Is the First Lady a “Momshell”?

by Paula Spencer | Comments

Do you think the First Lady is a "momshell"?
Where is all this pressure for us to look hot coming from and how much do you
think we should buy into it (as if we don't have enough on our plates!)?         –mom2jack

I admire Michelle Obama's biceps and covet her cute sweaters,
but I sure hate that new word "momshell"! It's an ogle word, not a
compliment. And the first time I heard it applied to the First Lady, it struck
me as weirdly inappropriate to way to describe the wife of the President. Or
any woman.

The whole hot mom concept seems like an overcorrection to
me. On the one hand, there's no reason to turn perma-frump once you have kids.
Just because you lose your waistline for nine months shouldn't be an excuse to
live in lumpy tracksuits for the rest of your life. But neither does motherhood mean a woman in the prime of life must veer to the opposite extreme and hootchie-coo around playgrounds in kitten
heels and a cami cut lower than the average mall-slumming teen's.

The First Lady wins applause because she embodies a middle
ground. She works out. She's not overweight. Neither is she scrawny. She follows
fashion in a more-or-less way (meaning she seems to read catalogs and magazines
and, at least once upon a time, shop the mall, all places we can relate to,
without going high-fashion-victim on us).   CAMERA PRESS-Retna Ltd.  

But let's not call that "hot" or
"bombshell." That's sexual lingo, and what kind of message does using it in a mom context send to
her daughters, or ours? Let's describe her look as vibrant and healthy and attractive and normal,
as if it were something we all can achieve. Which yes we can!  –Paula Spencer     

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Photo of Michelle: CAMERA PRESS / Retna Ltd.