minoanmiss: Minoan men carrying offerings in a procession (Offering Bearers)
minoanmiss ([personal profile] minoanmiss) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2021-08-05 05:24 pm

Dear Prudence: Help! My Son’s Wife Is Getting Bigger and Butcher Than a Woman Should.

I’m afraid she’s going to emasculate him, looking like this.





I’m very concerned about my daughter-in-law and how she is affecting my son. They have been together for a long time, nearly 15 years. She was his first serious girlfriend and he was a late-bloomer, so we were relieved he found someone. We normally get on quite well; she is polite and does seem to care about my son, although she can be rather loud and bossy whereas he is quieter. In the beginning she was much more feminine and slimmer. Over the years she has gone up at least one or two dress sizes. I’ve tried talking about the health issues of other large family members as a hint that weight gain is a dangerous path, but she seems unconcerned and says “she just loves food.”
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However, now there’s a new problem: She increasingly dresses in a manly way. Which would be fine if she was gay, but she is my son’s wife! She has cut her hair short and always wears full shirts (not blouses) and chinos; she’s also got tattoos down her arms. I fear she is going to make life difficult for herself at work. I also worry she is emasculating my son. He is a sweet person who probably doesn’t want to say anything to hurt her feelings, but he can’t be happy about having a wife who looks so butch. I need a way to tell her that she has a responsibility to keep her appearance in a way that flatters herself and her husband. My husband thinks we should just leave it alone, but she has no parents of her own, so I feel I’m the only one who can give her advice.

— Worried About My Son


Dear Worried,

I don’t know if this question is made up or if it was written in 1970 and somehow got delayed on its way to my inbox. But it is such a non-problem that it made me laugh, and provided a nice break from thinking about serious issues, so I’ll answer it to show my gratitude.

I’ll keep this simple with five short points:

- Gaining weight is not a bad thing.

- Dressing in a more masculine way is not a bad thing.

- Even if the aforementioned issues were bad things, they wouldn’t be your business. She’s your son’s wife, not yours.

- Please, if you want to keep a relationship with your son, who I’m sure you love, never share these thoughts again.

- Find someone who actually needs help with something like paying rent or feeding their children and redirect your abundant extra mental energy to them.
cereta: Barbara Gordon, facepalming (babsoy)

[personal profile] cereta 2021-08-05 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't even know where to start with this. There is so much wrong, I almost suspect trolling. Like, every single thing LW says is just...wrong. And what strikes me the most is...why would you write this to Prudie?
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)

[personal profile] redbird 2021-08-05 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe this is one of the people who sent the same letter to every advice column she could find.
korafox: wheat field with cypresses (Default)

[personal profile] korafox 2021-08-06 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Don't know if trolling, do know that I'm going to be the only female-presenting person under 60 with hair shorter than shoulder-length at the wedding we have to go to this weekend. (The femininity, it is *strong* with the ladies of the in-law extended family.)

I could totally believe this perspective coming from some of the aunties-in-law, though no one's ever said anything to me. It was only at the point where the LW mentioned tattoos that I was 100% certain I was not being written about here. :/

Why yes, I'm packing my rainbow socks and floppy shirt for tomorrow, and wearing pants to the wedding itself. They can do them but imma do me. \o/
bikergeek: cartoon bald guy with a half-smile (Default)

[personal profile] bikergeek 2021-08-07 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I for one hope you have a great time!
korafox: wheat field with cypresses (Default)

[personal profile] korafox 2021-08-08 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Well, we survived anyways. XD
lilysea: Serious (Default)

[personal profile] lilysea 2021-08-06 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
I can ABSOLUTELY see this not being a troll if it's from someone in Evangelical Christian or Southern Baptist circles...
jamoche: Prisoner's pennyfarthing bicycle: I am NaN (Default)

[personal profile] jamoche 2021-08-05 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It's days like this that I really miss The Bad Advisor's finely crafted snark.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2021-08-07 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Dear Worried,

I agree! This is extremely alarming to see in a woman in *checks calendar* 2021, and you should take steps immediately to make sure that your precious son does not become the lesbian that his wife clearly would like to date.
To demonstrate the problems with your daughter-in-law's body and fashion choices, how better to show her that it's staggeringly unattractive in a woman than by holding a mirror up to her choices? It may take some sacrifice, but I believe that you too could gain two dress sizes with careful attention to your exercise and diet. (There's no better way to gain size than to gain muscle, after all, and visible muscle is extremely un-feminine.) Pick out some nice tattoos that reflect your personal values and flaunt them in your new button-up shirts and chinos! Find a barber (not a hairstylist) that has good reviews from your local lesbian community and get the chop! Hair grows back, after all, and nothing should be too much to sacrifice to protect your son! With all that done, she should finally see what a spectacle she is making of herself, and quit emasculating your poor late-bloomer son.
If that doesn't work, comfort yourself with the fact that your son still is heterosexual, and not gay as you feared when he didn't get a girlfriend for so long.

With many hugs and kisses from
Are You Fucking Kidding Me
neotoma: Elrond (cool blue ocean) (Elrond (cool blue ocean))

[personal profile] neotoma 2021-08-05 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
... wow, what a peach of a mother-in-law. Did she fall out a time-warp from the 50s?
kindkit: A late-Victorian futuristic zeppelin. (Airship)

[personal profile] kindkit 2021-08-05 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Obviously most of this advice is spot-on, but the last point gave me pause. If LW can manage to limit their help to financial assistance, great! But I doubt they would, and I cringe imagining how much "advice" and "help" they would inflict on someone who was financially dependent on them.
jadelennox: Love and Rockets' Maggie looking fat and happy  (fatpol: maggie)

[personal profile] jadelennox 2021-08-06 02:01 am (UTC)(link)

This letter should not have given me joy but it did. I want to know more about DIL's tats. They sound hot, tbh.

Edited 2021-08-06 02:01 (UTC)
likeaduck: Cristina from Grey's Anatomy runs towards the hospital as dawn breaks, carrying her motorcycle helmet. (Default)

[personal profile] likeaduck 2021-08-06 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
Saaaame.
conuly: (Default)

[personal profile] conuly 2021-08-06 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
What did I just read.
lavendertook: Cessy and Kimba (Default)

[personal profile] lavendertook 2021-08-06 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
Dear Prudence,

I guess I finally went too far. I ate a cheesecake yesterday and buzzcut my hair, and wouldn’t you know it, but my husband called to say his testicles fell off. How can we fix this (pun not intended)?

We could try superglue, but it would be too easy to get it on our fingers and then be embarrassingly attached. Neither of us know how to sew. Do you have any other suggestions on how to reball him?

--Big, Butch, and Ba(w)ling
purlewe: (Default)

[personal profile] purlewe 2021-08-06 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
BEST RESPONSE
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2021-08-07 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
:D
ashbet: (Snark)

[personal profile] ashbet 2021-08-06 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
I did enjoy the response, and I feel sorry for anyone who has to be related, by marriage or otherwise, to the LW!!
feldman: (bruce is bummed you're dumb)

[personal profile] feldman 2021-08-06 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"How can I turn my daughter in law back into the heterosexual validation accessory that my son so desperately needs in my eyes?"