NYTimes has a major profile on her. She had a baby two weeks before competing in the Mrs World competition. Lots of photos - she looked great.

Eight kids, She's 33 years old, lives in Utah. I bet she's going to be the poster-mother for Mormon families.

It's a long article. I haven't read it, because I don't want to take that much time. Here's the URL that is paywalled for most of y'all. Sorry 'bout that. If you google her name you can probably find a public article. The Mormon fantasy of the Perfect Wife.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/style/ballerina-farm-mrs-world-hannah-neeleman.html

She's certainly beautiful. My first thought was that nowadays, women need to be careful about having large families. If your spouse dies or is unemployed or disabled, that could put the family in jeopardy. But she is a hugely successful influencer and entrepreneur. Plus her husband is from a wealthy family. No one is going to starve. Hopefully young women will realize that what works for her would likely not work for many others.

The article says that her dad is dying of cancer. If my father were dying, traipsing around as Mrs. World is not how I would want to spend my time, but to each her own.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2024 07:35PM by summer.

I think the pageant is cashing in on anti-woke sentiment.

Pageants don't appeal to a lot of people nowadays. To me they seem like Westminster Kennel Club Dog Shows of women to see who best meets the breed requirements.

Here is a bit of a critique of Sis. Neeleman:

https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-edenic-allure-of-ballerinafarm#:~:text=Before%20I%20knew%20anything%20about,And%20it%20moved%20me.


I didn't have to read this to not be impressed with her, but this certainly helped!

It's written by (probably) an Exmo female who did not appreciate what happened regarding the sexes when her cohort turned 12.

I think you need a spoonful of cadliver oil, Jesus.

cadaver oil ?

when you boil down a cadaver, particularly one with some meat on the bones.

All I will add is that EOD's favorite dishes all contain cadviar.

Childbirth was not as easy for everyone.

Children are not cheap. Childcare is not cheap. Health issues can bankrupt the average person. Giving even one hour a day of quality individual attention to your child becomes impossible when you have that many children.

It's a choice some make, but it's not for everyone.

If the church uses her as an example, it will only add to the feeling of failure many women might feel when they learn they can't have it all like they are shown at church and on social media. Maybe that is the intent. It was bad enough on Mother's Day at church.

My mom grew up in a family of eight children. While the children were loved and well-cared for, I got the feeling that they were often left to their own devices. My mom dropped out of high school and left home to seek work because she felt that she was just "one more mouth to feed." Hannah Neeleman's experience is not every mother's experience.

The blog that EOD links above makes the argument that there isn't any way that the economics of running Ballerina Farm could possibly work, absent Hannah's influencing, merchandise sales, and possibly injections of money from her husband's family. The lifestyle looks pretty, but it's not a realistic one, and not representative of farm life.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2024 07:43AM by summer.

My mom also came from a huge family. My mom was the oldest. All the kids seemed to compete for any time or attention. The oldest ones were expected to take care of younger ones as soon as possible, then leave and feed themselves as soon as possible. Grandma had another baby after my mom had my oldest sister.

I was one of a zillion grandchildren to my grandmother. I had very little interaction with her.

Now as a grandparent myself, I try to remember to be in the moment when I am with my grandchildren. I spoil them rotten. I don't have endless ATP to chase them around nonstop. I can't imagine having more. It's exhausting. I think most people are better suited than me for being around a bunch of kids all the time.

Kudos to her if that is what she wants. She's lucky she can afford her lifestyle.

She could afford 80 kids. And if you don't think she has numerous nannies, maids, cooks, etc. you're wrong. Her Father in law is mormon royalty and looooaaaaaded. He's a smart guy. Left Southwest airlines and then developed a better reservation and ticketing system and made a killing selling it to SWA. Started Morris Air, West Jet, Jet Blue, and now, Breeze. She's probably spent more on cosmetic surgery than her doctor makes in a year.
Her "family farm", like her pageants are hobbies and distractions. She should not be held up as an example of anything except for marrying into wealth.

The whole farming shtick makes a mockery of real farmers.

Mockery of the authentic is rife in Mormonism. To a lesser extent, you see it with lifelong suburbanites who buy land in the country and “become farmers” in retirement.

You simply can’t buy your way into authenticity.

Ann Romney might have been a better choice.

Dagny said: "To me they seem like Westminster Kennel Club Dog Shows of women to see who best meets the breed requirements."

Perfect statement!

These women portray themselves as "can all, do all", but IMO, underneath it all, is someone ready to have a breakdown.

Behind her stands the proud husband with a smirk on his face.

I dunno....to me, all of them are poster children for the word: Narcissist, including their lovin' hubbies.

My mom came from a Mormon family of 12 kids, 2 died in infancy, still a common occurrence in early 20th century. Of the 10 that made it to adulthood, I think 2 had 5 children, 1 had 4 kids, the rest had 2 or 3 kids. Doesn’t look like they were that thrilled with the whole large family thing.

ETA: Now that I mull it over, I think there was only one family of my parents’ generation that had 5 kids.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2024 03:14PM by Brother Of Jerry.

It's only a matter of time before they find the furnished "safe room" in the basement.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2024 05:22PM by Lot's Wife.

???

Bunker, buster!

Playhouse away from the playhouse.

Alternate reality.

"(Stocked) Safe zone".

https://www.oppidum.ch/en

"We are an engineering, technology and development company specializing in ultra-luxury fortified underground residences. We create spaces that are totally secure and utterly discreet yet sumptuously appointed and entirely bespoke – all underground, within your own domain. You can be sure that you, your family and your most treasured possessions have a place of safety and comfort close at hand for as long as you need, whatever happens in the world outside. "

Hopefully she won't go all Ruby Franke. That's the danger when people invite the public to view their seemingly perfect lifestyle. If anything goes wrong like the husband/wife has an affair, the children misbehave or mommy has a nervous breakdown from trying to appear perfect, the public can watch and judge. No thanks.

That's what I was getting at just above.

################

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/04/sometimes-i-long-for-the-life-of-a-tradwife-then-i-remember-its-a-reactionary-fantasy


I’ve been dipping pruriently into a kerfuffle that kicked off in the ruddy-cheeked and sourdough-scented world of the tradwife lifestyle influencer recently. Its brightest star, Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, has just prepared for and then competed in a beauty pageant, two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child.

Even some fans of this corner of social media – where stay-at-home mothers document their lives as helpmeets to strong, outdoorsy gents, exalting labour-intensive domestic chores, child-rearing and churning your own butter – have found this a touch, well, much. At odds with Neeleman’s shots of folksy simplicity; a harmful and unrealistic example for other new mothers, that kind of thing. But most think it’s “so inspiring!”


It’s less the campy, colour-saturated, submissive 50s-housewife cosplay (if you aren’t familiar, check out @esteecwilliams and prepare to hear that “God designed two genders for different purposes”). That feels like fantasy or fetish, designed, I suspect, to appeal mainly to men. (Some of the women who yearn to surrender to a male provider could be, as one astute TikToker put it, “mistaking wanting to be a trad wife with wanting universal basic income.”)


"They make it look so lovely, this 19th-century drudgery. The reality of homesteading is precarious and not pretty: drought, mud, animals getting sick and dying, what one homesteader told me is “the daily game of what the hell is under my nails – shit or blood?” You can know tradwife life is fantasy – a Little House on the Prairie performance piece (after all, social-media content, not cattle, often pays the bills) – and still enjoy it. But the gorgeous aesthetics can also lull you into not noticing, what – apart from sourdough starter kit – it’s selling.

"At the extreme margins, that’s white supremacy: a fringe of tradwives enthusiastically repopulating the world with blond babies. Others sit along what’s been called the “crunchy to alt-right pipeline”, where granola-fuelled enthusiasm for organic farming, fermentation or home schooling (none of which – obviously! – is inherently alt-right) elides into anti-vaxxing, decrying contraception and woke liberal modernity.

"But even when it’s just a homesteader saying feminism makes them sad or suggesting scrubbing dishes glorifies God, it tends to celebrate a narrow vision of life: white, straight, Christian, cleaving to traditional gender roles and family structures. As a friend said: “I’ll get fascinated by a woman baking bread, then she starts talking about how feminism ruined women’s lives.” Influencers with “faith and family” in their profiles are gonna influence.

################



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2024 06:36PM by anybody.

Feminism gave women choices. I remember learning about a study in my teacher prep program, where it was found that children flourished with a mom who was doing what she wanted to do (whether it was working or being a SAHM.) Women have access to a lot of jobs and careers now to which they previously were denied. It does no one any good to keep women down. We are smart and capable, and can get our own lives figured out without the interference of others.

1x10^10

Bow your head and say "Yes".

IDK how 'showy' Ms. Neeleman is, and I don't care; however I know that Ann Romney has MS, same as my DD.

MS. is a challenge, to some extent bc she's married to Mittens, who voted to convict Don Trump from a very conservative state, that likely could add to stress.

I would have chosen Ann Romney if I had the choice.

Just so we're clear: her porn shoulders are showing!

Well I guess that means her picture can't be in a library.

Being an influencer will be a “career” that will be looked down upon in the future as one of the relics of our era of superficial values.

It will never enjoy the timeless respect that a craftsman, a teacher, a police officer, or a member of the military enjoys.

I wish I could agree with you. The traditionally female-dominated professions are in fact not very well respected in our culture. The conservative media continuously rips down teachers, teachers' unions, and the public schools. Many parents treat teachers horribly. Nurses are also often treated horribly by both patients and their families, and sometimes physicians as well.

Our culture respects private enterprise, money, power, and influence. Unfortunately influencers can have strength in all of those areas.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wish I could agree with you. The traditionally
> female-dominated professions are in fact not very
> well respected in our culture. The conservative
> media continuously rips down teachers, teachers'
> unions, and the public schools. Many parents treat
> teachers horribly. Nurses are also often treated
> horribly by both patients and their families, and
> sometimes physicians as well.

It depends on the teacher or nurse. I have frequently heard people praising decent teachers and nurses, as well as pulling down the bad ones. (Since both exist.)

Thirty years ago, I was visiting a relative on a cancer ward. I've got only the highest praise for the nurses who looked after her before she died. They went out of their way to be kind to her, and me as well. I wish I could say the same about the insensitive male chaplain who asked her how long she had left, or the male doctors who misdiagnosed her twice and tried to gaslight her about her symptoms which delayed her treatment.

Competency in our profession is on a bell curve as with any other worker or professional. Most teachers fall somewhere in the middle, acceptable range. There are a few outstanding teachers, and a few "bad apples." But most are competent enough to get the job done.

Our media likes to ignore this fact, and focus on the few teachers who don't cut it.

"Our culture respects private enterprise, money, power, and influence. "

I would not disagree, but . . .

If I were to say this I would have to change it to--"Our media respects (makes advertising dollars off) private enterprise, money, power, and influence." I would add fame and looks. These sell. Kindness and appreciation are only quick cute items at the close of the news report on a slow day.

I know more people than not who respect nurses and teachers. (Well not the parents of students who want to blame the teachers for every thing, but the rest of us do mostly.) But nurses and teachers who do the heavy lifting are considered supporting players and never get the big prize like the big splashy news darlings do.

Neeleman will soon be co-opted by the church for the church's benefit. With Mrs. American being Mormon and shit, the church will use her to somehow prove the church is "true". I mean, they do this all the time.

I doubt it.

She's as crazy as the life coach who was locking up and starving her kids. The odds that she'll blow up like other Mormon or pseudo-Mormon influencers are very high.

But even if that were not the case, I do not think the church wants to publicize the fact that some of its members are still having unsustainably large families, concealing the physical toll with lots of plastic surgery, and prancing around with bare shoulders and short shorts.

This isn't the sort of person the church wants front and center.

https://www.newscenter1.tv/news/mrs-american-2023-hannah-neeleman-south-dakota-juilliard-school-ballerina-farm-mrs-world-pageant/article_1d496b58-490b-11ee-bb71-e7b1bc83c314.html

What a horrible photo!

Her tiara is crooked, bad look.

And might take some advice from SZA:

“I’m not an attractive cryer, have a good evening.”

Speaking of her, I was just now listening to SZA and Maroon 5's What Lovers Do. She couldn't be unattractive if she tried.

You’re right :)

I don't pay any attention to "influencers", so I had no idea who this was until I looked her up.

But the last name reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhX5YcPoLhM

You should look into Ms. Neeleman. She strikes me as just your sort of girl.

;-)

You have an amazing memory

Still not clear on the difference between Mrs. America and Mrs. AmericaN