I just thought this was disgusting.

Behind the cut:

...these ridiculous commercials that are so moo and sprog centered?! Both of these are on my local radio stations...

Commercial One is for a minivan of some sort; it's been running for several weeks now. Scenario: a moo describing how her brat was asking questions about the family's minivan and why it didn't have all these features like the neighbors' new SuperUberMommyMobile van did. At the end, the moo reveals that her sprog has, in fact, moved in with the neighbors because they have a nicer vehicle, and tearfully begs him to come home - the family are going right down to the car dealership to get one for themselves. UGH. I know it's meant to be funny, but the sad thing is, things have almost gotten to that state with some families. I am so glad I can have whatever vehicle I choose without listening to constant whining about it not being good enough for some jacked up standard created by the industry anyways.

Commercial Two I heard for the first time today, and if I hear it again I am going to e-mail the radio station and the company to complain about offensive it is to me. I wasn't really paying close attention at first, so I didn't catch the company name, but the scenario is a moo talking about how she and her husband recently called the insurance company to make sure their plan was up to date, etc., due to the "big changes" in their life. There's this noise every few words that I finally identified as a burp. And then, just before the end, is the sound of an infant spitting up (and then the moo hollers for her husband). GROSS. What is wrong with advertisers these days??

Or do any of the rest of you get bingo-ed with "You're just jealous."

My mother does that all the time when I express annoyance with baby-centric pandering on daytime talk shows.

I'm just jealous. lolwut?

Got bingoed not once but twice working as a student volunteer for a CSIT department workshop for middle school students (BEST BIRTH CONTROL EVAR.) I will say that I don't hate kids...I do like them even, in small doses, like these workshops. Though I do it more to help my department than I do it for the kids.

First was by my C++ prof. He said that I should wait until after I finish school to have kids but not too long because I'm 27 and "Time is running out." I just kinda looked at him funny and explained that it'd be unlikely that I'll ever parent, though if I did change my mind I'd foster kids and adopt. He seemed a bit taken aback by it, but decided that my answer was a good one. *sigh* They just don't get it.

Then it was by a former prof I had. She was talking with one of the other student volunteers about mother's day and she asked me if I had any kids, then said "Oh that's right, you're not married yet. You and [FH] haven't started your family yet so you can't be a Mother's Day mommy yet.

I just excused myself to the bathroom because I had nothing. I was nauseated.

Then one my LJ friends posted this.
( creepy mother's day image )

Yeah....I think I'll stay childfree thanks.

(The worst thing? They're bingoing me while I'm in a wheelchair from a knee fracture. WTF?)

Today I went to my neighborhood Planned Parenthood and I got the Implanon implant put into my arm. I was really nervous going in, because I don't really deal too well with needles and such, and I did my best to remind myself that it wouldn't be any worse than when I sliced my thumb open at work and had to go to the ER to get six stitches. (My husband being there with me helped out a lot too!) The NP who did it was an absolute doll. She explained everything in detail, and was very careful and really gentle, even when it came to administering the anesthetic shot.

The reason I did this was because I was recently switched to Ortho Micronor (progestrin only pills) and aside from being unhappy with the side effects (painful acne and hair loss), I've also been going to through the whole "Oh shit, did I take my pill today?" anxiety because with my work schedule I had to change what time I was taking my pill. It used to be that I took it at an alarm at 8am every day when I worked evenings, but now that I work at 6am I started taking my pill right before I started my work shift. (Once I forgot my pills at home, ack!) So after all that, I'm looking forward to three years of not having to fret about pills, and hoping that this lower dose of hormones will do away (at least somewhat) with the acne and hair loss.

I had considered the Depo shot, which I could have dealt with getting a shot in the butt every three months. However, I have joint problems and the calcium loss that Depo causes would NOT be good for me. I also gave some thought to the Mirena IUD, but I'm not crazy about the idea of a foreign object hanging out in my uterus, plus I'd be worried quite a bit about whether or not it was still in place.

So right now I've got a pretty tight bandage wrapped around my upper left arm over some gauze. I think the anesthetic is starting to wear off, but I have a feeling that the high dosage of naproxen my regular doctor put me on is going to help abate the pain. The NP said that it may or may not bruise, so we'll see how that goes. I've also got a little card that they gave me for my wallet, with the date of insertion, along with the date it will need to be removed (and/or replaced) and the location.

It seems to me that trying to be reasoned and intellectual about being childfree to those who are adamant for you to procreate seems a bit flawed. These folks aren't going to suddenly hear your reasons and ever agree, so why try? Thus, I prefer to answer such questions with the most absurd answers possible.

Inspired by a post three or so ago, I give you my own childfree answers.

Why don't you want kids?

Because it's against the law, you perv!
Because I'm a nihilist, and there are no father-son picnics for that.
In the world? Geeze, what kind of person do you think I am?

Why don't you have kids?

The doctor told us to stop eating rich foods, and no one has invented "soy-kids" yet.
These are new pants.
They didn't come standard with my car, and by cracky I wasn't going to pay the dealer-prep for that!

When are you going to have kids?

Right now. I presume you have a hotel room nearby?
Any second now; I presume you are familiar with asexual budding?
We haven't decided yet, but it will be on Pay-Per-View, so watch for it.

Don't you want someone to carry on the family name?

Indeed, you're right. I'm a Wagglepenis, my father was a Wagglepenis, his father a Wagglepenis; my god, the Wagglepenis line must not end with me!
William Shakespeare has no living descendents, and he wrote some of the most important works in the English language. I, on the other hand, play PS2 games and have to talk to people like you. As far as preserving bloodlines, which is the greater tragedy?
NO! I am the ultimate and there will be none after me! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! (and if you have a sword handy, that makes it work even better)

Don't you want someone to care for you in your old age?

Well, I'm feeding my parents to wolves when they can no longer take care of themselves, so...
Nah, then I'd feel guilty about pre-spending their inheritance.
So I should give birth to home-care nurses?

Don't you think you're selfish for not wanting kids?

Well, yes, but I get over my guilt by "donating to charity," if you know what I mean. I "give back to the community," wink wink. (And then adamantly refuse to explain anything more.)
No, I think I'm selfish because I steal jam packets from IHOP. Anything beyond that is gravy.

You're defying nature's intent! EVERYONE should have kids! It's not normal not to want children!

Yeah, I live in a city where I don't get mauled by bears or eaten by wolves. I'm good with defying nature.
I'm pretty sure Nature didn't intend for me to pay $200K for someone else's lame college degree.
It's also not normal to win a Nobel Prize; lack of normalcy seems to work out for them.

But kids will make you so happy! How can you be happy without children?

Because I'm a sad clown. Everyone loves a sad clown!
Because now I don't have to share my toys.
Nancy Reagan taught me to "JUST SAY NO!"

Some in general responses:

You have convinced me. The power of your persuasion has filled my loins with need. Indeed, my genitals burn with the power of procreation. GAZE UPON MY JUNK, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR for now I MUST PROCREATE, STARTING WITH YOU!

Well, if I do anything, I'd want to be the best. And the Duggars are 18 kids up on me, so I can't really be the best there, can I?

The Bible says that it is better to spill your seed into the filthiest whore than to spill it upon the ground. I'm in the midst of a 20-year study to see if that's true; I'll forward the results to you, if you like!

Well, I would have kids, but my S.O.'s parents are real Bible literalists. And as it says in 1 Kings 18:25 "The king desireth not any dowry, but only a hundred foreskins." Fifty-six and counting; cross your fingers!


So, what do you got? Let's get a good database going for the CF folks who want to confuse others into submission.

We just adopted a puppy... German Shepherd, 4 months old.

My BF of 3 years went to flew to Minneapolis last night to see a concert (Gigantour)... which 1. He couldn't have done if we had kids.

Last night... as I was trying to get puppy ready for sleepy time, she went BALLISTIC! All upset that she couldn't find BF anywhere! She was pacing around the house, went into his room (music studio 2. He couldn't have if we had kids)... and generally just cried everywhere and would not calm down.

Fast forward 2 hours later, BF calls from the Minneapolis airport to say he's landed safely, and literally has to talk to the DOG over the phone to get her to calm down and lay down and go to sleep.

This made me think: If it took nearly 3 hours to get a puppy to realize that a significant other is gone for a while.... how would it be doing so for a child... or explaining a divorce or custody right to a child.

Nope, I'll stick with rambunctious puppies... thanks!

I am amused that whenever there are lots of childfree posts on my friends page, that the ads are always for things like "Vote Pro-Life Items". "Fertility and Conception". "How to get Pregnant". I refreshed a few times just to see what would come up, and it was pretty much all about the babies. There was one for contraception.

And they announced it on the Today show this morning, my mom was not happy about it. And the thing is, neither was one of the Duggers' children was happy about the new addition to the family. He looked a bit angry at his mom for bringing in another child. I think that boy is going to be the childfree one of the group.

My mom looked at her and said how in the bloody world does that woman do it all and stay sane at the same time. I would never ever have more then what our pocket book could handle and we could only handle three kids.

I told her that it is possible that they get monetary help from others or that the specials that they do on the Discovery Health Channel they pay them off for it. But if that's what makes them happy, so be it. I'm not fond of that family's yearly pregnancies and the only reason why they show up on the Today show is to announce the next Dugger member growing within her, even the Today show knew she was pregnant by the new co-host giving the unborn baby a onesie, but for the kids themselves.

Needless to say, Discovery Health channel is filming them for a special coming out this fall dealing with their next baby.

Pretty soon, they're need to add onto the house to make room for the new additions to the family!

Yesterday I was reading my current issue for June. I came across an article they had about different types of married couples which included:

Covenant Marriage
Second Marriage
Polyamorous Marriage
"Average" Marriage (people who married at the average age for the US)
Long Distance Marriage
Child-free by choice
Same-Sex Marriage
Married Later In Life
Married Young

Well I was psyched to read about the child-free couple. I was impressed that it did not say child-LESS by choice which I find a lot.

I've typed up the article under the cut if you're interested.

( Section of article about the CF couple )

The section of the article about them included a cute photo of them with their cat and dog on their deck:)

It's always nice to see something like this where it's positive. Now, I am not married and may never marry but it's still something I could relate too.

I would consider this a Childfree issue because it touches the very heart of how many of us remain childfree.
This prompted what was likely one of the most revolted reactions I've ever had. I could taste the aura of bile coming off this organization. The link leads you to a post on Feministing about the American Life League's "The Pill Kills" campaign. Quoted from both the post and the site itself:

On June 7th, the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that gave married people the right to use contraception, the American Life League, along with Pro-Life Wisconsin and Pharmacists for Life International Associate groups want you to join them in protesting in front of facilities that distribute birth control products. The national day against contraception, Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies, was started to convince the American people of a simple and imaginative idea: attempting to prevent abortion is abortion too.

Emphasis was mine.
If you sift through their website you'll note that under "side effects" they list several religious papers as their sources and that "...scientists have confirmed that at the moment the sperm and the egg join (fertilization), a new human being is created who is completely different from his/her mother." It seems that their big claim is that, since the pill is not absolutely 100% effective, you might be secretly having abortions all the time and not even know it. Although really, the winner is all this is that the pill "can make a woman more susceptible to the AIDS virus." These people are attempting to exploit the most visceral levels of horror conjured up by images of thousands tiny dead babies and AIDs.
Ah, but wait, you say! What about those who don't take the pill for contraceptive reasons? Don't worry, they still have you covered:

Q: Is it OK to take the pill for my acne or other health reasons?
A: Although the pill may have some minor benefits, the fact that it can kill preborn babies and cause harmful side effects for the woman outweighs its minor benefits.

Their site also contains a map with the location of every Planned Parenthood in the country, with a special dot on the ones where there are planned/ongoing protests. Which, I suppose if we became organized (anti-them protests?), would give us a slight edge by knowing where these nuts plan on holding their signs (a bacterially small, sadistic part of me is disappointed I live in a very liberal city that would likely have protesters spouting this nonsense committed. I would like the chance to have them committed and removed from the streets, if only to satisfy my own mean spirited glee).

I saw a woman wearing a shirt today with this printed on it, in cheerful, colorful lettering:

"BABIES HAPPEN"

Pfft. Not if you're doing it right, lady!

i found these witty bingo responses just now. go forth and put them to good use!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/703289/great_comebacks_for_questions_and_criticisms.html

( cut for the linkophobes )

Looks like the local paper is endorsing the Red Thai Room in Silverton as Childfree. Win!

My family is very much a child loving bunch. I was an only child because my mothers reproductive bits were damaged when she had me. I have 3 stepbrothers, all of whom have multiple children, my aunts and uncles also have several children. I have a seizure condition which i recently found was passed down from my father and his mother. I look at the condition of myself and the world at large and ask myself why I would want to have children. If i had a child it would most likely inherit my seizure condition as well as being yet another mouth to feed in a world rioting for food. Having a child in this day and age almost feels like a betrayal to my own species. If I ever find the urge to raise a child I will adopt, I've already informed my family of this and they were distraught. I don't understand why my choice to not do further damage to the world I live in is met with resentment and sadness. I want to live in a world where everyone has all they need and no one wants for anything, and adding yet another child with a disability to the world just doesn't seem to me like the way to do that.

This morning the kids were out and screeching at 8AM*, due to allergy meds my boyfriend was up while I was still snoozing. The kids woke me up after trying to fall back to sleep so my boyfriend went out and talked to the dad. He came back and said the father will try to keep them quite - they just moved to America...When my father came to the US I am sure my grandparents did not let him and his brothers and sister screech around. Not only do they screech, they kicked over the cat food dish I keep by my door for the stray cats and spilled dry food all over (I cleaned it up) and litter all over the place. They have been here for a week and I am hoping they will leave soon.

*After going to bed at 2am due to work.

Okay, I'm largely a lurker here. I post every so often, but I really don't come across a lot of people that outright get on me for my childfree status. Not recently, at least. It used to be really bad a few years ago.

But I digress.

At times, I'll go to my former university's paper (I graduated last year) and read the articles or columns, just to keep up on things. Now granted, my college was in Utah, home of the conservatives and close-minded views for a lot of things. Family is BIG in Utah, which is where I got a lot of my bingos from.

They had an column type response thing to an article about gay rights and stuff. This person does not really believe in a lot of the basic principles, it's cool-- opinion and all, but his reasoning was what made me want to post here.

The argument for gay marriage is not legitimate. Marriage has always been, and always should be, defined as a legal union between a man and a woman for the purpose of creating a family unit, the basic unit of all society worldwide.

Excuse me? This annoys me out of all proportion. It doesn't help that the author compares them to druggies, felons and the reason for the collapse of many civilizations, but that's not the childfree part. ^^;

But really now. I did get bingoed a lot (with the ever-popular, "just wait until you're older") but psh. Almost 30 and still have not changed my desire to never have kids. Memories of children screaming through my house, shrieking babies, babysitting nightmares...

There are dozens of reason why I don't ever want them.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/05/07/dnt.nj.pregnant.officer.denied.NEWS12NJ


Two comments I found interesting:

"I believe that she should be given the time off because she is doing what she was born to, that is to have a baby. Some organizations really treat people like machines instead of humans"

"Pregnant Women are not disabled and do not need to be on light duty in early pregnancy unless there are complications"



Thoughts?