame?' (You are working for the army?), a Frenchwoman said to me early in the Vietnam war, on hearing I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/vous-travaillez-pour-l-armee-madame-you-are-working-for-the-army-a/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

[Browse all 38 Childbearing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childbearing/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) \"tied down to childbearing,\" implies that no one is quite so thoroughly \"tied down\" here as women, elsewhere are likely to be--psychologically or physically. Burden and privilege are shared out pretty equally; everybody has the same risk to run or choice to make. Therefore nobody here is quite so free as a free male anywhere else.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen-and-thirty-five-or-so-is/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Childbearing"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen-and-thirty-five-or-so-is/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen_1466073.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“The fact that everyone between seventeen and thirty-five or so is liable to be (as Nim put it) \"tied down to…” — Ursula K. Le Guin",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“The fact that everyone between seventeen...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen-and-thirty-five-or-so-is/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-fact-that-everyone-between-seventeen-and-thirty-five-or-so-is/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```