This opinion piece was published as a blog post in July of 2014. However, we are keeping it due to its popularity. The views contained in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ThisInterestsMe.com or its owners.
Reddit is a social news website that provides users with the ability to create and moderate their own “subreddits”. These subreddits act as categories that other users can follow and post content to.
For example, if you are a fan of fishing, you can subscribe to the r/fishing subreddit. If you enjoy the game of soccer, then r/soccer will probably tickle your fancy.
Basically, there is a subreddit for nearly every single hobby and viewpoint that a person can have.
“But what if I’m a bitter person who hates children?” I can hear you ask.
Well, you’re in luck!
Introducing r/Childfree.
r/Childfree is a “community” that markets itself as a support group for people who feel as though the societal pressure to have children is too overbearing.
Unfortunately, like with many things, it does not do what it says on the tin.
Instead of acting as a support group for those who do not wish to have kids, it has become a place where people can complain about the mere existence of children.
They love using terms such as “Breeders” and “Crotch Fruit”.
On r/childfree, these terms are tossed around on a daily basis.
To sum up their meanings:
- Breeders are people who have children.
- Crotch Fruit is a “colorful” term that is often used in lieu of the word “children”.
If you take a quick look at the subreddit, you will see that these terms are extremely popular among the childfree community.
Which is a bit strange, considering it markets itself as a well-intentioned support group for people who do not want to have children.
“I don’t want to have children.”
It is perfectly fine and normal for a person to decide that they do not want to have children.
Not everyone wants to have kids, and I think that most of us can agree that people should be free to make their own choices in life.
However, I think we can also agree that there is a pretty big difference between “not wanting to have children” and calling parents “breeders.”
Bitterness.
The atmosphere in r/childfree is so bitter and angry that it has turned a lot of people away.
In fact, some people consider the atmosphere to be so unbearably toxic that they have decided to set up spin-off subreddits such as /r/truechildfree.
Below is a comment from one Redditor who chose to unsubscribe from the subreddit:
“I just unsubbed from childfree a few days ago. It’s all just f**king whining or feeling superior, that’s literally it.”
In case you’ve never actually visited the place, here is a taste of some of the topics and titles that are regularly posted there:
- “They gave my parking spot to a breeder (pregnant woman).” Seriously, that was the exact title.
- “My co-worker took time off work to have a child. Now she needs to take more time off because she has cancer.” In this person’s opinion, the woman in question was somehow at fault for having taken maternity leave months before she was diagnosed with cancer.
- “Women only breastfeed for attention.”
- “Parents should not be allowed to bring their ‘fashion accessories’ out in public.”
- “Children should not be allowed in restaurants.”
- “My favorite The Sims glitch.” The title in question linked to a picture of a baby floating in a fish tank. It received a positive reaction from the community, drawing in comments such as “This is a glitch?”
/r/childfree is one of the most toxic places on Reddit.
r/childfree may act as a support group for some people.
Unfortunately, 90% of the subreddit consists of bitter tirades and long-winded rants about parents and their children.
I find it perplexing that proponents of this “supportive community” would try to argue otherwise, considering how blatant the hatred is.
Responses.
Admin note: The responses below no longer exist due to a change in our comment section in 2019.
Trevor: “What you don’t point out in this article, is that a lot of us are using this a place to vent our frustrations.”
I’m sorry, but feeling “frustrated” does not justify some of the raw hatred that is prevalent on r/childfree. Using terms such as “crotch fruit” and “breeders” cannot be justified, no matter how frustrated you feel. Maybe you should grow up and learn how to cope with your frustrations without insulting people.
Tad Plume: “I don’t understand what anything in Childfree has to do with you? All you are doing here is complaining about something that has no effect on your life. That seems more insane.”
People give their opinions on topics that don’t impact them all of the time.
Jeremy Kuehnau further enforces my point by throwing a temper tantrum and calling me a “filthy f*cking c**t.” Yep, it’s just a support group guys.
David Rivera complains about our “child obsessed society”, as if he doesn’t grasp the concept that species are hardwired to reproduce.
After reading all of the comments above, I decided to visit /r/childfree again, just to see if I had overreacted.
- The top post uses the word “Mombie”.
- So does the second post.
- The third post also uses the word “Mombie”. The poster is basically complaining that his best friend’s pregnant wife received more attention than him on the weekend of his marathon. Apparently, he was more worried about the amount of attention that he was (or wasn’t) receiving than the personal accomplishment of running a marathon.
- A post complaining about an article in which the author states that she would place her children above her husband, if it ever came down to it. Everyone is shocked and disgusted by such a statement. The absolute horror.
- The fifth post is someone complaining about families with children going on vacation. The poster in question is annoyed that their father said, “Families deserve vacations as well.”
- A post explaining why cats are better than babies.
Never change guys.