Was I unreasonable to tell this lady to get lost in fairly strong language?

[Defnotsupergirl]

I am very obviously pregnant at the moment. At my local supermarket today I was stopped going in by an older lady who asked me the usual questions regarding when I was due, looking forward to being a mum etc. all fair enough..... Then she asked me if I was looking forward to the pain of childbirth to atone for my sins. I was dumbfounded and said without really thinking that no, I am having a planned cesarean due to medical reasons. She then became angry telling me that it was my duty as a woman to give birth in pain as was decreed by God because of the sin committed by Eve etc.

I told her to F off etc. then waddled into the shop while she was still having a go at me in a loud voice - I'm fairly sure it wasn't but was my reaction unreasonable?

Unlikely to be MH problems, more likely to be Plymouth Brethren. Smile and nod!!

Wow no it wasn't appropriate. She clearly has mh problems but that is all a great big joke isn't it. What was wrong with smiling sweetly, "excuse me im running late" I swear like a navvy but that was shitty.

OP - up thread someone mentioned 'the pain of having a Ceasarean'. Wanted to reassure you that, while I experienced various discomforts, IME my caesarean wasn't painful.

Why would you assume that she had mental health problems? It sounds like the OP had a perfectly normal conversation prior to the very strange comments. I'd assume that the woman had some fundamentalist Christian views but that doesn't necessarily mean that she was mentally ill. I have met people who appeared to be quite rational but still held bizarre views that they felt you wanted/needed to hear (my big sister attended a very evangelical church for a while).

I don't think I'd swear, but I'm not very heavily pregnant so my fuse isn't short nor am I worried about childbirth so no nerves to touch. I certainly don't think that the OP was unreasonable in letting this woman know that her comments were very unwelcome however.

Yanbu she was being very rude and horrid. You say thing to people like that, you deserve what you get. However she does not sound all there tbh

I don't why she 'obviously' had MH problems. Sounds more like extremely religious problems! They lure you in with a bit of normality then out come the bizarre views.

I don't think ywbu at all.

I doubt that she had MH issues. Some people really believe that the bible is to be taken literally.

You may suspect that any religious belief is similar to MH issues, but I couldn't possibly comment.

Not every religious person has mental health problems! My ex mil was a born again Christian. Every conversation was normal with her apart from if it ever got on to religion then she'd be quite "heavy" with it and go on and on. She even used to street pastor at night talking about God and stuff. Some religious people genuinely do just push it. I used to just ignore her when she started about it but its very irritating being hounded on the street by religious people or strangers bringing it up in conversation

Do all the people suggesting MH issues think that fairly fundamental religious beliefs are a mental health issue, or do they not realise that the woman's bizarre opinions were religious?

I think you were being unreasonable for two reasons. Firstly that she probably had mental health problems and secondly because in telling her to F off you lost your dignity and anyone watching would have thought the pair of you were on a par.

Woozlebear
Personally I said she 'may' have mental health issues and the reason I say that is the accosting a stranger with the views - not the holding of the views themselves.
Having even extreme religious views may or may not suggest fragile mental health but surely haranguing a passer by is a possibility ?

I concur with those who suspect mental health problems. I'd like to think I wouldn't have told her to fuck off in the circumstances. Why were you even engaging with her nonsense to the point of telling her about your caesarean?

I'd have laughed heartily, safe in the knowledge that her belief system is weird, and she's in for a shock when she pops off this mortal coil.

She's atoned her sins, mug. Take the drugs, TAKE THEM, SCREW YOU GOD

If have assumed she had MH problems if when is taken her on scriptually she still stuck to the wrong script.

It's impossible to justify that position scriptually.

I'd have laughed heartily, safe in the knowledge that her belief system is weird ....

Take the drugs, TAKE THEM, SCREW YOU GOD'

Hahaha!

Eh im born and raised a catholic and ive never thought or been taught this logic.. if she is extreme about religion thats ine thing buts let not tar us all with the same brush eh?

"Why would you assume that she had mental health problems? It sounds like the OP had a perfectly normal conversation prior to the very strange comments." Oh yes because people with MH problems tend to give themselves away by being dressed as loons and dribble a lot, they definately can't hold any sort of rational conversation at ANY point - so the fact that she got a few rational sentences out definately means she was just an evil old bag spouting shite from the bible!!

I have mental health issues, I am a catholic, i have very strong views about abortion, as those views may upset people i keep those views to myself! I am able to do that becuase my MH issues, thankfully, most of the time don't affect my ability to have empathy for other people and you know what, you'd never tell!!. Maybe this woman was slipping into dementia, i know that when my father had alzheimers he would be very lucid one minute and then saying the most inappropriate things the next.

I think the OP was unkind but can forgive because of hormones and i would have been pretty upset by that comment too. The people on here calling her batshit and a nutter - well, they need to take a good look at themselves really. Its the sort of thing you expect from teenagers really.

Nutter. She's lucky you didn't punch her.

Id have thought she had mh problems or onset dementia so would have just ignored her.

My gynaecologist said the same to me, actually. "Our mother Mary never had a caesarean"

Was this an NHS consultant?
Its an interesting fact that somewhere in the region of 1 in 10 women would die in childbirth without the intervention of medicine that wasn't available to poor wee Mary. Its an evolutionary pay off between the benefits of having larger heads to house larger brains and the survival of the species in general. If I were you, PP, I'd have gathered up my bump and legged it.

OP, this is one of the reasons why I find religion quite difficult - the entity who devised the whole thing could look at women in the travails of childbearing and think not "How can we help her?" but "She deserves that and here's why....."