Inspiration Of Motherhood: Lauren Ferrari, Mom, Banned From Facebook Over Controversial Breastfeeding Photo
Women’s News: Leisel Jones, Australian Olympic Swimmer, Faces Weight Criticism From Aussie Media
Inspirational Woman Of The Day: Dr. Ellie Drake
Inspirational Woman Of The Day: Dr. Ellie Drake
Dr. Ellie Drake is the founder and visionary behind BraveHeartWomen.com, the fastest-growing, global online community for Entrepreneurial Women.
As a highly-magnetic speaker, doctor and successful entrepreneur, Ellie empowers women to take important steps toward achieving prosperity. At age 17, Ellie arrived in America as an immigrant from her native Iran where she recalls huddling in bomb shelters during the Iran-Iraq war. She held on to the inspiration that is the American dream and has since become living proof of its power.
Ellie followed her vision and became a millionaire in the home-based, health industry. Her time-tested techniques to removing the blocks to prosperity, particularly for women, have made her an admired and sought-after consultant and figure. That success led her to give back – especially to women who struggle with financial independence.
The annual BraveHeart global event, RISE, takes place this year on November 10-13, 2011 in Los Angeles, CA. BraveHeart outreach includes an online, active community with blogs and discussion boards, local Meet & Greet events, and an online television Network that provides 10-minute, inspirational videos regarding personal blossoming, professional success, and global collaboration. BraveHeart Women TV has hosted such esteemed guests as Maya Angelou, Kathy Ireland, Lisa Nichols, and Siedah Garrett.
Ellie currently resides in Ventura, CA with her husband Charlie and two sons. More information is available at BraveHeartWomen.com and BraveHeartWomenTV.com.
Company: BraveHeart Women
Website: braveheartwomentv.com
Recent Releases: It’s Easier Done Than Said
Women’s News: Leisel Jones, Australian Olympic Swimmer, Faces Weight Criticism From Aussie Media
The Huffington Post
By Emma Gray
Most women (and men) probably have trouble hearing criticism of their bodies, but elite female athletes — those competing at Olympic-qualifying level — are particularly exposed to public scrutiny and, as Houston’s KHOU News noted in a report today, one in five of them suffer from eating disorders.
Even so, on July 24th the Melbourne, Australia-based Herald Sun published photos of Leisel Jones, the 26-year-old Aussie swimmer and eight-time Olympic medalist, taken recently and in 2008, claiming that she doesn’t look as good as she once did.
The media outlet even published a photo caption stating: “The Olympic veteran’s figure is in stark contrast to that of 2008.” They also ran a poll asking readers whether Jones was “fit” enough to swim in the 2012 Olympics, Yahoo! Sports reported. Unsurprisingly, many haven’t taken too kindly to the focus on Jones’ physique — especially on the eve of the 2012 Summer Olympics Games in London. Public outcry prompted the Herald Sun to take down the poll soon after it was published.
Jones first competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney at the age of 15. She has earned Australia three gold, four silver and one bronze medal. Fellow Australian female Olympians were among the first to come to Jones’ defense:
Melanie Schlanger, Jones’ teammate on the Australian Olympic swim team:
I’m embarrassed by the Aussie media having a go at Leisel, one of Australia’s greatest Olympians. Support athletes don’t drag them down
Melanie Schlanger@Mel_Schlanger
Katherine Bates, former Olympic track and road cyclist:
My bad – I didn’t realise Leisel Jones earned her spot in London at a pageant. Here was I thinking she was a great swimmer!
Katherine Bates@KatherineLBates
Alice Tait, former Olympic swimmer:
Alice Tait@Alice_Tait
Giaan Rooney, also a retired Olympic swimmer:
…an athlete is called ‘overweight‘. I didn’t care about what my body looked like when I swam, I cared about what it could do. #perspective
Giaan Rooney@GiaanRooney
The backlash Thursday led to a conversation about whether the media should comment on athletes’ physiques at all. Jezebel’s Doug Barry had some harsh words for the Herald Sun:
Jones has a whole pile of medals … to prove that she doesn’t need the Herald Sun’s permission to wear a bathing suit, so maybe the sports editors over there should keep all their grubby little opinions about her weight to themselves.
Yet this sort of intense body scrutiny is a fact of life for many women in the public eye, especially models and actresses. While some would argue that celebrities sign upfor this, or that it’s these women’s responsibility to ignore the criticism, actress Ashley Judd feels differently. She hit back at the media coverage of her supposedly “puffy face” back in April in an op-ed. “We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification,” Judd wrote in the Daily Beast.
Regardless of whether Jones’ body has changed since 2008 (as bodies often do between the ages of 22 and 26), she earned a spot on the 2012 Olympic team. Do you think that the media has a right to comment on her physique?
A Message From The Creator
If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.
Lord Chesterfield
Inspiration Of Motherhood: Lauren Ferrari, Mom, Banned From Facebook Over Controversial Breastfeeding Photo
Hey Everyone, I would love to know thoughts about this story. Thanks, Kim
Seattle mom Lauren Ferrari posted a photo on Facebook of her 5-year-old pretending to nurse her 2-year-old. Within 24 hours, Facebook took the picture down “claiming Ferrari violated the site’s policies,” KOMONews reports. She was also banned from the social network for seven days.
“When I posted it, I said, ‘She says she’s nursing her baby’ … She didn’t say, ‘Mommy look, she’s kissing my boobie,'” Ferrari told the news station. She didn’t think the photo was inappropriate.
But Facebook — and the police — disagreed. Stefanie Thomas of the Seattle Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children told KOMONews that Ferrari’s decision to post the photo was “poor parenting” because it’s impossible to control where that photo might end up. “That’s something that this family, that these girls, are going to have to ultimately deal with,” Thomas said.
For the full story, click over to KOMONews.
Facebook didn’t comment on their policy, but it wasn’t the first time the site has deleted photos of young girls pretending to breastfeed. In January, they removed the page “Express Yourself Mums” because of a few photos of girls “nursing” their dolls. Later, Facebook apologized for their “error” and reinstated the page.
Beyond questions of privacy and what is appropriate to post online, Ferrari also waded (perhaps unintentionally) into debates over how our society views breastfeeding. Last summer, parents and experts asked specific questions about whether young girls should be allowed to play at nursing at all after a European-produced “Breast Milk Baby” came to the U.S. Many critics were outraged claiming the doll — which encourages kids to practice nursing — sexualizes children. HuffPost blogger Tessa Blake saw it differently, arguing that it is natural for girls to mimic their moms. “My daughter has been lifting up her shirt and ‘nursing’ her babies for years. Are you suggesting this is shameful? What if she feeds her doll with a bottle? Is she not being a kid then, or is it just the breast that’s the problem?” Blake asked.
As Lisa Belkin pointed out in her blog post titled “It’s Not Porn, People, It’s Food,” any time breastfeeding is in the spotlight, the conversation gains traction because people are talking about boobs. Similarly, “lactivists” who staged a nurse-in at Facebook’s headquarters earlier this year when the social network pulled down actual photos of a mother nursing sought to make clear that breastfeeding is not obscene.
Ferrari clearly agrees: “It’s not sexual and they were just pretending,” she said of her photo. “What’s obscene about breastfeeding?”
LadyRomp 