chris cleave, for example, is a twat

[vezzie]

the evidence

annoying on more levels than i can be bothered to articulate with one hand because, yes, bfing.

(i have 3 degrees, 2 of them masters, & do not consider myself in any way "reduced" to, or, by, bfing - by far the opposite, increased, enhanced & blessed)

please tell me ianbu for being very irritated that this childish twattishness is considered to merit publication in a national broadsheet.

thank you

wow - what an idiot!

I never realised how tragic my life had become - when I actually thought I was lucky in bfing my son.

I am surprised it was actually published!

Offensive as only he can be. I'm supremely jealous of breastfeeding mums, so it's hardly some reductive leveller, is it?

Offensive as only he can be. I'm supremely jealous of breastfeeding mums, so it's hardly some reductive leveller, is it?

Obviously I really meant to post twice....

yadnbu

Perhaps this is how his wife feels about bf-ing, and he is just transmitting it with a few lame jokes attached?

TBH he sounds a little jealous that his wifes breasts are not 'his' anymore

He is a twat!

YANBU. He is attempting humour and achieving bullshit.

I also wonder why he bothered having children if they are such a pain to him and his Oh-so-clever wife. Did he not learn after the first one? They cant be that bright if they didnt.

Now that I have two hands... I really think it is pathetic that the commissioning editors are so crass and lazy that columnists like this have their cosy little sinecures. There are hundreds of people on here who could write a column a million times more interesting and funnier than anything he can be bothered to belch up. Admittedly, perhaps not every week indefinitely, but certainly one or two brilliant pieces of writing. If the editorial staff on the paper were doing their job properly they would be commissioning good stuff instead of relying on tired old hack standbys whom they probably know socially.

Still, the blame for being a complete twat rests firmly with Chris Cleave himself.

yes, i do wonder what his wife thinks about breastfeeding.

standard anti breastfeeding dressed up as pseudo intellectual bolleaux

why does breastfeeding reduce his wife in any way.. did being pregnant? giving birth? or just having to use her breasts for something other than his delectation?

The whole wry-sideways-look-at-family-life trope is tired in the extreme. Oh you have small children and they are sometimes inconvenient! Ho Ho! You know the theme tune to Peppa Pig! Ha Ha Ha! There is yogurt on your walls! Tee Hee

Agree that weekly columnists are annoying - even the good ones (I like Dowling and Mangan) would be improved by becoming occasional.

I'm not sure he's anti bf exactly - I think he is attempting humour and wry irony and has just missed. As policywonk says, the first two paras really get it wrong, and the rest is pretty standard 'oh isn't it funny being a parent' stuff.

He should have known better than to mess with such a high octane topic, IMO.

I thought it was funny

though I normally only browse that section

I agree I think it's more tongue in cheek than anything else, but not particularly well written. Not the worst thing I've read either though. The thing about men would have had a valve invented by now is quite funny... isn't it?

YANBU.

Twattish, pointless and bollocks are words that came to mind when reading the article.

I wasn't "reduced" to anything when breastfeeding thank you very much. When we eat, drink, breathe, shit etc we are all showing that we are "mammals", so don't see the point of bf being singled out.

Not sure who he's trying to appeal to in that article. He slags of the anti bf-ers, belittles women who do bf (albeit with a half-heartedly clumsy and badly aimed attempt at "empathy").

Gah! Don't even know why I'm wasting my breath commenting on this really!

Am I the only person not offended by this?

So what he has written a daft bit of commentary about his take on BF - big deal.....

These columns are all so dreadfully boring and predictable. Do they really not think anyone even had small children before them? And that parents with children want to read these articles??

I'm just waiting for all these columnists' children to turn into teenagers, let's just hope they have learned a lesson from Julie Myerson or it could all get very ugly.

not offended,not angry-badly written with enough to provoke.cynically i would imagine to promote a response

not offended

it's tongue in cheek and quite amusing

I'm inclined to agree with you about trying to provoke a response scottishmummy

Apart from the paragraph which clearly expressed his phobic response, I thought it was quite funny.

Anyhow, I have a new theory. They just all wanna get talked about on MN. It's a badge of honour to be, for example, a twat. That's what Daisy Goodwin must have been up to. Does it get em more commissions?

What happened to the MN Guest Edits the Grauniad idea? Did we get anywhere?

After the first bit, it was quite amusing, but the stuff about how 'tragicomic' it is to see women 'reduced to' breastfeeding, is offensive and typical sexist braindead thinking. 'Reduced to'?! It's not like a desperate woman shoplifting nappies or prostituting herself to get cash to buy her babies some food! Typical thick-man thinking - if he can't imagine doing it, then it must be humiliating. He thinks that breastfeeding somehow wipes away all a woman's achievements - apart from the fact that it most certainly does NOT, any right-thinking person, male or female, would consider nourishing your growing child as the ultimate achievement. What, exactly, does he think breasts are for, anyway?!

It makes me sad that there is a growing culture in this country whereby people see (or are supposed to see) children and rearing them as inconvenient, humiliating, disgusting, an annoyance and a demeaning experience/role. At the heart of it, of course, is plain old sexism - denigrating 'female' roles and activities (i.e. raising one's family) and disgust at the reality of women's bodies.

Chris Cleave's books are pretty misogynist. Well-written but hmmm.

goodness that is attributing some complex multi-faceted views to his innane ramblings

maybe journalists know any snidey comment will hit the spot and get the conspiracy gland secreting