I definitely appreciate the lumps n bumps no photoshop (tho there was that fisheye lens at the bball the other day, but that seemed an anomaly). Even, to some extent, the oversharing re: fungal rashes + massacre periods… bodies are messy and we all have them and there’s something refreshing about having them openly discussed. It strikes me as the kind of thing say Abbie Chatfield might do.. it contributes to lessening silly stigmas + helping people feel less shame abt themselves.
But I one hundo think she does it primarily to be ‘relatable’ to her audience and so build engagement and adoration from her ‘community’. And in this, I find what’s fascinating. The struggling w three kids + health concerns + body changes after babies + feeling down on yourself but trying to love yourself anyway, blah blah is all so ‘typical suburban Mum’. But the swanning about- ridiculously over (and expensively!) dressed- to e-grade ‘celebrity’ occasions, on school nights, several times a week? The increasingly frequent $70 steak dinners (alone) at restaurants? And now- most outrageously of all- the ‘last minute’ popping off alone down to a ‘health retreat’ for a week, DURING the thick of the school term? How on earth is ANY of that relatable to the ‘average Suburban Mum’?! How does she maintain the interest and commitment of her audience? So much of what she does would appear grossly unobtainable to so many watching, and not just because of the financials, but because of the seeming ease with which she can abdicate responsibility for her children on a regular basis. With an ease that is facilitated not just by her (extremely permissive and flexible-seeming!) parenting arrangement, but also by her ready ability to abandon any feelings of guilt for the instability this all creates in their lives. I’m simply , constitutionally incapable of being so blasé abt my son’s feeling and needs and routines and I’d wager a majority of Mums on here are the same