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| Photo credits, from left to right and top to bottom: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6, Photo 7 |
Has society always put the pressure it does now on girls to look a certain way? Can you guess from the collage what the special message today’s MaFF Monday brings? Beauty… and that every woman is beautiful. Whether she feels that way or not. Whether she heard a different message growing up or hears that same message as an adult… from her peers, from the media, or maybe even from her family.
Not only am I a lucky wife, I’m also a lucky momma! Last Sunday while I was getting my daughter dressed for church, I noticed my son watching with the cutest grin on his face. I said to him, “[*Insert daughter’s name] looks pretty in her dress, doesn’t she?” He said, “Yeah, [*Insert name again]’s a pretty girl.” I thought my heart would melt into a puddle on the floor. I should mention that The Chef is good about telling me the same. His son is already starting to take after him. 
Sadly, not every little girl hears this message from the influences around her, and according to April Harris, Author of The 21st Century Housewife and our Featured Food-“e”-Friend today, 3-4% of women in North America suffer from anorexia, resulting from an unhealthy and distorted body image. Meet April, and read what she has to say about her own struggle with this:
It is incredibly important to me to help girls and women acknowledgetheir own individual beauty, as well as to encourage society to accept a
more inclusive ideal of beauty itself. I discuss this in more detail on
my Just As You Are page.
We have allowed a culture to be created around us in which we are
teaching girls (and boys!) from a very young age that they have to fit
into a particular mould in order to be beautiful, and this incenses me.Â
be encouraged to aspire to the digitally altered images that surround
us. The only way to change this culture is from within, and I firmly
believe it can be done. We need to make our voices heard around the
world, using political and economic pressure to show designers,
broadcasters, writers, photographers, artists, magazine editors and
journalists that we will not accept a culture of unattainable,
artificial ‘beauty’.Â
know the damage this can do. I encourage everyone to eat well and
exercise because I do it myself and there is no getting away from the
fact that you look and feel better when you do. However there is no
reason to be unhappy because of how your body looks today - even if you
are overweight. We need to teach our daughters (and sons!) that beauty
is not dependent on the number on the scale or the size of your nose.
Every woman is beautiful in some way. We all have our flaws, we all have
our good points, and it is the sum of these two things that makes us
perfectly us. Life is way too short not to love the skin you are in!
for a number of years now… why did you decide to start?Â
The 21st Century Housewife was created in 2002. I noticed that
every time anyone asked what I did, I answered “I’m just a housewife”.
Not surprisingly, I felt very diminished when I said that. Also,
people’s responses to the fact I was a housewife always alluded to the
fact I must be bored, and did I not want to go back to work, which made
me feel quite cross because I liked what I did. When I expressed my
frustration to my husband he said “Will you stop using the word ‘just’
to describe yourself? You are wonderful at what you do, and it is as
much a career as anything else.”ÂThis not only delighted me, but it led
me to the concept of “professional housewives” and the development of
The 21st Century Housewife. I have long believed that society’s
perceptions of housewives and housewifery are often warped and outdated,
and it became my mission to help change this perception, as well as to
support and encourage other housewives. I began to work on a manuscript,
and then the website, and the website itself became so popular that I
am still working on the manuscript all these years later! (It’s very
nearly done now!)
Like everything though, this concept and the website itself began
to evolve, particularly when I noticed that some of my most loyal
readers were not housewives. So as well as keeping to the heart of my
original aims, I have become someone who blogs about everything from
food, health, home and family to travel, fashion, beauty and current
events. My readers come from over 120 countries, and every walk of life.
As well as women of every age and career, I count a large number of men
and young people amongst my regular readers. There is so much more to
being a housewife in the 21st Century than meets the eye, and there is
also so much more to The 21st Century Housewife website than its name
suggests!I also blog at The 21st Century Housewife’s Kitchen, which began as an offshoot of the 21st Century Housewife, but which has taken on a life of its own.
It’s very hard to choose a favourite after nearly ten years, but in
terms of a recipe to start with I would recommend my bran muffins. They
are one of the first things I ever cooked as a young girl, and the
recipe has evolved to become one of my signature bakes. I even did a
vlog round them! Take a peek:
I also recently blogged another variation on them:Â Carrot Walnut Bran Muffins.
My blog contains a lot of different things and that there is a great
deal on offer if you click round the site. From a cosmopolitan view of
good food and good eating to home and garden, from travel, recommended
hotels and restaurants to fashion and beauty, there is something for
everyone at The 21st Century Housewife!
If you are new, check out our Make a
Food-“e”-Friend (MaFF) Monday page for more information on what
this party is all about, specifics about how to link from your blog, and for more on how you can be a Featured Food-“e”-Friend in the future.
Just a few reminders before linking:
1)
You can link any type of food-related blog post, including giveaways or
food coupon offers. Make sure you use the URL for the actual post and
not your blog so visitors can easily find what you wanted to share!
2) Don’t forget to link back to MaFF Monday, using either a text link, Make a Food-“e”-Friend Monday, or the button:
Most of all, have fun and be sure to grab a pen and paper or open up
your notepad to jot down the recipes you find that you know you want to
try.
(Link-up open through Wednesday):
Wait… don’t go yet! Before you leave the party… check out this video of a special song about the struggle with body image and anorexia:
Don’t let the lies in the messages from society or those who should know better drown out the message from the One who made you and sees and appreciates your beauty, inside and out! I hope we as Mothers and Fathers can bring about the change April mentioned in our homes and as influences in our culture. Have a beautiful week…
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If you have a moment, be sure to check out our Christmas series, which will begin in September, and how you can be involved (you do not have to have a blog):
Find more great recipes at Muffin Monday, Titus 2sdays, Tip Me Tuesday, Women Living Well Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday
About the Author
Adopted at age 2, grew up in the Charlotte, NC area. Obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Loves being a Mom of two and taste-testing Chef John's culinary creations and sharing them with readers.
Hey there everyone, great blog post
I understand greatly where you are coming from as my partner has an eating disorder, even though I tell her everyday that she is and always has been perfect the way she is, people always think they need to look fake to be beautiful but that is wrong, why don’t we help them find out about things such as Natural Beauty Techniques so they no longer have to be fake and will believe people when they get told they are beautiful 
http://www.missbyrne.co.uk/category/beauty/