FemaleVoice

Megan Vanelli

[femalevoice]

Moms as Superheroes

Moms have long been described as superheroes. They juggle their career, parenting, breastfeeding, diapers, cooking, cleaning, keeping up with feminine ideals, remaining attractive to their husbands after childbirth, and so much more. They are asked for so much from society and from their families, and they constantly deliver and impeccably take care of those they care about. While taking care of everyone else, they still need to find time to take care of themselves. There is one iconic and well-loved movie mom who portrays these motherly superhero characteristics, on top of actually being a superhero. Mrs. Incredible aka Elastigirl is a mom of three, as well as a superhero, who is tasked with many life and work challenges throughout The Incredibles movies. The movie’s encouraging representation of being a mom during the day and a superhero at night is realistically symbolic of how some moms feel as though they live two lives. As a mom, the “first life” occurs during the day when the kids are awake, and the “second life” begins once the kids are asleep. Elastigirl is an outstanding character and is a tremendous example of a strong and brave female figure who also has a softer maternal side. In terms of negative media representation, Elastigirl is also a perfect example of the sexualization of women in the media. Most media containing superhero lore has overt sexualization of female characters. It's almost impossible to find a female superhero that hasn’t been sexualized either in the plot of the story or, more popularly, through her superhero costume. A female superhero’s strength or worth should not be defined by her sex appeal. Nonetheless, Elastigirl was given a small waste and noticeable curves which are accentuated by her tight-fitting costume and thigh high boots. Not to mention, her superpower of intense flexibility could be sexualized in and of itself. As seen in the photos below, her body shape was no mistake. Sexualization of female characters in media, and mothers are no exception to this, all comes back to media catering to the needs and wants of the male audience. Although Elastigirl is stronger and more powerful than most men and could defend herself against anyone who may try to do her wrong, this negative representation of women in the media through overt sexualization didn’t spare this tough superhero one bit.  

“Supermoms? maternity and the monstrous-feminine in superhero comics.” Superheroes and Identities, 2016, pp. 195–206, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315757476-20. 

[femalevoice]

Types of Moms

Since the 19th century, most media depicting American mothers has not been diverse or inclusive. For a very long time, America's mom was seen as a white middle-class woman. In reality, there are countless genres of motherhood in present-day America. There are single moms, stay-at-home moms, working moms, lesbian moms, good moms, bad moms, and so many more categories. This diversification in types of moms has had an interesting effect on the mommy war. The mommy war was born out of this stereotype of the white middle-class mom. Now that the definition of a mother is broader, the competition for the world’s best mom isn’t as intense. Some types of moms can’t even really be compared to each other, and more and more moms are simply rejecting outdated ideals of what it means to be a mother. Motherhood is finally breaking out of the restraints of its past and growing into something more transformative and wholesome. In “Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama” Ann E. Kaplan argues that all types of moms have an “angel” side and a “witch” side. This idea of an angel and witch side is promoted in society’s outlook on mothers in which they tend to be stricter than fathers, in a good cop and bad cop sort of relationship. An example of this difference in discipline level between parents would be a child asking their father if they can go somewhere or buy something and the father’s response being “go ask your mother.” This is a classic response that is said in both real life and in the media. Although, there is one iconic mom shown in 21st century mass media who is breaking down past definitions of motherhood and dancing to the beat of her own drum. 

Williams, Steven D., and E. Ann Kaplan. “Motherhood and representation: The mother in popular culture and melodrama.” Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers Canadiens de Sociologie, vol. 19, no. 3, 1994, p. 411, https://doi.org/10.2307/3340736. 

[femalevoice]

Representation of Mothers' Psychological Health

Relating to the Ruby Franke case, women’s psychological health bears great newsworthiness. There is a common theme that appears in social media, news media, and television or movies of mothers often drinking alcohol. Known as “boozy mom culture,” this imagery can be anything from a mom often seen with a glass of wine in her hand while cooking dinner, going out on a girls’ night with her friends, or filling up a cup with some sort of alcoholic beverage to have during her kid’s sports game. Parents often turn to coping mechanisms such as alcohol to deal with the stress of their jobs as well as the stress that comes along with parenting. Boozy mom culture has gotten out of hand in the sense that some kids know their mother’s favorite drink as “mom’s juice,” and there are even customized cups with that phrase on them. Mass media such as television and movies as well as social media make drunk mothers a comedic and relatable theme for viewers and is meant to be generally lighthearted. However, news media classifies such behavior as coming from a “fractured female.” This portrayal of drunk mothers makes it seem as though there is a crisis in America involving children being neglected by their drunk mothers. Although this could be the case in some households, moms are allowed to let loose and have a few drinks just like everyone else without putting their kids in danger. Attempts to alter the current definition of motherhood, which is the problem with poor representations such as drunk mothers, is nothing more than a power struggle over gender performance and related ideologies. Representations such as drunk mothers in the news media do nothing except divide females from each other, resulting in little to no support from our female community. Although there could never be a chosen winner, being a mother is very competitive. There has been a “mommy war” going on for decades. The term mommy war refers to the cutthroat struggle to be the best mother there is. Part of what momfluencers are doing with their content is simply bragging about how good they are at being a mom to make all of the struggling moms jealous. But who is the judge of this “mommy war” anyway? There is no such thing as the world's best mom, and most moms are just trying their very best for their kids. All that we can say for sure about the finalists in the mommy war is that Ruby Franke is definitely not the winner.  

This clip from Bad Moms is the perfect example of what is meant to be a lighthearted and relatable representation of moms drinking alcohol.

Bergh, Written by:  Caitlin. “5 Reasons Why Mommy Wine Culture Is Toxic.” Choosing Therapy, www.choosingtherapy.com/wine-mom-culture/. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023. 

Simon, Jenni M. “Disciplining drunken mothers: Media representations of women’s use of alcohol.” The Communication Review, vol. 17, no. 1, 2014, pp. 45–64, https://doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2014.872499. 

[femalevoice]

Momfluencers

“Momfluencers” are an up-and-coming sector of social media influencers. The rise of social media has caused a shift in topics that usually remain private, to now being public. In the past, mothers have seemingly tried to keep their children’s faces and embarrassing moments off the internet. Recently there has been a rise in the “momfluencer.” This term refers to mothers who post their daily lives as moms as well as their kid’s and partner’s daily lives. Whether this be a post to Facebook or a Tik Tok with her kids, momfluencers are taking over the social media landscape. They post content such as activity ideas for the kids, recipes, and classic mom rants. It’s important to note that there is a danger that comes with being a momfluencer. There are countless child predators on the internet. When a mom posts pictures and videos of her child and gives away details about their lives and whereabouts, she’s putting her child’s life in danger simply for likes and reposts. Most momfluencers seem to be completely oblivious of this dangerous aspect of their actions. Although this content is all in good fun, some of these momfluencers need to take a step back and look at the grand scheme of their social media presence. On top of all of this, the children being posted on social media by their mothers are too young to stand up for themselves and say that they don’t want to be on social media. Some of them are too young to even fully understand what social media is. They have no choice but to constantly be posted by their mothers. When they grow older and can understand what they’ve been through, they may resent their mother for her actions. One momfluencer who has received exceptional backlash, and punishment from the law, is Ruby Franke. Utah native Ruby ran a popular Youtube channel called 8 Passengers. She documented her life with her husband Kevin and their six kids. The videos expose her abusive words and actions towards her kids. This sort of behavior went on a while before the law got involved. However, the world of social media noticed her abuse straight away. Something Ruby masked as “strict parenting” was genuine child abuse, and people online didn’t shy away from calling her out on it. 

“Ruby Franke, Utah YouTuber, Arrested on Abuse Charges after Malnourished Child in Duct Tape Found.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 31 Aug. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ruby-franke-vlogger-8-passengers-youtube-channel-arrested-child-abuse-rcna102731. 

Wegener, Claudia, et al. “Motherhood in social media: Phenomena and consequences of the professionalization of mothers and their Media (self-)representation.” Feminist Media Studies, vol. 23, no. 7, 2022, pp. 3222–3238, https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2108479.