I think the point of the article is that, while it should be achievable with 0 effort, in practice it is not. They are constantly having to justify themselves to others, which does take effort.

But they don't "have to" justify anything. They aren't forced to come up with any explanation, and "I just don't want to" is roughly 0 effort.

Constantly having to justify yourself to others is called life, at least life in a society.

You must live in a really judgemental environment :-(

No, I think you just too used to it that you don't see it. People judge you and you judge every other person on the planet based on every action they made, making and will make in their life.

Not zero: It is effort to argue with people that try to convince you to have children. And if they're e.g. family it's not always possible to avoid them.

"Desperate to not drink socially"

"Desperate to not volunteer for military service"

"Desperate to not eat meat"

These are all things that to varying degrees (and varying by locale) run contrary to social expectations and will be met with external pressure. I still don't see anyone writing up the grandiose titles above with a straight face.

Made you click, though!

(You'd think the BBC needed advertising revenue, the way they carry on at times...)