ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes mommy blogs, identifying multiple themes by which bloggers rescript our culture’s conversation about women’s postpartum scars—a conversation which has traditionally framed such scars as unacceptable and unattractive. It explores how mommy bloggers challenge the invisibility of their postpartum scars and, by extension, rescript beauty norms through discussions of body image. Mommy blogs reflecting this theme challenged the invisibility of scars produced by childbirth by arguing that covering the postpartum body minimizes the importance of the woman’s experiences as a mother. Mommy bloggers of various stripes are making their voices heard and challenging the invisibility of postpartum scars. The scars, diastasis recti, and sagging skin represent a monumental achievement in the woman’s life. Desiree frames women’s postpartum scars as a sign of spiritual beauty, a potentially holy act, rather than something to hide for the sake of convention or religious modesty.
