Happy Mother’s Day Mom – Thanks for making me fat!

14th May 2007

Happy Mother’s Day Mom – Thanks for making me fat!

posted in Fat Bias, Pop Culture |

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s Super-Obesity-Fighting-Mom!

Able to scale tall buildings in a single bound, with a baby in one arm and a day planner the size of an encyclopedia in the other, she’s able to single-handedly eradicate the scourge of the evil obesity epidemic threatening the future of the civilized world!

Or, so according to National Action Against Obesity president MeMe Roth.

The self-appointed food police group called on mothers ‘round the nation to take charge of America’s obesity “crisis” this Mother’s Day, celebrated May 13.

“Studies show that if there’s a woman in the household, she’s making more than 90% of the food-buying decisions–whether that’s suggesting what to eat, writing a grocery list, or actually buying the food,” said Roth. “It’s Mother’s Day and, Moms, you’re in charge. This obesity epidemic is over when you say it’s over.”

Yes, because making women feel like bad mothers who are solely responsible for the growing girth and impending doom of the nation is exactly how we should celebrate mom for all her hard work and dedication in a culture that makes it increasingly difficult to rear children.

I’m sure Hallmark will soon have a card for that: “Happy Mother’s Day Mom – Thanks for making me so fat and ruining my life!”

The press release goes on shrewdly point out that the 30 percent of America’s children at risk for obesity and diet-related diabetes; with two-thirds of their parents already overweight and 50 percent of women of child-bearing age overweight.

Think about it: Two-thirds of parents are overweight. Doesn’t this signify that perhaps parents themselves don’t know proper nutrition? How, then are they supposed to pass such pearls of wisdom onto their children?

Or maybe, these statistics reveal that a larger body size might simply be genetic? In which case, breastfeeding your children until they teethe or banning soda to the furthest echelons of hell will do nothing to dictate the natural body size children’s bodies are programmed to reach.

The organization does give great tips, which form the core of a healthy relationship with food – don’t use food as a bribe, introduce kids to fresh veggies early and often, feed them whole food and not junk food – but the shaming of mothers on a day to celebrate motherhood is both demeaning and patronizing.

If condescending attitudes and smug messages about food and weight really worked, we’d have a nation of Twiggys milling around.

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1 On May 15th, 2007, celsou said:

This really burns me up >(
Now that we’re done shaming mothers who give their babies formula instead of breastmilk (not everyone can breastfeed) let’s find some other guilt trip to lay on them. What about the fathers’ responsibility?
Come father’s day will they also be admonished? Because I read about an australian study that links fathers’ parenting style with childhood obesity.

posted on May 15th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

2 On May 16th, 2007, maggie said:

when will we see “Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Thanks for making me anorexic!” or “Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Thanks for making me think hating my body is normal!”

i think it’s really interesting that they’ve tried to frame that whole campaign around some kind of “mommy power” message – mommy’s the one who’s really in control of the house, she’s in charge here, she can fix everything! really twisted. what it’s really saying is “you’re a bad mommy if your kids are chubby. why don’t you love them enough to make them skinny?”

posted on May 16th, 2007 at 4:48 am

3 On May 24th, 2007, Michelle said:

I SO agree with Celsou and Maggie. You buy the food and support the fmaily then you can push your ideas upon us. You dont so you leave people alone. I’d SO much rather Shrek trying to get my kids to do stuff than you, Paris, olsens ect, because of YOU people feel they have to starve their selves and get other illness beside heart disease. My kids are no where near being fat but still, you do not need to be telling anyone how to run THEIR family, run your own.

posted on May 24th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

4 On January 29th, 2008, Amy said:

The first list in her 10 point bulletin about preventing childhood obesity is that parents who are not healthy should not have children. What more can you say to that, really?

posted on January 29th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

5 On May 27th, 2009, The Skinny on MeMe Roth » The-F-Word.org said:

[...] and I appeared with Roth in early 2008 on Fox’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. I knew of Roth before this show and how monomaniacal she is about her cause, but silly me, I wanted to [...]

posted on May 27th, 2009 at 10:30 pm