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 that 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 go to complain about the mere existence of children.

“Breeders” and “Crotch Fruit”

On r/childfree, these terms get tossed around on a daily basis. Just to sum it up for you:

Breeders are people who have children.

are people who have children. Crotch Fruit is a “colourful” term that is often used in lieu of the word “children”.

Take a cursory glance at some of the conversations being held on r/childfree and you will see that these terms are extremely popular amongst the child free community. A community that markets itself as some sort of well-intentioned support group for people who do not want to have children.

“I don’t want to have children.”

In my opinion, it is perfectly fine 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 on the principle 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 referring to parents as being “breeders” with “crotch fruit.”

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 hostile that they have decided to set up several spin-off subreddits where the aforementioned “assholery” is not allowed.

Here 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*cking whining or feeling superior, that’s literally it.

In case you’ve never actually visited the place: Here is a basic drill down of some of the topics and titles that are regularly posted there:

“They gave my parking spot to a breeder (pregnant woman).” Honestly, 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 the eyes of the person who posted this, 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 favourite 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?”

Conclusion

r/childfree may act as a support group for some. 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 and in-your-face their hatred is.



PS: If you’re looking for a more respectful childfree community, then you should probably subscribe to /r/truechildfree instead.

Responses.

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. The usage of terms such as “crotch fruit” and “breeders” can not be justified, no matter how frustrated you feel. Maybe you should grow up and learn how to deal with your frustration without insulting people.

Tad Plume: “I don’t understand what anything in Childfree had 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 stuff that doesn’t matter to them all of the time. Why not do it on my own blog, where it will receive search engine traffic; as opposed to posting it on a Reddit thread or some other form of message board? At least on here, it will be seen and not furiously downvoted.

Jeremy Kuehnau further enforces my point by throwing a temper tantrum and calling me a “filthy f*cking c*nt.” Yep; it’s just a support group guys.

David Rivera complains about our “child obsessed society”, as though he doesn’t grasp the simple fact that all species are hardwired to reproduce.

To see if the responses had any merit, I decided to visit /r/childfree again, just to see if I had overreacted.

The top post uses the word “Mombie”. The second top post also uses the word “Mombie”. The third top post also uses the word “Mombie” (and yet some of them were complaining about my over-usage of the word “bitter”). 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 having run 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). Everybody is shocked and disgusted by it. Somebody complaining about families with children going on vacation. The poster in question is annoyed that his/her father said “Families deserve vacations as well.” A post explaining why cats are better than babies.

Never change guys.