Sows
A wile back I wondered what euphemisms exist for family size… apparently there are euphemisms for mothers of large families.
Concordian Sisters of Perpetual Parturition: The politics of multiparity
A woman pregnant with her first baby is radiant, beautiful, adorable.
A woman pregnant with her second baby is matronly, serene, not disrespectable.
A woman pregnant with her third baby is a trouper, pitiable. We’re glad for her that she’s about to be put out to pasture.
A woman pregnant with her fourth+ baby is a sow. A breeder. A glutton. An abuser of the environment. Pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and childrearing are obviously not difficult for her or she’d have quit by now like any sane, unselfish, thinking person. All she’s doing is, as I heard it described on Talk of the Nation a few weeks ago, “pop[ping] out puppies,” and she needs to be publicly derided for it.
Ouch. If that’s our relativistic view of motherhood, we’re doomed.
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