06/23/2009

Summer and the Single Mom

I’m out here as a single mom in LA, and there’s nowhere on the planet that has more of a focus on staying healthy and lean. Well, except for this place, the plastic surgery capital of the world, but that’s another story. In Los Angeles and other places in the country that are blessed with perpetual summers, staying fit and looking good can become an obsession.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the madness. This past year we watched multiples mom Kate Gosselin (Jon and Kate Plus Eight) turn from Mom-next-door to a tummy-tucked-rock-star. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to look your best, I often wonder (and struggle with too) with what’s wrong with our own packaging? Where is the fine line of balance that says our thighs are okay as they are, and so are our stomachs and arms and breasts? I remember seeing Kate’s tummy in an early episode of the reality show. It was soft and doughy and wrinkly. I never thought it was ugly; my thought was that that tummy carried six babies into this world. Wow.

Even though it came under some fire from feminist, I still like the Dove “Love Your Body” campaign with its premise of using real women in their advertising along with slogans such as, “ Wrinkles Are Wonderful.” We need advertising to change; we need this dialogue with Madison Avenue to continue. We need to see real women and real bodies.

Summer has officially begun, the grills are out, the children have yet to start their “I’m bored” mantra, and I’m eyeing my shorts and tank tops. My arms are a bit flabby, my thighs jiggle and sometimes I feel self-conscious. But then I look at all I do, and who I am, and when it comes down to it, whether or not I fit into the Madison Avenue aesthetic, really doesn’t matter.

- Aunt B