babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Never underestimate the power of a woman… in the blogosphere.
Jezebel reported late yesterday that the current ad campaign promoting Pretzel Crisps in New York City, which sports the copy, “You Can Never Be Too Thin,” is being suspended due to pressure from feminists on the web. Supermodel Emme, speaking with journalist Stephanie Markus, called the ads, “heartless and not compassionate, and more than anything just lazy.”
Ouch. But so true, right? I would have gone with, “You Can Never Be Too Salty Or Filled With Carbohydrates.” Rules I like to live by.
But we all know thin is in, and the makers of Pretzel Crisps aren’t the only company touting being taut. Continue reading »
SD blogger Sierra wrote yesterday about Maia, the mom on Feministe arguing that the general public does not have a right to child-free spaces. Speaking for every mother who has fended off critical glances just for having the audacity to be in public with a baby, Sierra says, “shopping areas, public transportation, city streets, most restaurants – these spaces are for everyone. The kids in them deserve to be treated with respect.”
Amen. City dwellers in particular know how bold a choice it can be simply to exist outside the home as a tot-toting parent. You’re made fun of for your “giant” stroller. (Really? Would you accuse someone in a wheelchair of “hogging the sidewalk?”) You’re given the evil eye when your baby gets fussy (but no one says anything to the teenagers screaming at the top of their lungs on the train). People tell you not to let your one-year-old lick the subway pole. (Just me? I swear it’s what prevented my daughter from ever getting sick.) Parents who travel alone (think about it – when you’re with your mate do people try this stuff? No way.) are particularly vulnerable to attacks from strangers, because our only company is a helpless little being. We’re easy prey, a fine mark for someone having a bad day to use as a scapegoat for everything that’s wrong in their world.
I’m especially well-acquainted with this dynamic, because even before I was divorced, I functioned as a single mother, as my husband was away for work during the week. (With the plethora of single and stay-at-home Dads out there, I wonder if men with a baby strapped to their chest encounter this type of discrimination as frequently as women.) When my daughter was a baby, I spent my days at home, mostly, or in the park, library or book store – places where there were lots of other moms and kids hanging out, gang-like. There is strength in numbers, and hanging with a Mommy gang feels safe. No one can give you a dirty look for being in the kids section of Barnes & Noble – not even the employees. (I’ve often wondered how they can sit idly by watching children suck on and rip merchandise that has not and most likely will not be paid for. That’s some powerful zen, right there.)
But hanging in the Barnes & Noble and bringing your baby to a bar are really two separate issues, as Karnythia at The Angry Black Woman points out. The impetus for Maia’s diatribe about kids-being-people-too is that one night, she was at a bar – with her three-year-old daughter - when a friend called and asked her to come “hang out for a few drinks and chill time as the sun came up.” Apparently the friend withdrew the invitation upon learning that a child would be present, because, you know, nothing harshes a mellow like a toddler, right? Maia, like, totally doesn’t get what the big deal is, dude, because her daughter is a “funny, cute, bad-ass, curly haired person who… is probably cooler than you are.” Probably. I mean, I haven’t partied til the sun came up in at least a year, and your little Aza seems to be doing it on the regular.
I’m not here to point fingers at Maia for being a hot Mommy mess. I’m here to say, I get it. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Maia is a young-ish, single mother who wants to have fun but can’t afford/doesn’t see the need for a sitter. I’ve been there. I took my daughter to a bar show once when she was about a year old. Like Maia, I figured it was no big deal. I’d seen other hip mamas with their adorably-dressed babies in the same venue, so I saw no problem in following suit. Unfortunately, even though no one seemed to bat an eye at her presence, it ended up being a miserable experience for everyone involved. Continue reading »
A British study reveals it’s probably too difficult to start regulating products thought to sexualize children, and besides, kids don’t want to be “protected” from these products anyway.
The “study” — and I put it in quotes because it doesn’t sound scientific — apparently involved walking along a popular shopping district to inspect the wares and then talking with kids and parents.
The results say that not many products are actually aimed at children.
“This is not to suggest that imagery in consumer culture is not widespread or that children do not consume products surrounded by such imagery, ” the report said. ”What it does indicate is that relatively few sexualised products are specifically aimed at children.” Continue reading »
Unlike a lot of people who deal with infertility, I had a diagnosis and an expectation that things would go not so well long before I was remotely interested in having kids. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 23 and my wonderful primary care doctor was fairly nonchalant about the fact that when I did want to get pregnant, a little Clomid would do the trick.
It didn’t. But at least I was able to tell my now-husband that getting pregnant might not be so easy once things started getting serious, so neither of us were especially surprised when things didn’t go so well. Many of my friends who also faced down infertility said they envied me that, that I was able to tell my partner long before we were formally committed and let him decide if he was up for the challenges we might face.
A new genetic test might give a new group of women that chance. Continue reading »
If you’re like me, you probably won’t get around to reading Gail Collins’s new book for a few more months/years. Instead, you have to settle for reading all the articles about and interviews with the author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.
Among the quick-and-easy offerings is this interview with Jezebel‘s Doree Shafrir. The two talk about the book, feminism then and now and even stuff that’s not in the book. For example: women keeping their names. Collins’s explanation of why a woman feels it’s necessary to take her husband’s name surprised me. Continue reading »
How do you torture a small child? Put them in front of a favorite treat and tell them, “Sure, go ahead and eat it. But if you don’t, I’ll give you another one in a few minutes.”
It’s called the Marshmallow Experiment, a famous study from the 1960s that found that kids who can dely gratification (or who didn’t eat the marshmallow) grew up to be well-adjusted and more dependable than kids who just couldn’t say no to that soft, sugary sweetness.
But forget all that scientific mumbo jumbo for a minute and just wallow in the cuteness of little kids trying their darndest not to eat a marshmallow. They’re sweet enough to eat:
Ah, the 70′s.
Ah, Denmark.
What?
Jezebel has the pages of a very graphic book by Danish author Per Holm Knudsen called “How a Baby Is Made”. And boy, do they show you how. Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
0