old enough to bleed, old enough to breed
- idiom
- Offensive
:
[frase ofensiva que justifica relaciones sexuales con menores]
- The phrase old enough to bleed, old enough to breed has been criticized for promoting harmful attitudes about consent and maturity.
Examples
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Some argue that old enough to bleed, old enough to breed is an outdated and inappropriate way of viewing adolescence.
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It's disturbing to hear someone say, "She's old enough to bleed, old enough to breed!"
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Using old enough to bleed, old enough to breed in conversation is likely to cause offense and controversy.
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Many people find the phrase old enough to bleed, old enough to breed deeply offensive.
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The saying old enough to bleed, old enough to breed is often used inappropriately to justify relationships with minors.
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Critics argue that using the phrase old enough to bleed, old enough to breed can perpetuate harmful misconceptions about young girls.
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Many believe that the expression old enough to bleed, old enough to breed trivializes the serious issue of consent.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
old + enough + to + bleed, + old + enough + to + breed
The literal words ('old', 'enough', 'bleed', 'breed') give partial clues—bleeding can evoke menstruation and 'breed' denotes reproduction—but the saying encodes an idiomatic, culturally charged claim about sexual maturity and permissibility that is not a straightforward compositional meaning. Understanding it requires background cultural/biological knowledge and recognition of a metaphorical/dehumanizing use of 'breed', so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words is unlikely to derive the full meaning.
Etymology
The saying old enough to bleed, old enough to breed comes from an old belief that when a girl began to bleed, meaning 'start monthly periods', people thought she could breed, meaning 'have children'. People then used it to say she was 'old enough' for marriage, but today the phrase is offensive and seen as wrong because it was used to defend harmful treatment of young people.