Hey, there! Log in / Register
Globe writer tells moms to stop being so gross and disgusting in public
By adamg on Mon, 07/11/2016 - 8:13am
The Globe's Dover correspondent gets down with some real talk for suburban moms: Stop making the rest of us suffer by forcing us to see you in your boring black leggings and stuff. At least put on a silk top before you go out, for Christ's sake.
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Article
A little disappointing, no pictures of these ladies in leggings/yoga pants to see if they're inappropriate. I would prefer to form my own opinion.
I Think She Needs The Roots Touched Up On Her Overprocessed Hair
That's a style
Having your hair bleached white with the roots coming in dark is a style now. You need to look around more.
For Her, It May Be "A Style" — But it Isn't Very Becoming
Whatever
Imagine if we Americans were like the Parisians, and put on chic scarves, cologne, and lovely shoes just to do stuff like take out the trash.
They do it because they value looking good and because they believe that, if someone fails to look their best at all times, it collectively lets down the whole city. I suspect that one has to be Parisian to fully comprehend this aspect of the culture.
We are not Parisians. Phew!
We are free to have days where we get to the end of them and realize we never combed our hair. C'est la vie.
I prefer yoga pants to mom jeans.
the author looks like one of those people who claimed to have never had a bad day.
Nobodies trying to see
A size 6 in skinny jeans.
Suburban Moms
The "dressing" problem is also rampant in the city. It's sad women don't get dressed up anymore, even sadder they don't even bother to get dressed. I rue the day when jeans and leggings became the standard uniform. Even more pathetic is the size of the women who wear this attire. Jeans, leggings and yoga pant don't make one look thinner. No matter what you have on, if it's form fitting, it's form fitting! If you would rather die than be seen in a skirt or dress, try a fine pair of loose linen slacks in summer or nicely tailored wool slacks in your real size in winter. You'll be surprised at how great you look.
Slacks.
That's a geriatric dog whistle. :)
Some comments
1. not about looking thinner or "looking great"
2. dress up in a nice linen suit and then wrestle a toddler into the center row of an SUV and then actually play at a park with the kid.
3. Vomit everywhere. Junior will spit up, will get noro and dry cleaning bills suck. Washers are much more handy than lugging vomited on linen suits to the dry cleaner.
4. I suppose your servants are supposed to handle all this.
Dear Maureen,
Dear Maureen,
Women should give ZERO FUCKS about what you, or anyone else, thinks they should wear.
Sincerely,
A Women That Doesn't Tear Other Women Apart For Wearing WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT
The it's a reasonable
The it's a reasonable argument to make that athletic wear and casual wear in public is a little too common. No, not everyone is so busy that they can't wear something that is a little less casual or better looking. People used to manage to dress up, probably too much according to some. The point is that there's valid arguments on both sides, and not all casual wear is something that's best to wear outdoors. People can look nice without much effort.
One could also easily argue ...
... that having so damn many categories of clothing is totally ridiculous.
You sound like my MIL with her dungarees, jeans, pants, slacks, trousers, dress pants, etc. Ridiculous. Jeans, pants, dress pants, DONE.
That article
Just makes me feel bad
Simple fix
Change in a more respectable outfit and your self-worth will soar.
#globetips
Everybody Wins!
The person with a conflict of interest who generated this puffy advertorial, the employed writers of this piece (and of automotive, real estate, 'style', entertainment industry, etc. pieces), the 'news' outlets that subsist on advertising revenue from editorially-promoted businesses and industries.
CONSUME... CONSUME... CONSUME...
Random thoughts on the matter
The worst thing is her demand to stop wearing clothes picked up off the floor. If I follow that rule, I'm naked.
I gotta believe the unshowered people on the Red Line are far more unshowered than her Dover friends.
Yoga pants and leggings are not just for suburbanites. She should see what some of the ladies in my Dorchester neighborhood wear.
I wonder what she thinks about saggers.
agree
How many times could you count the word "suburbs" in that piece. I don't spend much time in the suburbs, but based on what I see in the city, I don't think what she's talking about is necessarily geographically specific to the suburbs.
Having said that, outside of a work context, I don't really care about what other people wear...if it makes them happy, fine by me...
Counterpoint
https://warningcurvesahead.com/2016/06/04/24-things-women-over-30-should...
<3
I love this so much!
A counter-counterpoint with a
A counter-counterpoint with a side of silliness:
Top 20 Things NO WOMAN Should Wear After 30
i don't know about the
i don't know about the suburbs, but yoga pants in the city are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
How About....
how about everybody wears what they want??? If the author wants to wear dresses and silk shirts to run errands have at it. I'm heading out in my yoga pants (after a real yoga class) to do the same thing.
Me thinks this lady from
Me thinks this lady from Dover has a different reality than most.
I checked out her blog - I couldn't read it for too long as I need to actually go to work and when I saw the link to the kids bikini that cost $125 I realized we live in 2 separate worlds. I don't even have kids but if I did I damn sure wouldn't pay $125 for a baby bathing suit!
Good luck to her but if someone wants to go out in dirty clothes it's something she should embrace as it doesn't affect her in any way.
It's not a blog
It's full of tracked affiliate links, meaning she gets a cut of anything you purchase off those sites. She's actually making money that way. And there's no writing, just a lot of copy/paste off various marketing materials. No commentary of any substance. It's badly put together, and the blog makes her Globe "article" look like Pulitzer material.
children's bikini
That says it all right there.
judgmental reporters with too much time on their hands
Who buys their child a $125 bikini? Oh, right... someone who bitches about mothers who don't wear expensive silk blouses while they shop for groceries with their toddler. What an ungracious snob.
What a prig
Somebody needs to be reminded that the all the world is not a stage under their direction (and what people choose to wear is not all about what other people think).
Sorry, Swirly
Rush (the band, not the pillhead) says "all the world's a stage," and as much as I respect your work, you're not cooler than Rush.
OMG
Shakespeare
(edit to remove unnecessary invective)
You douche
I know it's (expletive) Shakespeare. I wanted to credit Rush.
Aren't
you sweet?
Is that ever the point?
I'm intellectually curious and honest. Those are the two most important human qualities.
After humbleness of course.
After humbleness of course.
Actually
I find this hard to believe.
Hater
I ask questions about things and I will give you a straight answer to most any question you ask me.
Let me see if I understand you
I'm a douche for pointing out your incorrect attribution. If you wanted to credit Rush, you should have noted you knew it was originally a Shakespeare line but preferred Rush. But I'll accept being called douche: it is a cleaning item here in America, and in France a shower or bath. Cool, I like clean things.
I sarcastically called you sweet for calling me a douche, but I think I actually mean it sincerely now. :)
And yes, being sweet is often the point. It makes getting along with others easier. Even when disagreeing. And no, I'm not always sweet, there are times when the opposite is necessary. There are also the many shades of emotion/personality in between that work as well.
And lastly, you called me a hater. I'm not certain why. There is not a lot I hate in this world. I find your statement that you're 'intellectually curious' curious based on how you've been interacting with me. No other reason.
Go read the 24/7 check cashing thread
I posted some nuance in there.
but rush is such a terrible
but rush is such a terrible band.
Celebrating diversity
Glad to see the deaf participating in UH commenting.
Second half
"We are merely players".
-Shakespeare 1570 or so ... not Rush 2112
Not stage managers. RTFC.
Swirly has the Sprit of Radio though.
n/t
... and we are merely players
Even Rush quotes that much from Shakespeare.
Read my comment again - I said that she thinks she gets to be the stage manager, not one of the actors.
I bet she was that girl that nobody would play house with.
But, hey, thanks for the Limelight hangover.
I just threw up in my mouth
Really lady? That's all you have?
She has more than that, I'm sure
Like a trust fund.
Must be sad to be reduced to nitpicking other women's appearance as "journalism".
The thought of mesh, lace, leather, or color block leggings...
sounds so Real Housewives it's almost unbearable.
Well Well Well
I'm just glad that the after all the buyouts and layoffs the Globe never lost their journalistic integrity.
Win
Best possible response. You win the internet.
Oh give them a break!
Maybe you are unaware but there is a screenplay to follow up the Glob smash hit "Spotlight", I got a sneak peek of "Leggings, a Suburban mom's Fashion Crisis". In one emotional scene a yet unnamed Globbie says through tears: "It's time, Linda! It's time! They knew and they let it happen! To MOMS! Okay? It could have been your mom, it could have been my mom, it could have been any of our moms. We gotta nail these fashion scumbags! We gotta show people that nobody can get away with this; Not a Natick nympho, a Newton tennis mom or a freaking Stepford wife!
Powerful..
And another thing.
What's the deal with staying in pajamas? I see this all the time from moms. It's a cry for attention, "Look at me! Look how busy I am! So busy I can't even dress before I go out!"
Not buying the shtick.
And another thing
What's the deal with believing you have some crystal ball that tells you why other people are doing what they're doing?
Yes, you certainly are. So stop crying and grow up.
Leggings
There is a grain of truth in this obnoxious article. Leggings worn as pants are disgusting. They show every bulge, every orifice, every jiggle, every outline, I mean EVERYTHING. How is it that women who wear them do not know this?
True dat.
I actually heard two women on a playground commenting on another's yoga pants at the beginning of the summer. I'm not typically embarrassed by or for others, but I actually blushed and had to move away a bit when one referenced the other's [foot of a desert-inhabiting quadruped].
Yikes.
Suburban Style
I recently moved to the near suburbs (which I define as adjacent 128). I was shocked by, among other things:
1) not so much the "uniform" that is on display all day everyday, but that so many people are apparently able to still have one or one-and-a-half income households given the cost of housing around here (yes, I know, just because people are in casual clothing does not mean that they are not working, but it is clear from the totality of the circumstances that many of these folks are not working);
2) that people are still able to go away for weeks at a time, or for the entire summer (being defined roughly as the time that kids are out of school). That was really a mind-blower, and something that I had not realized until my church went from 90% full each Sunday to 30% full and specifically started asking people for summer "make-up" contributions while people were at their "vacation cottages".
Perhaps I was living in the urban bubble for too long, or perhaps I was getting rolled by living in the urban bubble for too long. I can't tell which, or whether there's a combination, but man, it is really something.
There seems to be a age cohort cutoff for this stuff though. I don't really see it among many people under 40-45, but beginning in that range, it becomes more prevalent. The only things that I could think of is that people in that cohort and older bought houses before the real price runup began, and perhaps, also attended university before the real price runup began there, too. Then again, perhaps my wife and I have just underachieved or didn't have the family resources. In any case, it's a really interesting phenomenon to observe.
Honestly
This whole thing is why I don't want to have kids.
It means you have to hang out with other people who have kids.
No kids, I can just avoid these jerks. Kids, you have to play nice because these folks parent the class bully and egg them on. If yo don't cave your kid gets pounded.
You need to find a better class of friends
And a playground where nobody cares what you wear. They're out there.
For real. My daughter's
For real. My daughter's playground has moms in everything from full-length abayas to short-shorts and tank tops. It's all good. (But then again, we're also not suburban?)
Lots of unresolved issues here.
Do as you will, but an entire class of people (who you do not know and do not talk to) are obviously all jerks who are just waiting to be mean to you and bully your (nonexistent) kid? Yeah, okay.
I can't speak for a lot of
I can't speak for a lot of the things, but having grown up in a Rural place where many people had vacation cottages, often just because they are at the "camp" for the summer doesn't mean they are not working. It just means they have a longer commute, and maybe they mix in vacation time as well. I don't know how it works here, because I don't know where "affordable vacation cottages" can be found, but for example my Neighbors are on the cape a lot of the summer but are up in town usually tuesday night because they have to be in the office on tuesday and wednesday, but work remote the rest of the time.
but that so many people are
It is about doing what it necessary to prioritize the children's well being.
Rental property. On net they make money. Work smarter, not harder.
Valid points.
These are valid points. Particularly with the cost of child care, which I often describe as a "money losing proposition, but the cost that we pay to enable each of us to stay in the labor pool because trying to break back in after x years will be exceedingly difficult in our profession."
As for the vacation places, I was shocked to discover recently what a friends family rents its rustic cottage on the water in Maine for (it's truly rustic, not "new rustic"). That said, obviously, there's no rental income if its owner occupied for the summer.
That is also easier to do
That is also easier to do (worker smarter, not harder) when you have had "hand-ups" most of your life.
Relative deprivation
Shoulda stayed in the bubble.
I recently became a stay at
I recently became a stay at home mom and met up with a bunch of others SAHMs at the playground. I embarrassingly admitted that even though I was in workout clothes, I sat on my couch and played candy crush during my daughter's nap instead of working out. I then realized that all other moms were wearing workout gear too and realized it was a "thing."
But if you think about it, it
But if you think about it, it makes sense to wear yoga pants and leggings because running around after your kids IS a workout!
Wow, being a mom sounds like
Wow, being a mom sounds like the toughest job in the world.
Says someone who
Probably doesn't have kids.
If she is in the early stages of being a stay at home mom, the kid is probably running her ragged when she is awake, so slacking off once and a while when the kid is asleep is probably needed. When I was on paternity leave, I took a morning nap when junior did, making candy crush look like hard work. I did so because I knew that when he woke up, I was "on" for the next 6 hours.
No, taking care of an infant is not brain surgery or logging, but it took more out of me than my actual job did.
As long as they're not tights
When in doubt, check this infographic (start in the middle):
https://www.buzzfeed.com/sly/am-i-wearing-pants
You have to admit
She has a point about going out in public before brushing one's teeth.
She's talking about Dover. They can certainly afford toothpaste.
@ the Boston Globe:
Why did you publish this and why did you pay this wine mom for her stupid opinions.
Mommy blogging!
Because there are thousands of other 'mommys' who eat this shit for breakfast.
Just ask my FB feed.
oh definitely
It's one thing to publish it yourself on your own noxious blog or on FB, but quite another for a publication that still wants to pretend it's respected and respectable to pay someone for this fucking internalized-misogynist drivel.
True
But real journalism (aka the Spotlight series) cost money. Money that comes from subscribers and advertisers. Articles like this bring them in thus enabling the more journalistic side of the house.
Sadly, the percentages are getting more and more skewed but I still believe the Globe does important journalism. And if this is the price we have to pay for it, so be it. YMMV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYRENWT8lz8
I guess it's a suburban thing
I guess it's a suburban thing...? In the parts of Boston where I live and frequent, the vast majority of women who are wearing yoga pants are also carrying yoga mats so clearly they are walking to or from yoga class, or they are jogging or power-walking with weights or with a dog, in other words: working out. The fact that this 'journalist' spent so much time thinking and strewing about this first world problem topic speaks volumes about her as a boring and shallow individual. I despise The Globe more and more with each vapid article.
Hey!
We aren't uptight Europeans in the U.S., who are shit scared strangers will think they're gypsy drug addicts if they dress down. Wealthy South Americans are the same way. Americans and Canadians on average dress more casually. Just the way we are. Why do you need to dress like you're going clubbing every day, even food shopping or hanging out?
With this post we are once again subjected to some significant
First World problems.
When will the Globe finally
When will the Globe finally drop the word "Boston" from their masthead? This article is exhibit eleventy bajillion in the case proving that they care far more about their subscribers in Metro West than they do about Boston.
Also, thank you Adam for providing a news source about the actual city.
Thank God for UHub
You would never see a story about suburban mom fashion posted here, that's for sure!
I think that the core UHub
I think that the core UHub audience DOES consider a link-baity article about the Globe catering to suburban doofuses newsworthy.
May I be the first to thank Adam for not
wearing leggings...in public.
It's the least I can do
Heck, I don't even wear shorts while doing yard work.
Equally—You'd Never See A Story Telling Urban Moms What To Wear!
This isn't a black or white
This isn't a black or white issue. There's certainly an argument to be made that casual wear in public has gone too far.
Lol
People have been saying the same thing for 100s of years
There's still valid arguments
There's still valid arguments on each side. It doesn't mean that one trend has to continue.
I remember seeing this on Downtown Abbey
They were all, "Can you believe men are wearing tuxedos to dinner instead of tailcoats? It's the end of civilization, I tell you."
I still don't see what's so downtown about that show. I wore my nicest velour tracksuit and my fancy Chucks (the clean ones) to my granny's funeral, and no one gave a toss. Comfort FTW!