Théophile de Giraud (born 19 November 1968) is a Belgian writer, philosopher and activist known for his work in

antinatalism Antinatalism or anti-natalism is the philosophical value judgment that procreation is unethical or unjustifiable. Antinatalists thus argue that humans should abstain from making children. Some antinatalists consider coming into existence to alw ...

and

childfree Voluntary childlessness or childfreeness is the active choice not to have children and not to adopt children. Use of the word ''childfree'' was first recorded in 1901 and entered common usage among feminists during the 1970s. The suffix -''free' ...

advocacy. Writing in French, he combines humor, provocation, and philosophical arguments to challenge societal norms around reproduction, ethics, and demography. Beyond his literary contributions, Giraud has engaged in high-profile activism, advocating for ecological responsibility and critiquing colonial legacies. His work has earned him recognition, including the

Belgian Vocation Foundation The Belgian Vocation Foundation is a Belgian non-profit organization, founded on 23 November 1963 by the Belgian industrialist Emile Bernheim. The foundation provides support to young people with a vocation, but who can not complete their education ...

award in 1998 and being named Childfree Man of the Year in 2013.

Literary work

Published in 2000, Giraud's first book, ''The Impertinence of Procreation'', is a plea against human reproduction, using a mixture of humor and provocation. Noted for his many eccentricities, Giraud was listed in the anthology ''Les Fous Littéraires'' by the pataphysician André Blavier. Giraud's essay ''The Art of Guillotining the Procreators: Anti-Natalist Manifesto'', published in 2006, is a rewrite of his first work. The central message of the work is "If you love children, don't create them". After having tried to show that life is only pain and that ethics is incompatible with reproduction, Giraud argued for school training for parenthood, adoption and a procreation strike to end the reproduction imposed by

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

. He cited many classical authors to illustrate his points. In a different register, Giraud described as a "dandy punk in rupture", published in 2008, a poetic essay on the

cold wave A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap, cold spell or Arctic Snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temp ...

entitled "Cold Love, Satanic Sex and Funny Suicide", with a preface written by Jean-Luc De Meyer, singer of

Front 242 Front 242 is a Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. Pioneering the style they called electronic body music, they influenced the electronic and industrial music genres. History Formation Front 242 were for ...

. Through numerous extracts of songs, he reviews several themes of the cold wave movement and the origin of Gothic movement, such as the love of sex and death, the hatred of the family and even the celebration of the end of the world and the human race; all with a humorous and inventive style. Giraud also contributed to the collective book ''Fewer, More Happy: The Urgency to Rethink Demography'', collated by Michel Sourrouille.

Activism

A figure of the

and

movement, Giraud is one of the co-creators of Non-Parents Day, celebrated between 2009 and 2011, alternately in Brussels and Paris. In 2008, he covered a statue of Leopold II in Brussels with red paint, to denounce the public valorisation of the king who established the colonial system of the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

. In 2012, he organised a "denatalist" event in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to bring attention to the

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migr ...

taboo and to the value of refusing to give birth for

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

reasons.

Awards

* Winner of the

(1998) * Childfree Man of the Year (2013)

Selected works

* ''The Impertinence of Procreation'', Brussels, self-published, 2000. * ''One Hundred Necromantic Haikus'', preface by Jean-Pierre Verheggen, foreword and afterword by André Stas, Spa, ed. Galopin, 2004 (). *
The Art of Guillotining Procreators: An Anti-natalist Manifesto
', Nancy, ed. Le Mort-Qui-Trompe, 2006 (). * ''Diogenesis, Fluorescent Poems to Wait Between Two Genocides'', Brussels, ed. Maelström, 2008 (). * ''Cold Love, Satanic Sex and Funny Suicide'', preface by Jean-Luc De Meyer, Nancy, ed. Le Mort-Qui-Trompe, 2008 (). * ''Aphorisms for the Use of Future Familicides'', preface by Corinne Maier, foreword by Serge Poliart, Brussels, ed. Maelström, 2013 (). * ''The Childfree Christ: Antinatalism in Early Christianity'', ed. AFNIL, 2021 ().

References

External links

*
Antinatalist speech given by Théophile de Giraud during the General Assembly in Berlin (2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giraud, Théophile de 1968 births Living people 21st-century Belgian male writers 21st-century Belgian philosophers Anti-natalists Belgian activists Belgian writers in French People from Namur (city)