Reposted from alt.poly

[firecat]

Apropos of a couple of discussions on wiscon lately I want to express the following, which I posted in alt.polyamory in a thread about said discussions:

Every time I try to describe my feelings about children it boils down to "Um...they are people." As with adults, I have all sorts of superficial thoughts about the ones I don't know - positive, neutral, suspicious, whatever, depending on my mood and their behavior in the moment - and I tend to like the ones I know, especially if they take an interest in me.

Also, I think that hate speech directed at any people is ugly.

For the record, I don't have or want children of my own.

Comments

[kmd.livejournal.com]

True. Do you not perceive a cultural bias toward entitling mothers and children, though?

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

um. i don't.

i'm looking at becoming a single mother, and i'm just not noticing the good childcare easily available, the paid leaves from work for mothers, fathers, adoptive parents, or the overflowing community resources to help with a kid.

i am noticing parking spaces for pregnant women, though. which is aggravating.

[kmd.livejournal.com]

We're coming from fairly radically different worldviews on this. I wonder whether firecat's journal might not be the best place to hash it out. I'm happy to move this to my journal if you'd like to continue the conversation.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

One of the Kaiser clinics took out four handicapped parking spots to put in pregnant women spots. It's pretty annoying because if they really have that much trouble walking in the parking garage, they're probably eligible for a temporary handicapped parking tag and could use a handicapped spot. If they don't have that much trouble, they should park with the other able-bodied folk.

[firecat]

I don't perceive such a cultural bias, no. That might be a peculiarity of how I live; I don't hang out where there are a lot of mothers and children. Or it might be that some areas have the bias more than others.

[kmd.livejournal.com]

Ah. I've spent the past four years in a suburban environment where all community pretty much centers around the raising of children. I am surrounded constantly by mothers and children, and their expectations.