Stepmother Stigma

What you've just seen is a viral video that has been circulating on social media these days. It is about two siblings who have been brutally beaten by their stepmother. According to the video, the stepmother punched them in the face, smashed bottles on their head, beat them with a baton in different parts of their body, and even stabbed them with a knife. Because of the dilemma they had been through, their beautiful faces were ruined.

This was also featured in RTIA(Raffy Tulfo In Action), a famous television program here in the Philippines. When the father was asked if he had something to do about what happened, he denies everything and said that he wasn't aware of what's going on with his children. He said that he put his trust in his second wife to take care of his children. He also added that every time he would ask about his children, his second wife would say that they were okay and that he should not go near them because he might put the kid's health in danger. The father is a security guard and front liner who is always exposed to different kinds of people that might have Covid19.

But the stepmother denies all allegations against her. She said that the kids do that to themselves because they always argue and fight. She said that she takes good care of them even though they're not hers. Who would believe that, right? She also said that his husband has not been a good husband to her and also beat her. And that she did not try to stop him from seeing his kids. That he also beat them. Now they are pointing fingers at each other as to who is the real culprit. Nevertheless, they will both be put to jail because of what they have done to the kids.

The reason why I showed you this video is that this article is about stepmothers. Are they all abusive, manipulative, and evil?

I have two stepmothers, my father's second wife and my father-in-law's second wife(stepmother-in-law, am I right with the term?). Well anyway, I met my stepmother when I was 14 years old. My stepmother had two children with her first husband, a boy, and a girl. I could not accept the fact that my father had a new family. I had so much hatred and I am full of resentment towards them. In my young mind, they took my father away from us. I was crying that time so my father hugged me and said that we will be a happy family, that I have nothing to worry about. He wanted us to get along with each other so he wanted us to live with them. But I said no because I was scared about the fact that my stepmother would be very abusive. Well, that's what they feed in my young mind.

On the contrary, she is nice and very thoughtful with regards to our welfare. Although she has a kid on her own, she was never biased towards us. And her kids are also kind and treat me as their "ate". There were times that we fought, but I think it is normal for siblings to argue regardless of their status, whether pure blood or not. So somehow, I managed to open my heart to them and accept them as family.

This just crossed in my mind, I think that time, I was the evil stepsister 😅because I always bully the two kids when our parent was not around. So bad of me, but that was in the past and we get along just fine now.

The same goes with my stepmother " in-law". She is generous, kind, and I feel comfortable around her. She is very approachable. She also has children with his first husband but they are all nice. When I asked my husband what was she like when he was living with them before, he said that she's okay. She is strict but not that strict, she is generous and takes good care of them.

I shared my story about my stepmother for you to know that not all stepmothers are evil. If I may borrow what @Jeaneth have said, their identity is stigmatized as abusive and evil because of the fairy tales Cinderella and Snow White. So the initial impression about them would be abusive, manipulative, and evil. Not all are like Cinderella's stepmother or Snow White's, take my stepmothers as an example.

I hope you like my content, and let me know about what you think by leaving your comments below. Thank you for reading!

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Video from Youtube