Who doesn't have a sense of humor?!

I was looking at Fail blog the other day and saw these...

They made me giggle... thought they might make you giggle too. If you don't have a sense of humor about this stuff, I'm sorry, but I thought they were hilarious.

Regular posts will resume the moment I have a free second.

~Kristyn

It's about being human...

I think it's possible I'm a masochist. It's the only explanation for my having spent the last two hours reading Truu Mommy Confessions. Those women are a bunch of whiners, it's an epic pity party over there. I read it because I love to see the occasional confession that says, "I wish I never had kids" or "I want my life back." Not all mommies are super happy to have babies, I like it because it combats the stereotype that being a parent is the most fulfilling thing a person can do.

Anyway, while reading tonight, I read something that really kind of pissed me off. This confession was posted on both the wife and the mommy confession boards, which is actually what took me to the mommy confession board in the first place. Here it is:

"I met my first love tonight for dinner. We're both married and his wife is pregnant... I feel horrible not because I kissed him, but because I didn't really make out with him."

There are a number of things wrong with the confession -- I cut a lot of the crap out, leaving the important parts. First, both parties are married. Second, the guy's wife is knocked up. Third, she feels horrible for not going farther, which is adverse to what these things would normally say. Normally, the confessor would feel bad about going on a date with her ex. The wife board wasn't terribly nice to this woman about being a cheater. The mommy board was all up in arms over the same confession. Why? Because apparently it's worse to cheat on a pregnant woman than it is to cheat on a woman who isn't.

Some of the comments on the mommy board were perfectly reasonable, expressing outrage at the woman being a cheater. A lot of them, however, said things like this:

"I do not understand a woman cheating with a man whose wife is pregnant. Is nothing sacred.... Can you not even imagine how much that would hurt a pregnant woman. Just out of humanness could you cheat with someone whose wife is not pregnant?"

So, its okay then for a woman who's not pregnant to be cheated on? I mean, I know it doesn't come right out and say it, but what does the fact that the woman's pregnant have to do with anything? People are people, it doesn't hurt more to be cheated on when you're pregnant than when you're not. Yes, I know pregnant women are suffering from hormones, I know it can't be easy being cheated on when you're about to bring another person into the world. It hurts to be cheated on when you're not, too.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about this. Maybe I just don't understand because I'm thankfully childfree, but my god, human beings are human being. It's heartless to say that it hurts pregnant women more, or that it does more damage to a marriage when the woman being cheated on is pregnant. It doesn't. I suppose it's just another example, for me, of childfree women being marginalized, second-class citizens in our mommyized world. Maybe the fact that they're doing studies now, studies that prove we're less human has me just sensitive enough that the notion that pregnancy is sacred and it's worse to cheat on a woman who's having a baby is putting me over the edge.

When are mommies going to realize that the world does not revolve around them? I mean, creating life doesn't give you a monopoly on humanity, it doesn't mean you feel deeper, or are more a victim when you're cheated on. Childfree people have feelings and emotions, too. If you cheat on us, we hurt just like a pregnant woman would. It's not about being pregnant, or not pregnant, it's about being a human. If I can see that, and I'm childfree, why the hell can't you?

Less human, apparently...

Over the last few years, I've developed a very thick skin about being childfree. I think it's necessary for anyone who makes a choice not to have children because it's coming, the inevitable questioning, followed by pity. Before a few years ago, I had no idea how it was. I told people I didn't want children and they questioned that decision, but I was just young enough that it didn't matter, people were willing to say, "you have time to change your mind." Now that I'm in my early 30's the questions are more frequent and the responses more vigorous. People seem to think I'm running out of time. Yes, I am, which is a good thing. I personally don't think anyone should have babies after 35, it's not healthy --even if some ol' granny in Britain just gave birth to a healthy baby.

Then, last night, while dropping by Childfree Clique, I found this article: "Why bosses are right to distrust women who don't want children...." I read it and I can honestly say that I was more angered and insulted by this piece of garbage journalism than I have been by any other single piece of mommy propaganda I've ever read. It's not that she's so pro-mommy, it's that she's so anti-childfree she's willing to say that we're less human than mommies. The article says a study has found that women without children are "lacking essential humanity." She never cites her source, there's no link to the "study" that calls us inhuman (though I know it's been done, as this isn't the first I've heard of it), which is constitutes plagiarism, honestly (sorry, English major -- Even if I can't spell). She goes on to say that the childfree are "the cold, the calculating, the sad and the mad."

I was pretty damn sad after reading that article. I was angry at having been called less human (and still am). Calculating? Cold? This woman writes an article in which she attacks women who're making a personal decision, affecting themselves and NO ONE else, and we're calculating and cold? That's the pot calling the kettle black. Honestly, I knew it was going to be bad when, in the first paragraph, she begins with a contradiction. She says that she "[likes] to trumpet the importance of a woman's right to choose all things at all times" and then says that she considers childfree women "weird." The rest of the article goes on to prove that her initial assertion, that she's pro-choice for women under all circumstances, is false. She proves herself a liar from the outset and expects to be taken seriously.

Furthermore, this woman's mis-portrayal of childfree women as office whores who arrive late and drunk/hungover couldn't be more insulting. We're not all 19 year old party girls or college students who party too much. Most of us are grown up, responsible adults. But, if we wanted to go out and drink now and then, guess what, we could! We don't have have rugrats to chase around. The fact remains, most of us don't, we're responsible people, just like everyone else, we just don't want kids. What's worse is, the article sets that against this 1950's sitcom image of mothers who're up at dawn every day baking biscuits for their brats before shuffling them off to school. Please be kidding? Nope, she's not.

There are so many problems with this article, I could go on and on. She says that taking a sick baby to the clinic is experience enough to make mothers capable of work related tasks. Several comparisons are made between raising children and being capable employees. What happened to working hard and earning experience? Apparently, that's out in favor of some magical, motherly common sense. She goes on to say that the uncited "study" shows that bosses are increasingly distrusting childfree women as cold and calculating and therefore are hiring more mothers to offset this.

I'm disgusted at the nerve of people. She's entitled to her opinion, it's her liberty to say what she likes, but the moment she called me less human (and didn't cite her source), her credibility went out the window. She didn't just make the childfree look bad, she made herself and all mothers look bad. If that was her goal, she succeeded.

Quick Update: I looked into it and the apparent "study" was done by one Dr. Caroline Gatrell. Also, you might be interested in this article, "Childless is not a synonym for weird," by Ruth Sunderland. She actually defends the right to be childfree with eloquence.