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Why does the Times think it is ok to print this horrible article about "Breeders"

160 replies

MmeLindt · 19/09/2009 19:53

Shudder

I absolutely hate the term "Breeders".

Why do childless people think that it is ok to use terms like this? I don't go around thinking that I am superiour to them because I pushed a baby out of my fanjo. I would never refer to a childless person in such a derogatory way.

The comments are just horribly smug.

OP posts:
HerBeatitude · 19/09/2009 23:51

We're enjoying all the froth though.

It's tiresome to be told to move on from something you're enjoying.

You move on if you want to SM.

scottishmummy · 19/09/2009 23:52

who gave you a bouncers jacket?i see freedom of expression as long as the breeders aren't upset or hear another divergent view

HerBeatitude · 19/09/2009 23:56

You're the one who has been telling everyone to move on SM.

We don't want to. Just yet.

Well actually I do, but only temporarily, for the purposes of sleep. I may have to return to gnaw at this bone though. It's such a delicious one.

MaggieBeauLeo · 19/09/2009 23:58

yeah I thnk I can pick over the bones for a bit longer!

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:00

move on from preoccupation with vapid journo.not the thread,and hey i not shifting i quite enjoy the car crash that is bothering about inane shite

is breeder the worst thing someone could call you?

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:00

move on from preoccupation with vapid journo.not the thread,and hey i not shifting i quite enjoy the car crash that is bothering about inane shite

is breeder the worst thing someone could call you?

SchnitzelVonKrumm · 20/09/2009 00:04

She even looks a bit like Liz Jones in that pic. Is the scary-shiny-Morticia-moonface fashionable among non-breeders?

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:05

LOL in a thread rallying against breeder sterotypes,non-breeder stereotypes are perpetrated

priceless

UnquietDad · 20/09/2009 00:07

It is a horrid word though. It's like calling people who haven't had children yet "barreners".

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:11

yes horrid in a plethora of more horrid words,more deserving of ire

BitOfFun · 20/09/2009 00:19

It is a deliberately nasty word. I guess it's a lob back against "childless", as opposed to "childfree".

Stupid divisiveness, although there are crashingly tedious people in every walk of life.

cherryblossoms · 20/09/2009 00:21

You're wrong, SM.

It has the potential to be really nasty. As I said earlier, I remember reading it in the context of advocating random acid attacks on breeders just because they were breeders.

I doubt v. much this lady feels so strongly. But it's a word that goes to dark places.

Fwiw, you're right, it's a silly article. Sad, really, she has a column to fill, on being single, and at some point, i guess you're a bit stuck. Like those articles in the free London papers by young singles. At some point you either don't want to write another column about who you have/haven't shagged or you cannot think of what else to say.

Respect to the Liz - her articles are waaay more fun. But then, I have to confess to being a bit of a Liz Jones fan ... .

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:21

point of this style of journalism is to be provocative,goad the middle classes.

get their indignation gland secreting

obvious and turgid, best ignored

LivingLaVidaLurker2 · 20/09/2009 00:23

Yes, exactly, the word 'breeders' is just so horrible. It's deliberately insulting towards parents. I would not dream of being rude about anyone who chooses not to have children. Why would I? I am secure enough in my life that I really don't feel the need to judge others. However, I think it is quite within my rights to defend myself against a journalist insulting me.

And I will not apologise for being bothered about this 'inane shite'. Not a single one of my friends is judgemental about anyone single or choosing not to have children. And yet, time and time again in the media there is this venom aimed towards parents. We're smug. We're boring. We're selfish for having children. We're rude etc. etc.

No, of course breeder is not the worst thing someone could call me. But does that mean I have to put up with it? Do I have to wait until someone says "All parents are c*ts" before I'm allowed to get riled?

Quattrocento · 20/09/2009 00:24

Well people ought to be discouraged from breeding really. I speak as a breeder myself. Overcrowded planet and all that. Probably quite an ecologically sound argument (not that the journalist made that point).

Don't agree with the presumption of parental dullness though - IME having children opened my eyes to a whole new way of being.

cherryblossoms · 20/09/2009 00:25

Btw, I used the word "lady" in an ironic, slightly camp, knowing way.

Just before Moondog takes me to task.

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 00:25

breeders doesn't wound,not even superficial abrasion.in the scheme of things big whoop di doo

LivingLaVidaLurker2 · 20/09/2009 00:25

Oops - the trouble with using asterisks for italics as well as being coy about sweat words is you may get some confusion as above... hopefully you'll all know what I meant to say.

LivingLaVidaLurker2 · 20/09/2009 00:27

Sweat words? Goodness, I really should learn to type.

SolidGoldBrass · 20/09/2009 01:30

That the childfree are feisty is usually in response to years of unsubtle put-downs about how their lives must be 'empty' and 'unfulfilled' despite the fact that they have sailed round the world/discovered a cure for cancer/written the greatest novel ever. Breeders (as opposed to people-who-happen-to-have-DC) are the ones who have never done anything interesting in their whole lives and yet think that reproducing makes them important and special and better than those who haven't yet reproduced or have no intention of doing so.

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 01:40

haha what greasy opt out SGB given you too are a breeder (as am i)

dont see the article differentiating between breeders and those who happen to have dc.nope she doesn't say that

it is a fairly routine,schlocky sure to provoke a response piece of copy

but

breeders aren't homogeneous mass
non-breeders aren't homogeneous mass

the term is provocative,to get the indignation glad secreting.

boy it worked

MN linked another DM piece,whilst many protest we hate it. still gets liked though

SolidGoldBrass · 20/09/2009 01:45

I'm not praising the article SM, it's pointless mememememe wittering Polly Filler journalism. However, breeder attitudes are clearly alive and well as shown by this thread.

LadyThompson · 20/09/2009 01:51

She talks about how fulfilling her writing is in the feature someone linked from the DM. Er, she's hardly Dostoyevsky, though, is she? I'm sure a yellowing portfolio of regurgitated bits of chat underneath her byline are going to be increasingly fulfilling in the years ahead.

scottishmummy · 20/09/2009 01:55

yes and the indignant preciousness and assumptions on both sides is risible

the irony isn't lost ,that in decrying the article, stereotypes were made about betts too

huh,so dont dare stereotype parents but hey lets mock moon face...

this inane dribble is written with sole purpose to incense.mobilise the how very dare you brigade

and hey MN yacking about DM again.no wonder they love mn.mn links dm daily

LyraSilvertongue · 20/09/2009 02:14

If Hannah is happy to be child-free, that's her choice. It's the putting-down of others who make the choice to have children that I find