So Taylor and Travis are married, finally. What took them so long?
The mega-famous power couple wed in a sweltering blaze on July 3 in Madison Square Garden, just to make sure there was enough room at their star-studded celebration. She walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of her own song “Love Story.” Adam Sandler officiated the ceremony. Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Sandler’s best advice to the couple was “keep kissing.”
So now they settle into family life. Will a baby be coming soon?
At the news of their engagement last August, American Enterprise Institute fellow Timothy Carney posted on X, “Pregnancy is contagious. Familism and Natalism are conveyed culturally.”
He added, “If Kelce and Swift have kids and quickly, this could trigger a Baby Boom.”
We should all hope it will because the world’s most pressing long-term need is many more babies being born today so that we have a tomorrow. Two-thirds to nearly three-fourths of humanity live in a nation well below replacement level which translates into what one leading global analyst called “mass extinction numbers.”
So, the question is certainly worth considering: Could impending news of a little Swiftie in the oven trigger a baby boom, or at least a bump? Possibly.
First, it is important to recognize that Carney is correct. Pregnancy is indeed contagious. Academic studies here, here, here and here demonstrate that pregnancies happening within a woman’s personal network can stimulate her entry into motherhood. The decision to have a baby is less individualistic than most assume. The behaviors of others affect our own.
In an interview with the Daily Citizen, Carney contends, “Pregnancy is contagious on a local level, among extended family circles and on a cultural level.” How does this happen? Carney explains, “People are motivated by what fills their imagination, what they see, what they are exposed to.” He notes, “If you were the CIA and you wanted to drive up birthrates, you would simply expose people to the rewarding experiences of lots of families with lots of kids.”
So yes, familism and natalism are conveyed culturally. Carney told Daily Citizen, “What I articulated in my X post was a hope, not a prediction, not an expectation.”
But he admitted, “I think celebrities having kids, especially married celebrities having kids, raising them in a happy family, enjoying life together — that is analogous to actually seeing kids running around on your street.” He confessed, “It is not as good as that, but certainly analogous.”
As Veronica Clarke noted over at First Things last August, Taylor’s “engagement signals to Swifties and lovelorn women worldwide that finding love in the twenty-first century is not a fairy tale.” If she and Travis welcome a wedding baby, that news could have the same effect.
Lyman Stone, director of the Institute for Family Studies’ Pronatalism Initiative, also sat for an interview with Daily Citizen. He told us, “I definitely share the perspective that major celebrity figures, social influencers, role models, whatever, they absolutely have an effect on people’s family decisions.” Stone adds an important angle though,
He adds the larger population must see those things as attainable for themselves. Buying a new plane or an expensive second home in Italy does not have the same effect. But something that is clearly in reach for most young adults, like marriage and parenthood, can be driven by the influence of others.
Stone notes, “So to the extent that Swifties look at Taylor and say, ‘Well, if the woman who did four break-up albums can find love with the football star, maybe I can find love too.’” He observes, “Maybe that could happen with motherhood too, if she gets pregnant soon enough.”
What if Taylor outsources her mommy wish and gestational labor to a surrogate? The motivation to keep her famous starlet body and her more than ample financial resources make this a very real possibility. But this makes her pathway to motherhood unattainable (and hopefully undesirable) for most Swifties, thus having no baby bump effect.
But it also matters how Tay Tay talks about motherhood, if that time comes. Stone explained, “If we get Taylor Swift’s Lullaby Album for her beloved baby, we’re there, on the path to a prenatal culture.” He counters though, “But if we get her ‘Honest Reflections on the Difficulties of Motherhood’ i.e., negative comments about motherhood, that’s unlikely to go in a great direction.” Stone concludes, “If Taylor talks about her family life in a way that is encouraging of others, then I think we could get a Swiftie baby bump.”
As Carney noted in the Washington Examiner, the day after his X post went viral: “If someone who is constantly watched by millions of people starts living a married life and a mother life, then the idea of being married and a mother becomes more imaginable – even if her life is inaccessible in so many other ways.”
Such is the power of modern, mediated entertainment culture. Sometimes its upside possibilities are worth hoping for.
Let’s hope for a baby boom.