Defending motherhood

I've read two different stories in the news this week that have really made me defensive of motherhood.

Jillian Michaels

I know I've praised her before. I love the show The Biggest Loser and her workout dvds are definitely worth buying. Then she started peddling diet pills and I thought a little less of her. Now she is on the cover of this month's Women's Health magazine. She said this:

“I’m going to adopt. I can’t handle doing that to my body."

Are you serious? Don't get me wrong, I am all for adoption. I just think that as a public figure and fitness expert, she's seen as a role model and her attitude doesn't seem like the portrayal of someone with a healthy body image. I realize she was overweight and has worked hard to lose weight and keep it off. I lost over 50 lbs right before getting pregnant, and it has been a huge struggle for me physically, emotionally and mentally to deal with this yo-yo losing, gaining and trying to lose it again. However, it has been worth every stretch mark, every ugly thought about my body, every extra pound. I used to think she was a strong person, but now I think every woman who has given birth or is willing to do so is stronger than her.

Baby as tyrant

Elisabeth Badinter, a French philsopher and feminist, has written a book taking the whole "motherhood is oppression" idea one step further. She claims that women now are allowing their infants to take over their lives by breastfeeding, cloth diapering, making homemade baby food, etc. There are so many ridiculous comment I can't just pick one:

“It may seem derisory but powdered milk, jars of baby food and disposable nappies were all stages in the liberation of women.”

About breastfeeding- “This worries me, because we are creating another model of motherhood where the mother is with her baby 24 hours a day for at least six months. This is a model that eats the personal part of each woman as an individual.”

“These new feminists (the contemporary American feminist movement) say that we have hidden and undervalued the essence of women, which is motherhood" but this is wrong because “it shuts the sexes in different circles,” leaving the women isolated in parenthood.

Are you serious? I have reached a whole new understanding and appreciation for womanhood after becoming a mother. I'm not oppressed because I choose to breastfeed. I am enlightened. So thanks for worrying about me, Elisabeth, but I'm just fine. I'm better than fine. Sure, there are moments I wish it were easier to go out with my husband and moments I wish for the carefree life I had pre-Brayden, but overall...

I'm the happiest I have ever been.