The Mom Wars

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We have all heard of - and probably been (or will be at some point) a part of the mom wars; whether as the mom yourself, the husband/ significant other or the other person in the argument. In today's society, it seems like the media is pushing the separation of the moms out there as if having a unified force of women is a disaster waiting to happen- and i suppose it is.

Women of today are so busy trying to be the perfect mom and wife and woman that society keeps shoving down our throats that we have no time for ourselves let alone other women and valuable relationships, causes and cares.

Televisions earliest images of women were contented house wives and mothers. Women whose sole pleasures came from providing a life for her family. even when later the wife did work outside the home the husband and children always came first and the women were always perfectly coiffed with immaculate homes.

You never saw a toy out of place and a errant child was quickly turned around with a sound word or two. In todays media we see an entirely different view of motherhood- the battlefield. from even before one gets pregnant women are harked on about thee "vital" issues.

What will they eat? Wear? will you continue to work?
and I have been on both sides of all three arguments and the media plays a huge role in the animosity between loving mothers who all in the end only want whats best for their baby.

Why would the media care?

MONEY!
From the millions of books sold on how to do everything baby related to  talk shows, self help gurus and all around consumerism built around the my parenting is better than yours strategies the media is making a killing by making new moms feel like a failure no mature what choice they make.

From Scary to Slutty- Halloween Advertisements and the Media Monster

~Mean Girls

At younger and younger ages the idea of dressing in a slutty manner for Halloween is becoming the accepted norm. In movies and T.V. shows the idea of the slutty (insert something random here) costume has taken on a life of its own making everything from a pirate to a zombie into a sex symbol and selling that idea to a younger and younger audience every year.

~Idle Hands

We have all seen the movies where the teen girls are dressed in next to nothing are in "costume" and so its OK...not so much people! The girls in these movies are perpetuating the idea - along with the Halloween advertising and costuming websites that sell scraps of cloth and call them costumes that it is alright to look like a hooker waiting for her next John in the spirit of Good Fun...

~Night of the Demons 1988

Still most of these movies involve older teens at least- 15 or 16 and above- unfortunately the Costume industry doesn't feel the need to stay to even that low standard but insists on targeting not oly teens in slut-tacular hot messes but even younger audiences as well. 

This highly offensive ad was in the Spirit Halloween Store Tween Section. 

Some other truly terrifying costumes to make it onto their tween/teen pages are below. These are all available in 12/14 size- that's the size my 12 year old neighbor girl wears! My daughter will be in that size by next year and there is no way that any of these would pass the fingertips test- you remember ladies- if your fingertips didn't touch cloth it was too short? What happened to that here?

Swashbucklin Sass

Forest Bandit Tween

Blue Peacock Tween

None of these young (ahem) ladies can be more than 14 or 15 - at most.

And to really send the message home lets see what one little starlet is being for Halloween.

Noa Cyrus- Age 8

The media in both movies and advertising has sold teens for years on sexy costumes and now they are truly targeting our children as well.

Transgender Superhero SheZOW

SheZOW

The television network, The Hub has released  a new series for the superhero fans in kiddie land- but this superhero has some parents crying villainy. In SheZOW, the superhero is a heroine- except he isn't. 

The main character Guy ends up with a ring that was destined for his twin sister- that had been passed through the generations of their family turning the women into heroines- when Guy puts on the ring to annoy twin Kelly it fuses with him, giving him the responsibility  and kick- ass go-go boots as well!

Having pretty much taken his sister's birthright accidentally, the 12 year old slacker is now burdened with the struggles that accompany being a superhero- and one who has to pretend to be female as well. I have watched both episodes that has aired thus far on the hub and found them lighthearted and funny- my kids did too and I for one see no issue with a male character's alter-ego being female- there is no voice change, or facial or body changes to suggest any physical change- his costume is simply SHE-tabulous.

The American public is of mixed reviews however. The Christian activist group One Million Moms (more like 57,000 give or take on Facebook) writes, 

"Warning to all parents! This Saturday, June 1, the premiere of the transgender superhero show "SheZow" will air on Hub at 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. PT. The media is determined to pollute the minds of our children and there is no better way to desensitize them than through a cartoon program. Everyone knows children are drawn to animated shows; both boys and girls love superheroes. This character especially will appeal to both boys and girls since the superhero represents both genders by cross dressing and being transgendered. This dude becomes the FEMALE superhero SheZow dressed in pink and purple...This is just another attempt by the gay, lesbian and transgender community to indoctrinate our children into accepting their lifestyles." -One Million Moms

Other viewers and media considered it simply another form of entertainment and even a step in the right direction for getting kids to accept all kinds of people. Guy isn't transgendered, gay, or even a transvestite- he is a superhero whose costume happens to come with hot pink mini skirt and elbow gloves.

Still  others see it as a great leap in American culture- the show has been aired in both Australia and Canada without the Apocalypse occurring, I think we will be safe. 

 At the end of the day, perhaps no one has embraced more enthusiastically what SheZow could represent — and what the future heralds — than gay producer Howard Rosenman. 

"The unbridled creativity of our TV artists are pushing forward the mainstreaming of gender-bending media heroes and heroines," says Rosenman. "A boy wearing girls' clothes to fight villainy is beyond brilliant. Soon there will be no differences, on an equality basis, between genders. Just like Will & Graceprovided 'normal' contextualization of LGBTQ persons, SheZow too will provide 'normalization' to cross-dressers, transsexuals, FTMs, MTFs, transgender [people], queers, genderqueers, transvestites, drag queens, drag kings, girlfags, boydykes, and 'warrior princesses.' Thank trans- and cis-God!” -Advocate.com