Agree, Jennifer Aniston: We Decide What Makes Us Complete, Happy, Successful

Jennifer Aniston grabbed the spotlight and lit up social media following the publication of a galvanizing opinion piece in Huffington Post.

In 913 words she accomplished what many women (yours truly among them) have spent years trying to do: bring attention to society’s perverse and pervasive tendency to portray women who are not mothers as lacking. She was helped along in her cause by a political misstep across the pond — more on that in a minute.

First, Jennifer Aniston called out everyone who contributes to the devaluing and marginalizing of women who do not fit a one-dimensional “ideal.” Her HuffPost piece led to many ‘attagirls’ for highlighting the unhealthy body shaming of women who are not supermodel perfect.

Like others, I applaud her tough talk on the harms of focusing on physical appearance. But, I also want to amplify the second part of her message — the one about society’s twisted obsession with “baby bumps” and its unhealthy idolatry of “moms.”

Take it away, Jennifer:

“This past month in particular has illuminated for me how much we define a woman’s value based on her marital and maternal status. The sheer amount of resources being spent right now by press trying to simply uncover whether or not I am pregnant (for…