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I think it's meant to be offensive because it has barnyard connotations and also because it describes an entire, complex person by one aspect of their life.
But I choose not to be offended by it because I just don't care about this issue. People should have children if they want them and avoid having children if they don't want them. There is nothing right or wrong about either choice, as long as people who have children take care of them as best they can.
Anyone else notice the trend of threads in the parenting section mostly against the idea of being a mom/dad, as if being a mom/dad is a horrible thing? Why is that?
Nope I don't notice any trend of that sort.
Most people here are parents by choice, so clearly we don't think it's a horrible thing.
I agree that some people intend it to be offensive. Saying "I have better things to do than breed" is of course offensive. It's obviously the intention.
I also think people get too offended by things these days, and that goes for both sides.
Honestly curious how the word "childless" can be deemed offensive. It simply means without children. Peerless (without peers), aimless (without aim), etc.
I think "childless" implies that a woman is unable to have children or that a man is sterile. In days past, that was considered to be a terrible liability because a woman who could not bear children or a man who could not produce children wasn't worth much in a family. Thank goodness that's no longer true. "Childfree" implies that a person has chosen not to have children, rather than is unable to have them. If I chose not to have children I would prefer "childfree" to "childless."
Anyone else notice the trend of threads in the parenting section mostly against the idea of being a mom/dad, as if being a mom/dad is a horrible thing? Why is that?
Yes, I've noticed that as well. I feel its superiority complex rearing its ugly head.
Anyone else notice the trend of threads in the parenting section mostly against the idea of being a mom/dad, as if being a mom/dad is a horrible thing? Why is that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magritte25
Yes, I've noticed that as well. I feel its superiority complex rearing its ugly head.
Anyone else notice the trend of threads in the parenting section mostly against the idea of being a mom/dad, as if being a mom/dad is a horrible thing? Why is that?
Well, let's at least be honest. As parents, none of us decided to have a baby because it would help the world. We all wanted a baby, a squishy thing to love and that we thought would love us unconditionally, something we could teach what we know, and hope they do the things we never got to do. For some, they think they had kids just so they'd have someone to take care of them in their old age.
It is the single-most selfish thing a person can do, is to have a child.
I think it depends on the context in which it's intended. If it's intended to be an insult or a derogatory term then it can be offensive.
FWIW, not only childless/childfree people use this term. I know a parent of two children who used the term for a friend who is pregnant with their fifth child. She said "They're pregnant with their fifth child. They're breeders." And I can assure you, she didn't mean it to offend or in a derogatory manner.
I could give a you-know-what about what some people call me as the father of three children and the step-father of another one. I have only myself and them to answer to...to which my daughter once said of a comparison I made to a cartoon father, "Homer wasn't that bad, dad."
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