Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Mommy Warriors

In the last couple of weeks or so, it seems like the mommy wars have heated up again, with beautiful women posting pictures of themselves, and getting dumped on by their dumpier compatriots.

Most recently, Supermodel, football wife Giselle Bundchen was pictured sitting in a chair, getting
made up by professional make up people while breast feeding her daughter Vivian.

While many people were favorably impressed, others were less than kind:
While most everyday moms struggle to find the time to apply makeup and nail polish, even wash their hair, here’s Gisele with a beauty squad doing it all for her. Of course, she can breastfeed because she doesn’t have to do anything else.

“um, I don’t remember us breast feeding while people do our hair and make up…..I’m a lil’ jealous..LOL,” one Instagram user shares.

“P—— off Americans once again, way to go Gisele. Tom must be so proud,” another shares.

Denise Albert of TheMoms.com told Good Morning America that breastfeeding is “a very personal choice” and called Bundchen’s photograph “a little outrageous.”
I saw a bit on this on "The Five" this week, and was taken by Greg Gutfield's comments.  He pitied the poor child, having to grow up with two of the most nearly perfect of human specimens as parents, it might be difficult to accept physical flaws.  Dana Perino (not bad looking herself) only commented that she was jealous of Gisele being able to reach the top shelf of cabinets without a stool.

And then there was journalist and soccer wife/mom Caroline Berg Erikson, who famously Instagrammed a photo of herself in lingerie 4 days after giving birth:
Writer Suzanne Aabel responded to the picture on her blog, questioning if she and Eriksen are even of the same species. Australia's Mama Mia blogger, Rebecca Sparrow, called Eriksen's photo a "disservice."

"This whole situation has become ludicrous," Sparrow wrote. "The competition for women to give birth and then immediately remove any trace from their bodies that they ever carried a child is OBSCENE. There is no other word for it. Actually, it’s more than obscene – this 'Look how hot I still am!' obsession and need for public endorsement."

"Focusing on HOW we look post-baby detracts from how we feel," she continued. "And THAT is what we need to be concerned about with all new mothers. Motherhood is overwhelming on so many levels. We need to shift this goddamn focus back to the mental health of our mothers."
Then, reaching back a few more weeks to the case of Maria Kang, the California fitness enthusiast who actually deliberately stirred the hornets nest with this photo:

And reaped the opprobrium that you might have expected...
...That post brought a frenzy of negative responses, including:

“Those precious little things need their mommy more than they need you to have glamour muscles,”

“Not that I *NEED* an excuse for not working out, but here's mine you self-righteous idiot … fibromyalgia,”

“You are part of the body shaming problem that is going on in North America and other parts of the world,” and

“You are a bully with a super inflated sense of your own self.”
So what do you think.  Should they keep their good bodies to themselves so as not to offend  other women who don't have the good fortune, or fortitude to achieve similar results?

More mommy warriors below the fold










 



Linked at Pirate's Cove in this week's "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and at The American Power blog in "Rule 5 Sunday." Wombat-Socho's giant weekly Rule 5 masterwork  "Rule 5 Sunday: Transfer Station Blue" is up at The Other McCain.

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