There was a time when I would have read anything about Katie Price and lapped it up with a sort of fiendish delight, before launching into a tirade about what a terrible human being she is and how she has set the cause of feminism back two hundred years to the pre-Wollstonecraft days when, you know, we were all dying in childbirth and our status within marriage was, to quote John Stuart Mill, little better than that of slaves.
So it was with a degree of surprise that I read the latest news from the land of The Artist Formerly Known as Jordan with something approaching complete and utter disinterest.
I mean apparently she, like, PIERCED HER BABY’S EARS! And this must be true because I read it on Twitter, peeps.
There she was, sitting at a table on Loose Women or similar daytime TV programme I never have the liberty of watching, face all contorted in the increasingly bizarre style of one who has been somewhat liberal with the scalpels of Harley Street, pontificating about something or other, probably her latest collection of ghostwritten memoirs documenting the last three months and titled I Had To Go On Loose Women And Plug My New Collection of Children’s Jodphurs Because I Haven’t Been In Heat Magazine For A Few Weeks and People Are Starting To Forget Who I Am, and apparently being called upon to defend her decision to pierce her daughter’s ears.
The daughter is a quarter Spanish apparently, so it’s a cultural thing.
I sat and thought about this for a minute.
Not the fact that apparently being a quarter Spanish is a reason to pierce one’s ears now, which might explain why, with me being a quarter Welsh, my parents took me to the Valleys at the age of eighteen months to surgically attach my head to one of those big daffodil hats,* but the fact that she was piercing the ears of a toddler and calling it “cute.”
What was my opinion on this? I wondered. Was I full of moral outrage at Katie Price and her wanton ear piercing? Was this the slippery slope for poor Katie’s daughter that would lead inevitably to a boob job at four, and Botox at six?
In the past, I had definitely cared about these things. I had been outraged when people pierced their children’s ears, calling it child abuse, and wondering why they couldn’t be decent human beings who reflected my own choices back at me. I was twelve before I was allowed to get mine pierced goddamit, and how dare they allow their children liberties that I was denied?
And cute? Cute? I don’t think it looks very cute. It’s not to my taste, so how dare you attire your child differently to mine! Wanting to make it clear to everyone that your child is female? Well, why don’t I get one of my son’s ears pierced, in the traditionally accepted more masculine style, and get one of those patterns shaved into the back of his hair in the shape of words declaring to passers-by “I’m a boy!”
However, all I could feel today, sat there in front of Twitter and Katie Price’s Botoxed face, was complete and utter disinterest. I literally could not care less about whether or not she pierced her daughter’s ears. I wouldn’t do it myself. I don’t think it’s cute, but neither is it any of my business.**
I must admit, she did have a point when she said (as she apparently did, from what I’ve read on Twitter. Never let it be said that I don’t rigorously check all my sources and use only trusted pieces of information, gleaned from weeks of meticulous research) that Gisele didn’t get any flak for piercing her children’s ears. Now admittedly, I have no idea whether Gisele has indeed pierced her children’s ears, let alone whether anyone bothered criticising her for it, but I have heard from trustworthy news sources such as Mail Online that Gisele is regularly seen “clean eating,” talking about how great her births were, and practising yoga on the beach, all of which are arguably just as offensive, and no, she doesn’t get the flak that Katie does, even though she too, in her own slightly less irritating (although that is a matter of opinion) way has lived her life on camera, albeit the soft-focus lens of overblown perfume adverts, rather than the relentless glare of the gutter press.
So why do we all love to hate Katie, and criticise all her parenting choices, no matter how normal they are? Is it because she is genuinely the fore-horsewoman of the apocalypse***, or is it because we love to tear other women down for making choices that are different to ours?
I am no Katie Price in my parenting choices, nor am I a fan of hers, but on this occasion, can I really be bothered to criticise her?
*They didn’t.
**That said, it also isn’t any of my business that she once stuck a vodka bottle up Alex Reid’s posterior, but unfortunately my senses were still assailed with this information all over the internets. CHEERS KATIE.
***I wouldn’t put it past her, especially with her equestrian interests.
This year i made friends with a lovely Colombian lady. She had her second baby in the summer and was upset that she had to wait a whole six weeks before piercing her new daughters ears. In Columbia, apparently, it is not uncommon to do it after birth. Pretty much cut the cord, pierce the ears, boom. I live and learn…. And learn not to be Mrs judgey pants (or like you Mrs Carey pants).
I heard that in Brazil it’s the same-they actually do it in the hospital right after birth, but I think it’s illegal to get it done anywhere else. Different strokes!
I don’t understand why anyone would bother, lifes hard enough witha toddler without having to wrestle them to the ground to swab their ears and stop them from eating their own accessories #BloggerClubUK
TRUE! I have wondered about the eating thing, not to mention the pulling them out thing. Each to their own!
I actually can’t help but like Katie, at least she is honest and doesn’t pretend to be anything else. The ear piercing must be a South American thing, I lady I know through work, had hers done before she was a month old- she is from Venezuela xx
I think it’s popular in quite a few cultures. Yes I guess you’re right about Katie being honest-a little too honest sometimes!
For me, it’s a no-no and yet for others? Each to their own!! #coolmumclub
It’s a no-no for me too, but I’m surprised at how magnanimous I feel towards La Price.
I dont really have a strong opinion of it either way although its abit mean ridiculing people in the media.
My ears were pierced when i was a baby …i have no memory of it. I dont mind that it was done.
If i had a daughter would i pierce her ears as a small child? Probably not. I’d let her decide when she was older…then you could argue at what age is appropriate? School age? Healing…PE?
Yes you could definitely argue over which age is appropriate. I would say for me personally it would be when I felt the child was able to give informed consent.
Seriously, I mean who CARES anyway what she does. What has the world come to? But honestly, if my girl wants it fab – it not – fab. We are too nit picky with each other’s decisions including ear piercing!! Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub lovely x
Thank you for hosting and commenting! xx
I am so with you on this. I don’t care!! Its not something I would do either but its her decision so its up to her. I wouldn’t get the botox or the ‘enhancements’ either :). Thank you for joining us at #BloggerClubUK hope to see you again next week x
Haha me neither. I read somewhere that Botox is the most poisonous substance known to exist. That’s all the information I need to know to make my decision about THAT thanks! Thank you for commenting. x
I had my ears pierced at 18 months old, and nobody ever thought bad of my parents for it. I don’t resent my mum for making that decision, I don’t feel anything but glad I can go without earrings for ages and still get some studs back in whenever I fancy it! Whilst I think decisions like that should be from the individual. It is well within someone’s rights to do whatever they wish, and if they want their child’s ears pierced, then so be it! xx
Yes-I wouldn’t do it personally but ultimately it’s their choice. x
Thanks for your tirade on this! I agree. i cannot stand little baby girls in earrings or bald baby heads with giant, chandelier sized bows. I persoanlly wasn’t allowed to get my ears pierced until 18–like voting. Thta’s a bit much too. There must be some healthy balace somewhere?
I enjoyed the read!
Haha, I thought it was just me who hated those bows!
I can’t do it to my Evelyn – or even to Ethan. I fear their pain. I just couldn’t. But its not my place to judge others. There are a lot of parents who piece their babies’ ears in Thailand – I just don’t understand what the big deal when celebs does it. Great read. Thank you for linking up with us Min. #FabFridayPost
Just another excuse for everyone to make themselves feel better by judging others I think. Thanks for commenting!
I am now a little sickened over the Alex Reid thing that I managed to avoid until now …. barf! The ear piercing thing, it doesn’t bother me, it’s not my daughter or my ears so it is not my problem! Though I have become more relaxed about the idea of this from living in Dubai because it is such a cultural thing to do. I’ve learned to take off my judge pants!
Oh no, sorry! It’s one of those things that unfortunately you just can’t unhear!