Why do you think this magazine had a page like this?

Question

So I was at this woman's center taking my mom for something and I was reading some of the women's magazines and there was this article of some lady who was interviewed....her father and her friend both had heart problems and it runs in her family so she is working to stop herself from ever getting one. Anyway...On the next page was a page filled picture of...who I think is her...maybe it wasn't..My memory is fuzzy, I was there waiting for 4 hours and was really browsing. Anyway I remember the message that was placed on that page and the message said something like:

"Women do not take proper care of themselves. Women take care of their kids, their husbands, and their parents, but they never take care of themselves."

What do you think that caption means, in your own opinion? Is it stereotypical? Does it hold some truth? Again, what do you think :).

Answer 1

It's one of humanity's most redeeming qualities, that putting the needs of others before ourselves.  I just loooove getting to witness that in the course of my life.  You know those war movies where some GI hauls a wounded buddy all the way to a hospital, stands by like a palladin to make sure the buddy gets treatment and then, after he knows his buddy is ok, he collapses himself with a far greater wound.  OMG.  That is so beautiful.  That quality is not gender specific.  In hospice, just as many men set aside their own health needs as did women as they lovingly cared for their dying spouses.  I want to write a book someday about those caregivers.  You should hear all the tender stories I have about them.   As a nurse, I learned that although this most honorable and redeeming human quality is non-gender specific, our acculturations lead us to a system in which women assume more of the care-giving roles in society.  It IS like trying to pull chicken teeth to get ANY caregiver to remember to take care of himself or herself TOO, and women are more vulnerable to self-neglect in this manner simply due to the assumption of those roles.

Answer 2

Yes, that statement is very much true. I’ve watch many women, including my mother make sure everyone had plenty to eat, cuts/scrapes/bruises where healed, bills are paid, homework is done, and egos are stroked, but they never put themselves as first on the list of things to do. I will admit, I have ran into a few selfish women, who make sure they have what they need (And then some) prior to everyone else in the family. But for the most part, most of the women I know don’t even take time out from their busy schedueles for a pedicure, a glass of wine during a hot bubble bath, are even to schedule the annual women’s well’s check up that we all should receive every year.

My mother at times would run her self so ragged between football/softball/volleyball/PTA meetings that she would fall asleep in her cloths on the couch at the end of the day. And she would turn around after going to bed at about Midnight, and get back up at 0500 am to start the day all over again. Making sure we had a hot meal in the morning prior to getting on the bus for school, taking my dad to work, driving herself to work, picking us up from school, picking my dad up from work, taking us to practice, coming home, cooking a full course meal, cleaning up, and conking out on the couch at about 10 -11pm. The first time I can recall my mother going to the doctor for a check up (after having children\) was when I begged her to go when se was complaining about shortness of breath. It’s true; most women do put everyone else in the family before themselves. That’s why I make sure I let my mother know just how much she’s appreciated everyday that I talk to her.

Answer 3

I love your questions.  Anyway, I do think it's a stereotype, but I also think it's a somewhat true stereotype.  The fact is, the caretakers of the elderly and the sick and the young are, generally speaking, female.  Those women also work and/or have other family/financial obligations, so they don't have time to themselves.   A lot of products ("Calgon, take me away!" "Because I'm worth it") play on the whole notion of women neglecting themselves for the benefit of others, so this stereotype has been around for a while.  And I do think that it's relatively accurate.  (A male equivalent might be, "For all you do, this Bud's for you.").

Answer 4

Yes for a lot of women, my mother is like that. Her life revolved around making everyone else happy and she never took time to pamper herself or buy herself something ,it was always for the family. Even now she feels 'guilty' about doing or buying something just for her.

Answer 5

It is somewhat true because us women like to take care of our families more then ourselves.

Answer 6

That is so true.  Women tend to put their husband and children's needs ahead of their own.  They do not take the time to keep themselves as healthy as they could.  They worry and stress about all of the things that are going on in every one else's life.  They help their children with homework and playdates so that the child will do well at school.  They have dinner parties for their husband's boss or host business functions to help their husband be promoted at work.  They rarely take the time to relax in a long, scented bath or see the doctor about some "minor" ailment.  

It is time that women take care of themselves first so that they will have the health and happiness required to be able to care for others.

Answer 7

Women's World, perhaps? That isn't worth reading unless you intend to host multiple garden parties.

The caption suggests that women tend to be more concerned with helping others than they are with filling their own needs. While that's definitely true for some, you can hardly say that about all women.

EDIT: Oh, Woman's Day. Same thing, different typeface.

Answer 8

That is funny because of how much women spend on beauty products and cosmetic surgery. They should've made the magazine so a violin played when you turn to that page. There isn't much you can do about genetic conditions.