Happy Mother’s Day to the motherless mothers and to those whose mothers are not safe enough to have a relationship with.
Happy Mother’s Day to those mothers who have lost their babies or who have had trouble conceiving. Happy Mother’s Day to all the adoptive and foster mothers.
Happy Mother’s Day to those who have unofficially foster-mothered those in need around them.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the single moms who don’t have anyone to guide the kids in celebrating them. Happy Mother’s Day to those whose spouses cannot, for whatever reason, guide the kids in celebrating them. Happy Mother’s Day to those mothers away from their babies today because they are in the military or because of custody issues or any other reason.
Mother’s Day can be beautiful but it can also be difficult. I am sending my love out to all of you struggling today. You are amazing and wonderful and beautiful inside and out.
FINALLY. I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long! But today I pulled the two winners of the mailing list giveaway that ended earlier this month. Lauren won a cute newborn Gryffindor diaper cover set from By The Moonlight Creations, and Kim won the custom beaded pendant.
I’ll be emailing you both very soon! There will be more giveaways coming up this year so stay tuned! If any of you WAHMs wants to donate something as a prize shoot me an email.
I have just become an influencer over at Mogul (onmogul.com) which is an up and coming new website for women worldwide. I’m super excited about this opportunity because I love Mogul’s mission and the content I am seeing there so far seems to be really great quality. I love this short piece by Kelly Osbourne, and this post by Saundra Pelletier embodies so much of what I want SOAM’s influence on the world to be. So go check it out, sign up, and follow me. Can’t wait to help make the world a little better!
I was planning to close the giveaway this week, but I’ve decided to extend it through the weekend. I’ll close it on Monday April 4 instead. It’s not too late to join our mailing list and enter to win! Two winners will be chosen, gifts shown below.
A huge thank you to Rita for allowing me to write a guest post over at Surrender, Dorothy. I really enjoyed writing it. Over this past decade the mamas here at SOAM have taught me so much, about body image, and about life in general. So I wrote a post about the top five most valuable things I’ve learned, go check it out!
I posted this in the FF Roundup yesterday, but wanted to give it extra mention here because it’s so exciting! The good folks over at Mid Drift have a Kickstarter going right now to buy film equipment to get this project going. As thank-you gifts they have a ton of cool stuff, but my favorite one (naturally) is the postpartum body image coloring book. HOW COOL IS THAT? Awesome!
So go check it out and throw a little money at them if you can. It’s a good cause. <3
I want to start doing these again. For those who are newer, SOAM used to have a sister site called This is a Woman and I’d do these weekly roundups of inspiring/angering/otherwise important links relating to women in one way or another. I did them here for awhile, too, but you know how Life tends to get in the way and makes Stuff not happen? Yeah. That. But there’s too much information out there that needs to be shared so I’m giving it another go. Technically, I want these to happen on Fridays, but last Friday turned out to need to be delegated to Other Stuff and you know we just did a theme on imperfection in the #soamweeklyphoto so…
Weekly Awesome:
~Mid Drift has a Kickstarter going with a SUPER COOL postpartum beauty body image coloring book you’ll get if you donate. Go chip in a little because we need to work together to change the world for mamas of today and tomorrow.
~I found this article on different patterns of female orgasm extremely interesting and enlightening. According to science, there are three general patterns of female orgasm, and only one of those three is the kind typically portrayed in the media. This, along with the actual anatomy of the clitoris, should be taught in every sex ed class in high schools.
~This is a pretty hilariously empowering response to an unfortunate fat-shaming ad.
~This news is two years old, but always relevant. Ask yourself if you feel uncomfortable with the word “cunt” and if so, you might want to consider why it’s so much more offensive than “dick”.
~Feminist snarkasm is my favorite snarkasm. This one is about “for her” pens. Not PENIS. PENS.
~This whole article is so powerful. It will make you rethink your body. It will also make you want to sext all your friends (no, really. Read the article and you’ll see what I mean.)
(Before I go on, take a second to go and join our mailing list for a chance to WIN FREE THINGS! Also, you know, so you can stay on top of all the awesome stuff happening here at SOAM this year.)
(And one more thing – go check out this announcement for details on the main project of SOAM’s anniversary year!)
@sumrtime328
@laurenlolo7
@catnamede
@sublimelypassionate2
@claritybeam
@shapeofamother
One of my favorite things I’ve encountered while working with SOAM is the different interpretations people have on things. Last week’s theme in the #soamweeklyphoto was Imperfection and while I spent all week trying to figure out how to get an artistic photo of some body flaw I haven’t spoken about here before with only an iPhone, other people were going deeper into their psyches for something maybe more meaningful.
“I would say the imperfection that bothers me the most about myself, is my lack of self motivation. I allow to many things get in the way of the things that need to be done. Living with anxiety and PTSD don’t help. My best imperfection is my body, I am doing my best to change my mind. I want to look at my body as a tool and vessel to teach my children love and acceptance.” – @sublimelypassionate2
“I thought this topic would be easy if I could photograph my skin, since acne is coming back and it has been emotionally and physically painful to deal with on and off for 20 years. I’ll just go deeper than that, because today just ‘went there.’ I have a recurring fear that I am not good enough for my family, not stable enough, not whatever… and when I get on that path of thinking it just gets really ugly. My imperfect past (as a recovering alcoholic can only know) is one I have to reckon with when I get these insecurities. And as debilitating as insecurity can be, must take the next indicated step, in order to be the best mother, wife, sister, friend that I can regardless of fear or other challenges.” – @catnamede
The women who have taken part in this project have continuously astounded me with their beauty, strength, and their willing to be vulnerable. I feel so lucky to be a part of this project. I can’t believe we are nearly at the end of the winter run – just a few more weeks until we break out the spring prompts! If you haven’t joined us yet, don’t hesitate to jump in at any time! The more the merrier!
The biggest project I am planning for this year is a video celebration of SOAM, and I’d like for you to be a part of it! Check out the video below and then you can read more here.
