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Aug. 29th, 2001 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geekchick[brought on by reading the "crying babies" thread on alt.fashion, which is turning into childfree vs. parents]
I used to read alt.support.childfree. Unfortunately I found it to be way too full of bitter, cranky people who seem totally unable to deal with the fact that if you leave your house, you're likely to have to acknowledge that children exist. Why is it that you can bitch to high heaven about how offensive it is that "breeders" (no, not an offensive term at all *cough*) keep hassling you about not having children, yet you can make really nasty comments about their reproductive choices? Tried a killfile for the most vitriolic, and it got really quiet really fast. I eventually gave up. For some reason though, it seems like no matter where I look, that's par for the course. There are some rational people, but they seem to be overwhelmed by "Oh god, I had to go to the grocery store today and this stupid toddler had the nerve to actually look at me across the aisle; its trailer-trash breeder mother needs to keep her sprogs on a leash."
I don't want to have any children of my own. I have absolutely no patience for crying infants and screaming tots, and thus I choose not to have any. My maternal instinct is pretty low, if not maybe non-existent. But I don't think that somehow entitles me to rant about how everyone who chooses to have children must not have the brains ghod gave a cow. Do I think a lot fewer people should be parents? Definitely. I think there are people who put less thought into what having a child means than they do what they're going to order from the Chinese take-out place. But there are plenty of good parents out there, who have taken the time to think about the sacrifices they have to make and gone ahead with the kids anyway. If you don't want to have kids, then don't. But chill the f*ck out and learn to deal with the fact that not everyone who has kids is a "trailer trash breeder", not everyone who has children lets them shriek their fool heads off in public and never disciplines them. (Although I'm so with you on the ones who DO let their kids run wild through the stores and kick the backs of seats for 45 minutes uninterrupted and scream their fool heads off for half an hour straight in nice restaurants.)
I used to read alt.support.childfree. Unfortunately I found it to be way too full of bitter, cranky people who seem totally unable to deal with the fact that if you leave your house, you're likely to have to acknowledge that children exist. Why is it that you can bitch to high heaven about how offensive it is that "breeders" (no, not an offensive term at all *cough*) keep hassling you about not having children, yet you can make really nasty comments about their reproductive choices? Tried a killfile for the most vitriolic, and it got really quiet really fast. I eventually gave up. For some reason though, it seems like no matter where I look, that's par for the course. There are some rational people, but they seem to be overwhelmed by "Oh god, I had to go to the grocery store today and this stupid toddler had the nerve to actually look at me across the aisle; its trailer-trash breeder mother needs to keep her sprogs on a leash."
I don't want to have any children of my own. I have absolutely no patience for crying infants and screaming tots, and thus I choose not to have any. My maternal instinct is pretty low, if not maybe non-existent. But I don't think that somehow entitles me to rant about how everyone who chooses to have children must not have the brains ghod gave a cow. Do I think a lot fewer people should be parents? Definitely. I think there are people who put less thought into what having a child means than they do what they're going to order from the Chinese take-out place. But there are plenty of good parents out there, who have taken the time to think about the sacrifices they have to make and gone ahead with the kids anyway. If you don't want to have kids, then don't. But chill the f*ck out and learn to deal with the fact that not everyone who has kids is a "trailer trash breeder", not everyone who has children lets them shriek their fool heads off in public and never disciplines them. (Although I'm so with you on the ones who DO let their kids run wild through the stores and kick the backs of seats for 45 minutes uninterrupted and scream their fool heads off for half an hour straight in nice restaurants.)
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CF ranters
Date: 2001-08-30 06:16 am (UTC)I hope you don't think ALL childfree people are as grouchy as demonstrated on a.s.c.f. - there are plenty of sites and mailing lists that are a lot more temperate.
Re: CF ranters
Date: 2001-08-30 10:14 am (UTC)Re: CF ranters
Date: 2001-08-30 12:02 pm (UTC)Personally, I like the Pride and Joy list over at Topica. It orignally started as a list for women who decided to be childfree rather than "child-less" after infertility, but its open to any woman over 18 who is CF. The discussion isn't solely about children, there's less ranting, and has a MUCH lower volume than a.s.c.f.