Dove’s ‘Young Moms’ campaign featuring trans woman faces absurd criticism
An advert created by Dove celebrating “young moms” that feature a transgender mother has faced unprecedented and outright disgusting criticism.
The beautiful ad for the #RealMoms campaign has a diverse cast of different mothers including Shea, a trans mother who is raising a child with her female partner.
Both Shea and her partner are the biological parents of their newborn son.
“We are both his biological parents,” Shea explained. “You get people who are like, ‘What do you mean, you’re the mum?’
“We’re like, “Yep, we’re both going to be mums.” The grad student, adds while playing with her baby that “there’s no one right way to do it all.”
The touching advert was received well for the most part, but a number of people have expressed hostility to the ad. Some people have accused Dove of “silencing” Shea’s partner.
“Note that the actual mother doesn’t get to speak,” wrote one commenter. “The ‘trans mom’ does all the talking for her and we never learn how the mother feels about the situation.”
Mark Dice, a right-wing media critic attacked Shea calling her the baby’s “biological father who identifies as mother”.
“You’re not a mom, I’m sorry,” Dice said in a video on YouTube.
“I’m sorry liberals, but if someone is a biological male and their sperm fertilizes the egg of a human female and the human female gives birth, you are not the mom, but the father, even if you believe—and you identify—as a woman.”
Thankfully, Dice’s video has since been demonetised by Facebook meaning he will not benefit with any revenue from the transphobic comments.
He has also reportedly been suspended from Facebook after sharing discriminatory thoughts on the video.
The Dove ad joins a host of other companies releasing LGBT positive campaigns including Vicks, the vapour rub company, who told the story of trans mother Gauri Sawant, who adopted her daughter Gayatri 10 years ago.
Supermarket Sainsbury’s have included gay couples in two consecutive Christmas ads, with a spokesperson explaining that the supermarket chain wanted to “reflect a modern Britain and a diverse Britain.”
