The more I read about Kate Gosselin, the more perfectly she fits the shifting paradigm of “American Mom.”

Kate’s domineering control over her husband and her children are a symptom of how we as a society are adopting new gender roles. Gone are the days when women stayed home to raise the children, tend to the wash and play dutiful wife to their bread-winning husband. Now, not only do women “want it all” but they want it on their terms, and as they dictate.

While certainly many see Kate as a raging bitch with perpetual PMS, others see her as their champion, a heroine of new the feminist movement. Not only does she keep her brood in line, but she can reduce her husband to the most molecular level of diminished manhood with a simple withering glance, and a sharp tongue.

You have to hand it to Kate, she used her womb to create an empire of sorts, albeit in the obscure recesses of Pennsylvania, but it’s an empire nonetheless. Kate’s sort of like the Angelina Jolie of suburban moms. Both women are polarizing figures and celebrity sensations, just on more scaled down (in every way) version.

Kate’s making a reported $75,000 an episode on her TLC show, and revered by women across the country managing to somehow become a multimedia mogul, complete with best-selling books. And of course there’s all those tabloid cover stories which are sure to sell out as the consumptive masses gobble up every last detail of her less-than-ordinary greatness.

While Us Magazine paints her as a monster, People Magazine (always one-upping those Us folks) provides her a safe haven to retort to her detractors.

Kate admits she’s often been an easy target for those who want to make her out to seem like a monster. “In the first two and a half years that we were doing the show (Jon & Kate Plus Eight), I felt very ugly towards fans,” she says. “The gawking, that sort of response creeped me out. I was not willing or ready to accept what you get back when you put your life out there…..”

A Breaking Point

Though the Gosselins have gotten used to interest in their lives, the scrutiny of Jon and Kate has become increasingly intense since reports of the couple’s alleged infidelities hit the newsstands. It’s tough to escape when the job that keeps their family afloat is also keeping them in the tabloid glare – and even the tough-minded mama has her breaking point.

“It’s so scary,” she says of the lengths to which some go to cover her family. “It’s like one of those movies where you have to change your identity and go underground. I’ve been saying, ‘Let’s find a country where our show doesn’t air, and let’s just go there until this all dies.’ I have to laugh about this, or else I’ll cry. It’s a matter of, when will they stop?”

No matter what might be said about her, Kate says if anyone really wants to see her bare her fangs, they only have to go after her kids. “I don’t want them dragged into this. It kills me,” she says. “I’m far from perfect, but I’ve started to prioritize what is important, what has to change, what I can live with, and what I have to live with. My children are important. My attitude is important. My marriage is important, and though I don’t know where that’s going right now, I know I can definitely choose my attitude. And I know that I will never give up, I will not stop, I will not fail my kids. Everything else I can’t control, I’m just going to have to learn to live with it.”

Beyond the obvious, “Kate’s a bitch” response, which I feel intrinsically she is, Kate in many ways is like a lot of moms out there: fed up, overwhelmed and unwilling to put up with it. Many of us, myself included, work jobs and try and support our families as best we can, only to come home to crabby, hungry kids, messy houses and too much workload. But unlike most of us, Kate has an ARMY of people helping her and loads of money to help offset the stress over making ends meet. While Kate has many fans and supporters, there are also plenty of women who manage to do all Kate does WITHOUT berating our spouses, firing 40 staffers sent by the state to help or lashing out at anyone or everyone without the slightest provocation.

Season 5 of “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” premiers Monday, and there is no doubt that with all this drama, some of which spawned by Kate and Jon themselves, their show will win big ratings. But at what cost to their family, children and marriage?

As a society we need to encourage balance and moderation in our lives, and all Jon and Kate Plus Eight offers is extremes on each end of the spectrum. Surely Kate isn’t ALWAYS a bitch, anymore than any other woman. So how about we see that side Kate. Unless of course, it doesn’t exist.

Source: D