I’m tired of the media’s assumptions about women in relation to children. TIME magazine recently ran a special on Women’s Health and the front cover showed a woman (quite a tired-looking woman, I might add) laying in the grass, covered in children. Why is it automatically assumed that women come along with children? What about the rest of us? Do we women without children not count, too? Had it been a Men’s Health special would the photo have been of a wiped out, stressed out father? Probably not.
There’s no escaping the media’s assumptions—even on this site. If you’ve come through the main Life Without Baby site, I’m sure you’ve noticed the Google Ads. This morning’s ads included announcements for a sale at a kids’ store, a mommy support group, and how to adopt a newborn quickly! People, you are barking up the wrong tree.
So, along with today’ whine comes an apology: Please forgive the wholly inappropriate ads. This is a new site and some of the kinks are still being worked out, so please bear with me while I figure out how to make the ads go away, or at least be more appropriate for our members.
It’s Whiny Wednesday, time let loose your inner two-year-old. What’s your gripe?
I find those types of ads and articles deeply disturbing because they really do undermine women. They’re basically saying that women can’t really have any stress apart from their children. Never mind jobs, bills, retirement, mortgages, illnesses and general wellness, deaths of family members, relationships, etc. If you don’t have a litter of kids crawling all over you then you’ve no reason to worry or stress; not a care in the world!
Like you I always get those targeted Google ads and spam in my email for harried mothers just because I’m female. I can’t relate, don’t relate and don’t want to relate to it. I suppose the odds are in their favor though, because the majority of women of reproductive age do reproduce.
I once subscribed to a baby magazine I wanted to write for and got samples of diapers and formula in the mail for months. Unfortunately, it was not a good time for me to see the funny side.