The Meme Machine

SEX IN THE MODERN WORLD 141
A second assumption is that women are more likely to imitate the women
they see in the media who have (or appear to have) few children, than those of
their friends who have many. Research in social psychology, marketing, and
advertising shows that people are more often persuaded by others who are
perceived as powerful or famous. Family size is probably no exception, so if
successful women have few children then others will copy their example. If
both these assumptions are true then it followers that, in a climate of horizontal
transmission, birth control will spread and families refill get smaller.
Predictions can also be made. For example, the size of families should
depend on the ease with which memes can spread horizontally in a given
society. Other theories might predict that the main forces for lowering birth rate
(Chinese-type coercion aside) would be economic necessity, availability of
birth-control technology, the value of children as agricultural workers, or the
decline of religions. Meme theory suggests that factors such as how many
people a mother typically communicates with, or how much access she has to
printed and broadcast material, should be more important. And note that it is
mothers who count. Memetic theory easily explains why the education of
women is so important in changing family size.
Education aside, this all leads to the paradoxical thought that the more sex
magazines, e-mail sex sites, and sex shops are available, the lower birth rates are
likely to be. The sale of sex in modern societies is not about spreading genes.
Sex has been taken over by the memes.
Let us consider an example. Imagine a couple who both have rewarding and
demanding careers. Let us suppose that she is editor of a magazine and he is a
management consultant. They have a large house but it is a work-place as well
as a home. They have computers, fax machines, phones, and desks piled with
work, and they work long hours. She goes to the magazine’s office, but often
works at home, editing contributions, dealing with problems and writing her
own articles. When they are not working they go out with friends to get a
welcome break from it all.
The time comes to decide about children. The woman is in her thirties; she
has always faintly wanted children, but how will she manage? She sees her
friends juggling family and careers, she sees the time that babies take up, and the
sleep they deprive you of, the problems with nannies, the money they cost. She
thinks about her work: they are about to take over another magazine. Will she
get the job of editing both? If she takes time off, will she lose it? He thinks
about his clients. Will children be in the way? Will he need a separate office?
Will his competitors overtake him if he cannot keep working evenings and
weekends? What if he has to take children to school or do his share of nappy-