I just discovered what my dad meant by "breeding".

I'm an adult woman of Indian descent. When I was a teen and started dating, my parents would often tell me not to fall in love with my then bf, but to become educated and find someone who was well-off, because they are someone you can "breed" with. I took that word to mean to mate and have a child, and that's what all the men were trying to do with me because they wanted to have kids. I thought that was weird because I was still in school, I didn't want to have kids right away. I didn't want to be treated as a baby machine, and I definitely didn't think of marriage that way- I was educated and capable of fending for myself. <br><br>Now I'm reading posts on this sub about men treating women like objects, and how they want to "breed" with them as a form of ownership and possession. I think of my parents' words to me- "don't fall in love with this guy, he's not someone you can breed with." From reading these posts, I realize that what they meant was they are someone I can bond with, that I can trust them, and that they can provide for me and our future children.<br><br>I just wanted to talk about this. I feel like I've finally realized what that word really means and what it means to become "property" of someone else- especially in the context of arranged marriages, where the woman is treated as a form of property. I will be careful about the men I choose for myself.