Has anyone noticed the constant vitriol against child free people on MN?

[CatfoodOzymandias]

I am not child free, by the way. But I have been using MN more than I normally have, and every other post seems to be a subtle ( or not so subtle) way to take a dig at the child free. I occasionally dip into the Child Free Board but don't post there as that is not my place, but there are parents there too, arguing away.

I have many child free friends- they don't give me parenting advice, I don't give them any advice- and I don't really understand why posters here are trying to widen the gulf between different groups of women.

I don't think most child free people are offended or triggered.

Personally, I use MN for the non-parenting bits.

I haven't noticed, and despite having two kids of my own, I completely understand not wanting any, and think it's probably a good thing overall for the planet for people to have less children, or none at all.

No

No and I don't have kids.

Nope.

I hadn't noticed to be honest. People seem to be equally vitriolic to a wide range of people depending on the topic and day of the week.

Yes, it's there, and it's a reflection of the unpleasant attitude to childfree people that is present in wider society. Sadly.

I think people have a tendency to only notice certain issues when it affects them. So if you break your leg or become otherwise less mobile you suddenly find that there are many places you cannot easily access any more.

This phenomenon also occurs for situations related to parenting. When women are not able to conceive there are suddenly babies everywhere. Also when you are a parent you don't notice certain comments regarding people without children.

I did notice the negative comments/threads as I do not have children. I always find them unpleasant but understand that many parents have bought into several stereotypes regarding being a parent or not and that not having children means that the person is somehow lacking, less emphatic, less of a a person really. Which are all stereotypes that will serve someone's agenda to keep people in their place and not question the status quo.

I'd say live and let live, don't go making trouble in corners of this site for black people if you're not black, in neurodiverse threads if you're not neurodiverse, etc. And if you do wish to participate on these specialist boards, stay curious and try to learn about other people's lived experience without judgment. It's really simple.

@FufferPish you are probably right. I am a parent though but perhaps I have the time to notice stuff like this because my DC are grown!

Just like parents are a smug lot. Claiming the child free will never know love, will never have a purpose in life, will never achieve anything…

Exactly the kind of interaction I don't see IRL. IRL nobody cares if you have spawned or not. Most people too busy worrying about mortgages.

Oh they care when it comes to who gets time off at Christmas and in the summer holidays.

Not at all, in fact quite a few people argue that not having children is a good thing for environmental reasons.

I didn’t think MN had a policy about deleting horrible stuff about kids. Most of the threads about children in the popular areas of the site posters are being horrible about their children or step children eg ‘I would step over my step kids to get to my kids in a fire’ ‘I’d step on my step kids to get to mine’ ‘I’d use my step son as a human shield to protect my children’. One of the worst things about the internet is that we now know what goes on in peoples heads!

No.

Triggered! That is absolute bollocks!

It was nothing to do with people being triggered - any more than chicken keepers wanting and having a board to discuss chickens, those without children wanted a board to discuss lives and decisions around having no children.

Ime there's a tiny, tiny, tiny number of trolls posters who like to pop up now and again to observe that life is fundamentally pointless if you don't reproduce. These threads inevitably create a disproportionate amount of heat and light around which the trolls gleefully warm their hairy hands.

a very good example!

No, I’ve not noticed it either. I do however notice lots of posts from people seeming to resent children existing in public.

There are plenty of threads about the bashing of "X" being constant, and plenty of comments in threads saying the same.

But it's classic confirmation bias - the threads you choose and the comments you remember will reinforce that impression and ignore evidence to the contrary.

I do however find it utterly tedious when people say "I've never seen that happen" - well, whoopdedo, do you read every single page?

I've seen the occasional post, but no, I can't say I've noticed 'constant vitriol'. I've been kicking about these boards for 19 years and there have been many wankers over the years, with and without children.

Have you a bunch of examples?

no

No, I’m childfree and I can’t say I have tbh. There’s always those that will make negative judgments on the childfree, but there’s also always those that will make negative judgments on anything and everything, so who really needs to care?

No. In a discussion forum mostly populated by women, we are going to discuss the different lives we lead. Asking whether having or not having children gives us different perspectives isn't vitriol.