Forgive me for being snotty, but this is neither news nor groundbreaking. Hundreds of books have been written on the expectations of and for new mothers and how they rarely meet the standards of the myth. Is it really so amazing that celebrities aim for public narratives of perfection? And that the media notices?
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In a twisted way, what we have now is progress. Celebrity mothers mostly used to disappear for twelve to eighteen months. The exception being Lucille Ball, I think. People were astounded that she made a TV show with her real life husband and was pregnant. Horrors. I’m kind of glad to see that disheveled-assed Spears. I can relate to that.
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What really bothers me about this article is the fact that it blames so much on the media and consumerism. Motherhood has always been boring at times. From what I’ve read, it’s only very recently that parents, often mothers, in wealthy countries like the US focus mostly on the care and raising of children once they spawn. I think there’s a larger issue involving the new cult people have created around children and the perfect childhood. Consumer culture generally reflects what’s already there, IMO.
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I kind of roll my eyes when people go off into that, “back in the day they pulled their own legs off and beat a mammoth to death with it, and they liked it” thing, but I believe children used to be integrated more fully into people’s lives. If they weren’t strapped to your back, they were down working with you. This capitalist paradigm that we’ve set up for ourselves, with very little room for the needs of the whole family, really bugs. Stay home with your kiddo and be broke, or farm your kid out…and be brokish. Great choices, thank you.