On Mommy Wine Culture
February 14, 2020
FROM “How Mommy Wine Culture Is Normalizing Alcoholism” by Jena Hilliard:
“‘MOMMY wine culture’ is a pop culture phenomenon that has emerged over the last decade with help from social media. The movement seemingly started in 2009 with the Facebook group ‘Moms Who Need Wine,’ which now has over 728,000 members. The group allows fellow moms to share funny memes, articles, and other content about how raising children requires a large amount of wine. In this context, wine isn’t something that just helps take the edge off, it’s the thing that allows mothers to stay sane. In Facebook groups and mommy blogs alike, moms are posting about the realness of motherhood; however, posts about feeding the kids Pop-Tarts for dinner rather than a three-course meal has transitioned into memes about downing a whole bottle of wine after putting the children to bed.
“In addition to social media groups, movies like Bad Moms and Bad Moms 2 reinforce the idea of mommy wine culture, portraying the modern mother as rebellious, carefree, and wine chugging – the opposite of Leave It to Beaver’s June Cleaver and The Brady Bunch’s Carol Brady. E-commerce sites like Etsy have also capitalized on mommy wine culture, offering hundreds of wine glasses for sale that bare sassy mom-themed messages such as “Mommy’s Sippy Cup,” “They Whine; I Wine,” and “My Kids Think This Is Coffee.” It doesn’t just stop with cups and glasses, there are also T-shirts, purses, baby onesies, and home decor that all tote mommy wine sayings.
“It may seem like harmless fun and solidarity amongst mothers – a palatable code for “motherhood is hard,” but what if mommy wine culture is ultimately doing more harm to mothers than good? On one hand, mommy wine culture has helped de-stigmatize the idea of having to be the perfect ‘superhero’ mom that does it all, but on the other, it’s normalizing unhealthy drinking behaviors. Mommy wine culture espouses the idea that parenting is stressful and exhausting, but drinking will help. Every meme and joke that is shared helps reinforce the idea that excessive drinking amongst moms is normal and harmless, leaving those who are truly struggling with alcohol abuse to believe that they don’t have a problem.”
This is only one aspect of a concerted and organized effort to push more alcohol on Americans. It’s everywhere now. The Soviet Union was full of drunks, and so is Marxist America. It’s all part of the systematic stoking of hedonism.
— Comments —
Janice writes:
Interesting post, Laura!
Although there have been alcoholic mothers – probably as long as there’s been alcohol – this new social media thing featuring the proud posting of one’s faults as if they were the stuff of comedy gold, if not virtue, is a new low. (I’d call it the Mommy Whine culture.) What about the children who may happen to see the postings of their mothers who write as if they can’t face a day with their kids without raiding the booze cabinet?I am an older woman (from the Boomer generation) and I personally know of at least a dozen women of my parents’ generation who were alcoholic moms. Yes, they too were in denial, and it was a tragedy, but they knew it; they were forced, if only by public opinion, to either hide it or confront it, but this mommy wine meme is a very effective way to keep denying it and worse, to glamorize it: treat it as comedic and witty.
Laura writes:
Exactly.
Feminism says everything women do is right. Whatever, it’s worth celebrating. G0 Grrrril!
