Paula at Easy Baby Life interviewed me recently about this site. I have to say her questions were some of the most intriguing I’ve been asked – it’s a great interview! Go check it out! Thanks, Paula!
News
Mention in Brain, Child Magazine
Author Melissa Stanton recently wrote an article on the controversial “Mom Job” plastic surgery package in Brain, Child magazine. She mentions this website in the article. Overall, I think the article is mostly balanced, but I would like to take this opportunity to clear up one thing about this website.
The Shape of a Mother is often misunderstood to be a site dedicated to loving the postpartum image – that IS a big part of my hopes for the site, but it is Step 2 for us as women. Step 1 is simply to put the images out there so we know we aren’t alone. Stanton mentions this in her article – the relief of knowing she wasn’t the only mom to face this. I think once we know we are part of a big, worldwide sisterhood, then we can begin moving down our respective paths of of self-love, whatever that may mean to each of us as individuals.
I know the images here are as scary to some women as they are reassuring to others. I think that’s normal – after all, this has been our deep, dark secret for so long. What I want is to let the secret out. If it’s not secret anymore, it will no longer be shocking or scary.
What did you think of the article?
Unnecesarean.com
I found this link recently while reading a friend’s blog and wanted to share it. While some cesareans are certainly a necessity, the US has a frighteningly high rate of one in three births. People sometimes assume that cesareans are a safer way to birth, but the fact is that they are major surgeries with all the risks and possible complications that come with any major surgery and it’s recovery. I am thankful for those lives which have been saved, but would love to help prevent any unnecessary cesareans whenever possible. Check out Unnecesarean.com and pass on the link to the moms and moms-to-be you know.
BACK!
The uploader is BACK! I am finally caught up (short of two entries waiting in my inbox which I will post in the morning) and am ready to take submissions again. Sorry for the delay, but I am happy to be back on track.
Blessings to you all!
Saturday Night
Last night, at a local coffee shop aimed towards moms, some women gathered with me to watch the amazing film, Fifty Nude Women. I first heard about the film through this site – a reader had sent me a link – and it’s such a perfect idea, and goes so exactly hand-in-hand with The Shape of a Mother, that I passionately feel I need to promote it as much as possible. And local showings sounded like a fun way to do that.
After a few technical difficulties (in that it turns out my laptop needs electricity to run. who knew?) we finally saw the ending on my friend’s laptop (her Mac, although electrified, would not hook up to the projector properly without a certain piece of elusive hardware). Luckily the movie is so wonderful that it was still uplifting even after all that.
I hope very much to have more showings around the county in the future (and I promise to bring my laptop’s power supply!), and I would encourage all of you, Readers, to try the same if at all possible. The license to show it in public is quite affordable and so worth it when you consider the self-esteem of women watching it.
Here are some of the things women at the showing had to say to Margot Roth, the producer of the movie, about it:
Thank you for such a beautiful film. It was amazing to see such a variety of body shapes and sizes. And all the women were laughing and smiling!
I think every woman needs to see this movie. It was very comforting to see such a diversity of women’s bodies of all ages and nationalities. This movie rocks!
This was an awesome film, as it shows us glimpses of how 98% of women look in the “real world.” Hollywood insists on glorifying the 2% who have fabulous bodies and even most of those are airbrushed. Young girls should view this to aid their self-esteem and give them a good body image. Young men should view it as a good reality check.
Incredible! Amazing! It’s true – we are ALL beautiful.
I truly wish nudity was acceptable enough that I could show this to my middle schoolers. Every adolescent girl should see this film. Is there a “50 Nude Men?” (They need it, too.)
I found myself smiling throughout the showing.
AWESOME, AWESOME film that shows what a real woman looks like without clothes.
Thank you, Margot, for giving this to the world. We need it.
Reminder – Movie in San Diego
Just a reminder that we are showing Fifty Nude Women in San Diego this Saturday. If you are in the area and are interested, shoot me an e-mail for details.
Almost there…
My laptop is about to be sent off to be fixed (luckily? it’s under warranty) so I’ve settled myself in here at the big desktop and am catching up on all the entries I’ve been behind on – particularly those e-mailed to me have been neglected. So I’m almost caught up and will hopefully be opening submissions again by next week. I’m so sorry things have been so wonky around here lately, but thanks to you all for being here and for being you!
Fifty Nude Women – showing in San Diego
presented by Shape of a Mother and Java Mama
**Please e-mail shapeofamother@pacbell.net for details and to confirm your attendance as we will have limited room**
A documentary about 50 real nude women
of all ages and sizes and colors.
No airbrushing or Hollywood sparkle
mars their beautiful flaws and perfect imperfection.
Come see what real women look like.
Fifty Nude Women has been included in The New Yorker,
applauded by Playboy, and will be featured
in the Baltimore Women’s Film Festival.
Downtime
The server this site is on had some big issues over the weekend and the blog went kaput. Between that and my own computer issues (really, sometimes technology makes me want to crawl into bed and never leave) I was not able to alert my webhost until this morning and they fixed it right away. Sorry about that – should be fixed now and I hope to get back to a routine here soon.
Argh. Will be a bit absent.
My laptop has decided that connecting to the internet is not so important. Personally, I disagree, but so far cannot persuade the laptop to change his mind. In the mean time, I will be around, but much less so since the desktop is not as inconvenient. Between that and the vast amount of work I still have to do in the way of adding tags and etc to get us all moved in here properly, I am taking submissions offline for a few days until this is all straightened out. I have PLENTY of already-uploaded entries (read: I am way behind!) so I’ll keep posting as well. I just don’t want to get even more behind.
So until then, I’ll see you around, just less so!