Letters For a Cause
Posted by Guest Writer in 
Today, we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming (tune in tomorrow for Jenna Cooper’s “First Drafts”) to talk to you about one of our longtime clients, Marcia Drut-Davis. We’ve been working with Marcia since 2009, giving her guidance and direction as she committed her memoir to paper. Now her book, Confessions of a Childless Woman, is complete and she could use your support as she moves forward. (Read more about Marcia on her website.)
In 1974, Marcia was featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes in a segment called “Three’s a Crowd” in which she shared her decision not to have children. She says the hours of interview footage were cut down to three minutes of pure propaganda; the message: the childfree are selfish pleasure-seekers who hate children. Mike Wallace ended the piece by saying “Pardon our perverseness for showing this on Mother’s Day.” After the story aired, Marcia suffered harassment at the hands of a pronatalistic society. She received death threats, was picketed at a school where she was scheduled to speak and, finally, was fired from her beloved teaching job.
Despite the backlash, Marcia remained strong, bravely standing behind her decision to remain childfree. Today, as she approaches her 70th birthday, she is seeking representation for Confessions of a Childless Woman and attempting to persuade 60 Minutes to revisit the topic they misrepresented more than 30 years ago. She feels that a follow up segment, allowing those interviewed in 1974 to reflect upon their choice—as Marcia herself does in her book—would be fair and deserved.
There are several ways you can help Marcia convince 60 Minutes to continue the discussion about a person’s right to a childfree life. Visit laviechildfree.com for a pre-written letter you can send to the show’s producers. Or simply email them your thoughts at 60m@cbsnews.com. Or, even more simply, leave a comment below to show your support. This will act as a sort of pseudo-petition as we rally behind a fellow writer who wants to tell her story, just like the rest of us.
Katie’s work has been featured in Austin Lifestyle Magazine, Redbook Magazine, Thrillist.com, and Homerun.com. She is also excited to be contributing to the new Austin publication BE Mag, launching its first issue this November. Prior to moving to Austin, Katie worked as an associate producer for an NBC affiliate in South Florida.
Thank you for sharing Marcia’s story. She is a terrific lady whose story needs to be told; there are women today who are childless by choice who have no idea that one of their own encountered such ugliness in the wake of fully living their choice. I encourage everyone to email 60 Minutes and to ask for a fair and accurate revisiting of the topic with Marcia.
The decision not to have children is an extremely important topic, especially when the future looks so uncertain for our future generations. I am appalled at 60 minutes for their own “selfishness”, when they chose to use Marcia, to further their own agenda. I believe they should read her wonderful book from cover to cover, and then invite her on 60 minutes, to set the record straight!
It took me 37 years to have the courage to write my memoir, “Confessions of a Childless Woman” .
The thanks for the help and support I received from WRITEBYNIGHT can not be written in mere words.
Writing is not for the faint of heart. To have the support of fellow writers from this site is the icing on the cake.
Thank you all if you take the time to write to “60 Minutes”. Most of all, thanks to Justice, David and Daniel.
Never stop reaching for your dreams even when the word “revise” is placed on your page!