having first encountered it within the gay community, where it was used as a perjorative aimed at people they assumed heterosexual, and having it applied to me (when I was pregnant) in such a manner that I could only assume that it was used to try and get me to leave an open queer community event (Fair Day), I find that it has a lot more baggage than merely an implication that the person in question has children. It can be enough to trigger mild to moderate anxiety, and to check where the exits are, and if there are allies around, depending on the context.

but, if your analogy to those other two words hold, then the *only* people allowed to use it are those with children, which means that you are justified in using it. unfortunately, the same logic would make steph's use more offensive, rather than less (and yes, steph, I would have made allowances for you, if it was used in circumstances where I could tell that you weren't using it negatively, and there was no-one around who could possible assume that it was therefore an appropriate word to use. However, I would still have been uncomfortable).