Dear Parenting Magazine:
As you can imagine, I am *not* too happy with an article you published in your July 2010 issue.
Which one, you ask?
“Feel Better Naked”.
I hate to break it to you, but it’s a joke.
And not a funny one.
The opening line “So you’re toting a few extra pounds and sagging in some places you weren’t before. So What? Your body is still sexy and incredible. Here’s how to believe it!” sounds good.
Until you put it where you did.
YOU PUT IT NEXT TO A PHOTO OF A MODEL WHO LOOKS PERFECT.
She’s probably a size 4.
When she’s bloated.
She has no cellulite.
She has perfect buns.
She has a defined waist.
Curves? Um, I must have missed them.
How can you have an article about embracing your “cottage cheese butt” (and those are YOUR words in the article, not mine.) right next to this photo of a woman in her underwear who shows NO SUCH SIGN OF COTTAGE CHEESE?
BRING ON THE CHEESE!
Then you turn the page.
And, SHUT THE FRONT DOOR…
There’s another photo, of a model, barely a size 2, in a sports bra and short-shorts.
With her flat abs, perky butt and body completely devoid of cellulite.
Above the statement:
“Drop the notion that “where your body should be” is where Victoria Beckham’s is
- or even where yours was prebaby- and you’ll make life easier”
and accompanying the article of:
“Embracing your shape.”
Parenting Magazine-
I’m unsubscribing.
And I won’t be back.
You have an article about embracing your mom-body, and then showing us images of perfect models who don’t have the features you talk about.
You’re hypocrites.
You’re sending the wrong message.
You talk about what we should do.
Then show us images of the opposite.
You’ve lost a customer.
Wow.
I mean,
WOW.
Get with the program.
There are women you could have used in those photos who weren’t still wearing the same clothes in junior high.
So, you want to know how I’m going to “Feel better Naked?
By no longer buying your magazine,
so I don’t have to see your unrealistic body images
next to the most heart-felt article.
I’m furious at what you’ve done here.
And like I said, have unsubscribed.
And won’t be back.
Sincerely,
DD
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Katie D, S. S said: RT @DomesticDebacle: Dear Parenting Magazine: You and I are in a fight. I've unsubscribed. And I won't be back. http://fb.me/BPXsOt5r [...]
I don’t know HOW that one got past the editors. Unless they are all skinny b’s who’ve never had a baby! Sheesh!! Good for you sista!
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That’s completely ridiculous! How do magazines not *get* it yet?!
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I hope you sent this post to Parents in an email. Their intensions sounded good, ie. embracing and loving your body just as it is, but if the photos illustrate the opposite, then they’ve done their readership a great disservice. If I wrote that article, I would have been twice as mad that the photos had nothing to do with what was written!
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I did send the article to them. I even tweeted it to them. As of this moment, I have not heard back.
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I stopped reading them a few years ago. They wrote an article that I COMPLETELY disagreed with. I think all to often they have people that have no kids writing their articles. They really need to get a grip and get woman in there that know what they are talking about.
We need a MOM friendly magazine out there. One that has REAL moms that are REAL people that have REAL issues.
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I agree Andrea. Parenting Magazine isn’t in touch with moms or women at all!!
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Ugh. Just ugh. I feel fatter just reading that! :0) Shame on them . . good for you!!
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I totally agree – there are SO many magazines out there driven by their advertisers vs. their readers. I find it hysterical when the editor in chief of a magazine is a man and um the magazines subject is about women’s health. Yes, there is a magazine out there like this.
I’d love to see a magazine driven by topics found in the country and rural places and the city not just what’s going on in the multi-million dollar homes that can afford the $400 stroller being advertised.
I don’t think Parenting Magazine will ever change. They have been talking crap for years and years no matter how many times people have boycotted and sent in letters of distress. Why? Because there is a fool born ever moment and they are falling for the crap in these magazines L(
LOVE that you wrote about this
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Thank you so much! I agree- they’ll never stop. But at least they won’t get my business anymore.
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Good for you, Katie! I can’t believe they did that! I hate Parenting, I always felt their articles we not relevant to me and my family. Thanks for taking a stand!
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Any time lady! They need to realize what they’ve done here. If I would have just had a baby, that article would have killed my self-esteem. Now it just makes me mad.
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I saw that too – my subscription is at it’s end and I decided not to renew. . .you go girl!
Hillary
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one!
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Beautiful post, Katie.
I agree with you 110%.
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Ughhh! Totally agree! I’m sitting here with a fat flap that looks like a pancake from two csections, cottage cheese freshly packaged on my legs and ass, ginormous stretchmarks on my arms, legs, belly, and boobs….oh and not to forget the thinning hair and leaking boobs! Embrace that! LOL I’m a mess! But what “real” mom isn’t! Screw models! They suck!
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Miriam Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
If your comment didn’t say “Kim” at the top, I’d think you were talking about me! (Except I didn’t have a c-section… and I only have 1 baby so far.) Leaking boobs… gotta love ‘em. And thinning hair, I hope I don’t go completely bald before my body levels out!
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Kim Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I keep expecting to wake up in the morning with no hair at all! I could make a wig for myself out of all the hair that falls out in the shower and throughout the day! I actually stopped brushing it when I get out of the shower and just throw it up for that messy *sexy* look (hahahah) in hopes that I’ll save myself a strand or two! LOL
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Oh! And back fat! Can’t forget that!
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Damn! I want to say I can’t believe it, but of course I can.
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I have stopped reading MOST parenting magazines because I find it’s far too easy to get wrapped up in the coulds/shoulds of raising a child (also, my kids aren’t cookie cutters – what works for mine may not work for Jane Doe’s kids).
But, I find it astonishing when a magazine does that. Even recently when Glamour patted itself on the back for putting a “curvy” woman on the cover – sure, she was curvier THAN THEIR AVERAGE COVER GIRL – but still? She wasn’t that curvy. She looked amazing, for sure, but, far from “average”.
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My subscription to parents mag is running out and I am definitely NOT renewing. I recently started reading “Brain, Child” magazine–it is well written with a variety of topics related to parenting/moms/kids. (I am not affiliated with it at all! Just a happy reader.)
Thanks for this great post…I hope you hear back from the editors at Parents with an apology or at least a decent explanation.
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Ugh. I stopped reading Parenting years ago because there was maybe 1% of stuff in there I liked. So I guess that 1% is gone too now.
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I thought the same thing when I was looking at the spanx website. Those Spanx work perfectly on SIZE 0 MODELS!!
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Well, I don’t read Parenting anyway cuz I’m not sure if I can get it free. But, even if I could, I’d much rather read my moms who blog. They are more real than a celeb anyday. And, they carry more influence with me because they can’t airbrush themselves. Well, I think Jenny may know how to but we see her in person and know that she has freckles so ya know.
Great post, K!
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It’s not just Parents magazine that is doing this, every single media outlet is doing this. They want to say we have an obesity epidemic, but are they really helping young girls and young women the right message? Should everyone on this planet look stick thin, tanned, with long hair? NO, and I’m so sick of only seeing that in the freaking media!
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parenting is really hard! i salute mothers so much!
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Shame on you Parenting Magazine, finger-wagging shame. Why even both publishing an article that showcases women who probably spend more time at the gym than with their children?
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Even though I’m not a parent, I am so happy for you standing up to them! I hate when even regular magazines show “How to lose weight” in one article and on the same cover they have full-fat chocolate cake recipes. But the embrace your body articles are often full of perfect women and it is not acceptable! GREAT JOB! I only wish everyone would pay attention to these things and stand up to it!
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Good for you! I got that magazine in the mail, but have yet to read it. That article’s headline on the cover definitely caught my eye, so now I’m going to have to go read it and probably draw the same conclusion you did. While only a few pounds heavier than prebabies, my body definitely doesn’t look the same as it used to. I’ve accepted that fact and embrace the changes because they gave me 3 awesome kiddos. While there are some moms that may look like the pictures in their article, they are in the minority. Thanks for standing up for the majority!
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