Supermoms Vs. Regular Moms

Emily Simski

February 20, 2015

Fourth Blog Entry

Supermoms vs. Regular Moms

            Women in the 90s were starting to develop more of themselves as well as create a name for themselves. Also, this was the period that women were also having children because they wanted to bring a little beauty into the world. However people still are criticizing women due to not being the mothers that television portrays as Susan Douglas discusses in the chapter “I’m Not a Feminist, But…” in her book Where the Girls Are.

            Apparently there are these images that women who have kids are supposed to be these “supermoms” who have the power to fulfill all the needs of her family, her career and her life. This makes real-life mothers, according to Douglas, feel “humiliated, especially if she has a job as oppose to a career”. Why should we judge women based on a career vs. a job? The REAL job that women have is the job of being able to take care of her children (if she wants to have one). I don’t see any mothers on TV waking up at 2:00 am every single night to check on their children. Also in the morning you see them totally rested and acting as if their baby didn’t make a single peep all night. Now compare that to a real life mother; you know, let’s compare this mother to MY mother. When I was a baby in the 90s, (and according to my mother, still am the baby), she always talked about how she’d always wake up in the middle of the night to check up on me, and my dad never checked on me once. She did this while having a job of cleaning houses during the day as well. So she would leave in the morning and go clean a house or two and then come home and take care of me and my two older sisters.

            While my mother has now become a housewife as I got older, she’s what I call a real supermom. However in the 90s, “motherhood was being turned into a competition about who was more of the “perfect mother””. Why do we need a competition? Everyone is perfect for who they are! My mother did her job by raising three kids pretty much on her own because my dad was never that involved, but I turned out fine! Rosanne Barr had this line in one of her stand-up routines: “If the kids are five, I’ve done my job”. This was a line that connected with a lot of mothers at this time who loved their kids. However motherhood wasn’t that easy because sometimes it would be frustrating, boring and time consuming. However you won’t see this with TV moms because it’s usually the nannies or helpers taking care of the kids (in some shows). However if I had to choose between a “supermom” or my own mother, I’m choosing my own mother because I know with her, I’ll get the REAL love, support and “girl power” then I’ll ever see on TV with the so-called “Supermoms”.