The Internet is back at it again pitting various celebrity moms against one another and putting them in boxes to be judged, analyzed, picked a part and torn down.
This round, after Kim Kardashian infamously posted a nude selfie this week, she got support from the likes of Sharon Osbourne (who posted her own nude selfie) and Christina Milian (who retweeted Kim K’s second nude selfie with the caption “Love Yourself”), but then also criticized by Bette Midler, Piers Morgan and others, including another one of our blog faves P!nk. Conservative media jumped right on it.
In comes a fellow Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum Amber Rose who jumped into the fray to call out P!nk for “slut shaming” Kim and of course because Blac Chyna (who recently reportedly broke up with Kim’s brother Rob Kardashian) is ex-besties with Kim and current bffs with Amber, she got dragged into it the mix.
Well we knew that another blog fave, chef and business entrepreneur Ayesha Curry who is married to NBA Basketball star Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors wouldn’t be far behind.
Ayesha trended this morning after someone shared a mini video of her greeting her husband with confetti in the arena tunnel after a tough loss.
This is all a nigga need after a long day pic.twitter.com/IeLHFFzJfJ
— Thrilla (@_GodThrilla) March 9, 2016
And needless to say, people couldn’t handle all that wholesomeness. It was perfect timing with all the Kim K stuff that folks resurrected one of Ayesha’s old tweet from last December where she criticized clothing (not any person), tweeting,” Everyone’s into barely wearing clothes these days huh? Not my style. I like to keep the good stuff covered up for the one who matter” and adding, “Just looking at the latest fashion trends. I’ll take classy over trendy any day of the week. #saturdaynightinsight” Now folks are back at it comparing Ayesha Curry with Kim K. le sigh The social media memes have been off the Richter these past weeks. Young women are declaring whether they are Kim Kardashian, Ayesha Curry or Amber Rose as if…. The common thread in much of this all is that people (mainly men) are characterizing these celeb moms based on their choice of clothing and how they present themselves in the mass or social media and a few choice words they may have tweeted or captioned in a photo.
@ayeshacurry girl I hope you have security because every man tryin to get them a you today hahahahah — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 9, 2016
And plenty women too had opinions on the matter:
I want to be an Ayesha Curry type of mom, not a Kim Kardashian type of mom…
— lyla anne ✨ (@LylaAnne_) March 8, 2016
No one knows much about these women, their parenting styles, their intimate thoughts and their personal inside relationships with the people closest to them. We only know what they choose to put out there in the media and share with the world. Granted being a celebrity and major influential figure like these women are, their every move is scrutinized and over analyzed to the point of exhaustion every day.
Nonetheless, from what I see, they each care for their children, show them love often and prioritize them highly, irrespective of any other parts of their lives, they all seem to be great moms. Of course, I don’t know if the nanny spends more time with their children but it doesn’t appear that way to me, and even if so, who are we to judge?
I do not mean to suggest that the role of mother supersedes all else but it is a very important one that sits high on top of all their other duties, jobs and responsibilities, even as public figures.
I am totally over the penchant of social media and especially misogynistic male bloggers to reduce these four individuals down to carefully crafted caricatures of what makes a model woman/wife/mom to be placed inside a glass box and used as a tool to criticize other women, black feminism, and put their own spin on things.
Meanwhile, Bette, P!nk and any one else critical of Kim K drew the ire of feminist writers.
But at the end of the day (what a cliché thing to say), it really boils down to labels and boxes that we as a society insist on slapping on women and mothers. It’s not done in a same negative way to men or fathers and that is unfair.
All of this is occurring during the same week of International Women’s Day and smack dab in the middle of Women’s History Month.
Can’t we all just lay off and live and let live?
I think the website Blavity did a good job summarizing this when the staff wrote in a recent piece, “the lesson of the day is that women are human beings, not adjectives, and not clones of who men deem worthy of their attention. Fall in love with who you fall in love with, and if you haven’t yet, keep your bitterness to yourself.”
Amen!