Last year, the New York Times seemed to be in love with the “Dad Bod”, the “softly round”, slight out-of-shape physique that men get when they settle down and have kids:
They’re not as generous with “Mom Hair”, which is also a byproduct of settling down and bearing kids:
I think New York magazine hit the nail on the head with this observation in an article titled New Moms Personally Offend New York Times by Getting Unflattering Haircuts:
They may not have any mandated parental leave, and they’re probably not sleeping more than a few hours a night, but that shouldn’t get in the way of them thinking about their perfect post-partum hairstyle.
What shall we call what the New York Times did? Momsplaining? Momshaming? Or just plain stupid, bad, and lazy writing?
I’ll close with this tweet by Heather Havrilesky:
Girl things are silly. Lady things dumb. Mom things embarrassing. Old woman things v. bad. See a common thread here? https://t.co/gywg01FmWy
— Heather Havrilesky (@hhavrilesky) June 21, 2016