7 Interests Lemming

[sarahmichigan]

This is one of those memes/lemmings where someone picks 7 interests off your profile page, and you are supposed to talk about what they mean to you and why they're on your interest page.

_scarlet_ibis_ tagged me

childfree - I am "childfree" to distinguish myself from those who are involuntarily "childless" but want children. J. and I, when we were dating, thought we might have children at some point, but over the years, decided that we were pretty sure we did NOT want children. I'm not one of those "childfree" people who actively hates children and refers to them as "crotchfruit" and so on. I do like other people's children, but I don't feel my biological clock ticking and don't wish to make the lifestyle sacrifices necessary to be a good parent. This has been called, by some, a selfish decision, and in some ways it is. However, I think each population needs a certain amount of childless individuals and couples to do the kind of work that is difficult for a person deeply involved in family life; I think that's why we have nuns, monks, and others so "married to their job" that they have no time for family life. I haven't been doing much of this kind of work, but I'd like to do more of it. I'm not saying that being a wife/mother/husband/father precludes doing charity work or creating big changes in the world- I think we all know family people who go on medical missions and so on. But being a really good father/mother takes a lot of physical and mental energy and many folks don't have the energy or to attend to big picture tasks or don't want to risk the safety of their children to go on big adventures.

euchre - I don't get to play this as often as I'd like. My family game growing up was Spades, but I picked up euchre in college. My mother will play but hates it; she can never keep the bowers straight. I also used to play on-line a fair amount. Sometimes I'd call my brother in Kansas and we'd meet up in a yahoo game room and be partners. That was fun. Maybe I'll have to to try that again sometime soon.

neal stephenson - Some of the things I have listed as interests are a way for other geeky types to be able to find me via LJ interest searches, and this is one of them. The first book I read by Stephenson was "The Diamond Age" and it blew both J. and I away. I went on to read almost everything else he's written and quite enjoyed "Snow Crash," "Cryptonomicon" and "Zodiac: An Environmental Thriller" as well.

obesity myths - This refers both to the book "The Obesity Myth" by Paul Campos and to the many myths about fat and obesity floating around in the culture at large. Fat people do not eat or exercise much differently (if at all) than thin people on average. Fat and body size is largely determined by genetics (even the NIH, hardly the bastion of fat-positivity affirms this). Fat people are not morally bankrupt gluttons and slobs. There is no reliable way to make fat people thin permanently. Even if we could, there's no evidence that it would make these people healthier. The link between excess body weight and most medical conditions is weak and/or non-existent. Often when we attribute causation, what we're seeing is correlation. Many times, the genetic or physiolocial factors that cause certain conditions (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) also happen to predispose people to being fat/obese, rather than the fatness/obesity causing the condition. The "War on Obesity" is completely out of control and misguided.

pro-sex feminism - Pretty self-explanatory. I consider myself a classic feminist in that I believe the bare-bones proposition that women are human beings and shouldn't be denied rights and opportunities simply based on their gender. However, I disagree with a log of the dogma that comes with Feminism with a capital F, especially issues related to sexuality, including pornography and sex work (stripping, prostitution, etc.). The religion I was brought up in caused me to feel some shame about sexual desire and being a sexual person, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let any person or movement make me feel ashamed of my sexual desires or personal sexual expression anymore.

slarty bartfast - Another geek magnet interest. It lets people know that not only do I like "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" but I know the book(s) and the attendant movies well enough to know the name of a fairly minor character. And, the name is just inherently funny, IMO.

ypsilanti - Where I live. The red-headed stepchild of next door neighbor Ann Arbor. I enjoy the working class atmosphere and racial diversity of Ypsilanti, and the fact that you are almost as close to many cultural and educational opportunities but with a lesser cost of living than Ann Arbor. Ypsi has a pretty cool culture of its own, including ethnic restaurants, downtown coffee shops, classic car shows, and a nifty historic district called Depot Town. I like it here.

Comments

[shadbolt75.livejournal.com]

I applaud you for choosing the childfree route. I could easily go into my opinion on why I think choosing to reproduce is a far more selfish act. My wife and I will not reproduce, but we are remaining open to the option of adoption since there are so many orphans out there who would benefit from caring family.

I love playing cards in general, but euchre is probably my favorite.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

I'm not one of those "childfree" people who actively hates children
That's what "childfree" means, though. "Childless" doesn't imply anything about whether you want children. It just doesn't go out of its way to make children sound like an infestation.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

"means" is tricky. By whose definition?

Most places I've seen this defined (i.e. wiki and other places) say it's just shorthand for "childless by choice" which doesn't imply a hatred for children anymore than something being "fat-free" or "sugar-free" implies a hatred for fat or sugar.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

"fat-free" and "sugar-free" *do* imply a hatred for fat and sugar.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

No it doesn't, and I think you're being silly. Carrots and other things are being marked as "fat-free" but that just means they're free of fat. Fat is necessary for physiological functioning, but for some people, it's important to limit it. It doesn't imply a hatred of fat at all, just that it's absent from a particular product for those who want to limit fat (or sugar).

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to add that I understand that a lot of people who advertise themselves as "childfree" (like some people on the childfree community on LJ) do actively hate children and make fun of "breeders" and so on, so I can understand being wary of or disliking the term.

But I think that generally speaking, many childfree people (again, try googling or looking it up on various dictionaries or the wiki) only mean "childless by choice" and are not implying anything about actively hating children or despising parents.

[flyinglemurs.livejournal.com]

I like Euchre too and also don't get to play it enough.

[trebor1415.livejournal.com]

We also decided fairly early on in our relationship that we didn't want children. For us it's because we simply don't want the responsibility of raising children and don't want to have to put anyone else before ourselves. We take care of ourselves, and our cats, and that's as far as we want to go.

It's a personal choice and it's the one that works for us. Neither of us are really interested enough in the topic to try to change other people's minds. When we're asked when we're having kids, we just say, "We aren't. We don't like kids," which is an oversimplification, and not entirely true (other people's kids are fine), but which always effectively ends the discussion.