As today is International Women’s Day, I thought it appropriate to mention a story I found on twitter this week that got my juices flowing, and not in a good way.
Apparently there is now a MILF diet. Yes, a MILF diet, FFS. For those of you (and there can’t be many) who don’t know what a MILF is, it is an acronym for Mothers I’d Like to F**k. Yes, I kid you not. And someone has actually released a book about how to diet yourself into a woman who needs to change her looks and body in order to attract men who want to shag her. Not get to know her, find her interesting, attractive, witty…no, no. F**k her. Charming isn’t it? Just the Neanderthal terminology makes me want to scream, let alone the connotation that women are to be judged by their shagability, thus making them sex-objects and nothing else. It’s a bit sinister really.
For me, the MILF is one step on from the ‘Yummy Mummy’ (bleugh) – a term applied to women who after giving birth are, apparently, magically no longer attractive unless they spend all their time on hair and nails and working out in the gym. I assume a MILF is all the above but they have a vajazzle while they’re at it? And women strive to be like this, they are media-indoctrinated to believe that having one of the terms applied to them is a compliment. Don’t get me wrong, we all like to be told we look good or are attractive, of course we do. And many people use the YM term in a well-meaning way and it should probably be taken as such. But is that really all there is to say? Is the external so much more important than the internal? What about what we do, what we say, how we think?
Who is it for?
The article also spoke about how women should simply strive to be the best that they can be, in all areas of life. Easier said than done, by God I know that. I would be a hypocrite if I said I hadn’t fallen foul to all the crap we are fed about how we should look, what size we should be. But it makes a whole lot of sense. We set our children targets and always stress they must be do-able, attainable otherwise you set yourself up for a fall. I tell the kids I teach the same – don’t aim to the be in the A team for football if you are just scraping the C team squad. Aim for the B team, the captain maybe and be content with that. If only, as women, we could apply the same philosophy to how we look and BELIEVE it. Truly, deep down in our hearts, actually believe it. By all means wear what you like, be what size you like, wear make-up, don’t wear make-up, wax, vajazzle and have a boob job. But, for God’s sake, do it for yourself, not for anyone else or for how you think you are supposed to look.
You can read the original article here, I thought it was very good and makes some pertinent observations about modern feminism. I am also going to point you to another blog post in a similar vein here.
What are your thoughts? I’d be interested to hear.
10 Responses to “International Women’s Day: The Milf Diet”
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A really great comment AND post by you (hope it’s OK I linked…should have asked first…)
I wonder: If your comment was made by a woman, would people view/read/hear it differently? And would that depend if they were a man/woman? Just a thought….I wonder?
I’m speechless … Tis all! (what a load of old rubbish – not you – the MILF diet)
I want to know who is actually buying the damned book!?
I bought four copies for my friends for Christmas. Not because I’m an idiot with no self-esteem, or because I’m desperate to be acknowledged as a MILF by anyone – but because the content of the book is actually incredible. It’s filled with amazing recipes and a really convincing argument for eating well and staying healthy. Im a well-informed, socially conscious, fairly successful mother of two with no body image issues ad no strong desire to have men dream about me…. And I still bought the book. And I’m glad I did. I’m astounded that anyone has this much time to worry about, harp about, or get up in arms about such ridiculous acronym.
Alas, ridiculous acronyms weave all sorts of aspirations into society (see Maddie’s comment below). I am glad the book was a success for you and your friends, thanks for commenting.
Unbelievable really and I totally agree how degrading those terms are and yet we kinda but into them a bit too…cos it’s a compliment, in a twisted kind of way. On a much more trivial note, I’ve never aspired to having a tattoo but I’d love a vajazzle. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person :-)
A leopard print one? X
I once saw a t-shirt on a girl who has about 8. It said ‘Future WAG’. How offensive is that?!!!! How can shops get away with selling this type of merchandise? It’s pedalling the type of philosophy that says ‘don’t worry about trying to achieve anything yourself – you can always just go and marry someone who is talented/has achieved something, and that action in itself is worthy of praise’. Give me strength!!!
I can imagine the response of ‘it’s just a T-shirt’ but it’s not. It’s actually a sharp indication of how society is moulding itself and what aspirations we are giving our children. Where’s the balance? Was there a ‘Future Doctor’ or ‘Future Environmentalist’ T-shirt? I doubt it…
Indeed beauty begins within, with proper self-image, not trying to meet the image imposed by others. I like your comment of do the external things, within reason and not merely to please others. Ultimately, we only have One to please and He looks at the heart.