For several weeks, the Beckham affair has been making headlines. This highly publicized family conflict, pitting mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, has taken on an international dimension. Beyond being a goldmine for the tabloids, which are seizing every opportunity, this story resonates in many households. Sometimes, a silent rivalry develops with the mother-in-law, who doesn't seem willing to share her son.<\/p>\n
Since the Beckham family feud erupted into the open, Victoria has come across almost like the ruthless stepmother from a Disney fairytale. The businesswoman, once acclaimed for her haute couture designs, is slowly losing ground in the public eye. Accused of deliberately sabotaging her son Brooklyn's wedding and making life difficult for his wife, Nicolas Peltz, she is portrayed in the press as a possessive and unwilling mother. According to Brooklyn's sensational story, Victoria wants to keep her son all to herself. To achieve this, she allegedly did everything she could to discourage Nicolas Peltz, even resorting to somewhat Machiavellian tactics. And now, she is seen as a heartless viper, an overbearing and toxic<\/a> stepmother.<\/p>\n This very Freudian story, which has almost become a media sensation, is also playing out in other families. The image war between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law seems almost inevitable. As the partner, one is the collateral victim of extreme emotional dependence, even a kind of inverted Oedipus complex. Every glance carries a judgment, and every conversation turns into a confrontation<\/a> .<\/p>\n We try to put on a brave face, but we always feel like we're in the way. Despite all our efforts to be beyond reproach, our mother-in-law doesn't exactly love us. We'll always be the "outsider," the fifth wheel, the son-stealer. And no, we're not imagining things. This Cinderella story is confirmed by the statistics. According to a study<\/a> , 60% of women report experiencing tension or discomfort with their mother-in-law, compared to 15% of men with theirs.<\/p>\n We could have an immeasurable fortune, a mountain of degrees, or even be named Beyonc\u00e9, and our mother-in-law would still be just as venomous. In her eyes, we don't have what it takes to be the ideal girlfriend, and we're clearly not up to the standard of her son, who, by the way, sits on an unattainable pedestal. This rivalry between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, which is symptomatic in families, runs deeper than a simple fit of jealousy.<\/p>\n Christine Rafe, an expert in relationships, aptly summarizes this in *Body and Soul<\/a> *: "When a parent idolizes their child, no partner can ever compete. It's an inextricable situation: the mother and the partner feel in competition, and the son finds himself forced to question a long-established parental dynamic."<\/em> According to a survey, one in two men admits to feeling caught between his partner and his mother, unsure how to react. Often, the partner remains passive, a spectator to this psychological battle between the two women in his life. He shows no preference or bias for fear of losing one or the other.<\/p>\n The mother-in-law could oversee the dating sessions or act as a matchmaker, but she'd reject all the candidates. It's true that parents don't have the same selection criteria as their children. In love, too, there are "model students," and clearly, we're not one of them. When their son chooses a vibrant, funny, creative woman, they would prefer a settled, well-off<\/a> daughter-in-law with shared religious and cultural values.<\/p>\n In "Snow White," the stepmother constantly questions her beautiful mirror to determine who is the fairest of them all. The princess with brown hair and porcelain skin appears tirelessly in this magical pane. She immediately sees her as a threat to be eliminated. Do the fairy tales of our childhood tell the truth? Is the stepmother envious of our supposed beauty? According to some studies, partners perceived as highly attractive can create relational instability and a tendency toward frivolity.<\/p>\n A partner with an average physique and harmonious features can therefore be subjected to a kind of discrimination based on appearance. And it's often unintentional. In this case, the mother-in-law isn't worried about her personal ego, but she unconsciously anticipates the emotional damage to her son. Once a mother hen, always a mother hen.<\/p>\n "In a society that values youth, attractiveness and female autonomy, the daughter-in-law can create a feeling of demotion in the mother-in-law,"<\/em> explains psychologist Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Korzine in an article devoted to this subject.<\/p>\n If a mother-in-law is cold and unfriendly towards her daughter-in-law, it's also a protective reflex. It's maternal instinct speaking, not some inner demon. She feels like she's gone from being the main character to an extra, and this transition is sometimes hard to accept. As a result, our mother-in-law makes us pay for a situation we're not responsible for.<\/p>\n She adopts a defensive strategy, as if someone had stolen her most precious treasure. For her, this man with whom she is building a future is still her "baby," her "property." Her entire maternal identity is being called into question. "Far from being a reaction of pure jealousy, the mother-in-law's attitude can be likened to separation anxiety,"<\/em> the specialist continues.<\/p>\n Always the guilty party, the troublemaker, the disruptive element, we're constantly forced to prove ourselves to our mother-in-law. And it's particularly exhausting. Yet it is possible to usher in a period of peace and start afresh. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is sometimes chaotic, but there's no question of taking it personally. Often, we aren't the real cause of her unhappiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For several weeks, the Beckham affair has been making headlines. This highly publicized family conflict, pitting mother-in-law against...","protected":false},"author":8340,"featured_media":434047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_msn":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-societe"],"image":{"medium":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rivalite-entre-belle-mere-et-belle-fille-psy-200x113.jpg",200,113,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rivalite-entre-belle-mere-et-belle-fille-psy-500x281.jpg",500,281,true]},"custom":{"td_video":"","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rivalite-entre-belle-mere-et-belle-fille-psy.jpg","author":{"name":"\u00c9milie Laurent","avatar":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-2f5d8c00d5d5c27f8ce4d9b3f9015467-96x96.png"},"categories":[{"term_id":5678,"name":"Society","slug":"societe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5846,"taxonomy":"category","description":" The Society section of The Body Optimist unpacks the debates that shape women\u2019s lives: equality, discrimination, beauty standards, social ties and the place of bodies in public space. Its analysis, first-person stories and practical advice are for anyone who wants to understand the pressures of everyday life and push back, with an inclusive, body-positive and judgment-free perspective.<\/p>\n Beauty standards are a social issue because they are neither natural nor universal: they shift from one country to another and from one era to the next, as our article on how beauty standards differ around the world<\/a> shows. Yet these ideals of thinness, youth and flawless skin have very real effects: comments starting in childhood, pressure to watch your weight, unequal treatment at work and in health care, online harassment. Recognizing that a norm is constructed helps you take a step back, spot the messages designed to make you feel guilty and choose what you want to keep. That is the common thread of this section: connecting individual experiences to the collective mechanisms that produce them.<\/p>\n If you experience discrimination or online harassment, the first step is to keep evidence, then to turn to the right people, who will depend on the country you live in:<\/p>\n Born from a plus-size fashion site, our magazine looks at social issues through the lens of the body and representation. We give a voice to the people most affected, we explain the words before debating them (sexism, fatphobia, trans identity, consent) and we favor practical ways forward over outrage alone. Our articles start from everyday experiences to shed light on broader patterns, without moralizing or pitting women against each other.<\/p>\n Discrimination is unequal treatment based on a characteristic protected by law, in a specific area such as employment, housing or access to goods and services. Protected grounds vary from country to country, but they often include sex, race or ethnic origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Some places also protect physical appearance or weight.<\/p>\n Intersectionality describes how several forms of discrimination can overlap in the same person and reinforce one another. The American legal scholar Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw coined the term to describe the experiences of Black women. A woman who is both fat and lesbian, for example, may face sexism, fatphobia and homophobia, which compound one another rather than simply adding up.<\/p>\n Diet culture is the set of beliefs that equates thinness with health, success and personal worth. It shows up in foods labeled \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d compliments on weight loss and the shaming of fat bodies. Our magazine prefers a weight-inclusive approach to health, at every size.<\/p>\n Want to go further? Our Culture<\/a> section explores how bodies and identities are portrayed in movies, TV shows and books, and our Psychology<\/a> section supports you with self-image, confidence and emotions.<\/p>","parent":0,"count":1542,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5678,"category_count":1542,"category_description":" The Society section of The Body Optimist unpacks the debates that shape women\u2019s lives: equality, discrimination, beauty standards, social ties and the place of bodies in public space. Its analysis, first-person stories and practical advice are for anyone who wants to understand the pressures of everyday life and push back, with an inclusive, body-positive and judgment-free perspective.<\/p>\n Beauty standards are a social issue because they are neither natural nor universal: they shift from one country to another and from one era to the next, as our article on how beauty standards differ around the world<\/a> shows. Yet these ideals of thinness, youth and flawless skin have very real effects: comments starting in childhood, pressure to watch your weight, unequal treatment at work and in health care, online harassment. Recognizing that a norm is constructed helps you take a step back, spot the messages designed to make you feel guilty and choose what you want to keep. That is the common thread of this section: connecting individual experiences to the collective mechanisms that produce them.<\/p>\n If you experience discrimination or online harassment, the first step is to keep evidence, then to turn to the right people, who will depend on the country you live in:<\/p>\n Born from a plus-size fashion site, our magazine looks at social issues through the lens of the body and representation. We give a voice to the people most affected, we explain the words before debating them (sexism, fatphobia, trans identity, consent) and we favor practical ways forward over outrage alone. Our articles start from everyday experiences to shed light on broader patterns, without moralizing or pitting women against each other.<\/p>\n Discrimination is unequal treatment based on a characteristic protected by law, in a specific area such as employment, housing or access to goods and services. Protected grounds vary from country to country, but they often include sex, race or ethnic origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Some places also protect physical appearance or weight.<\/p>\n Intersectionality describes how several forms of discrimination can overlap in the same person and reinforce one another. The American legal scholar Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw coined the term to describe the experiences of Black women. A woman who is both fat and lesbian, for example, may face sexism, fatphobia and homophobia, which compound one another rather than simply adding up.<\/p>\n Diet culture is the set of beliefs that equates thinness with health, success and personal worth. It shows up in foods labeled \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d compliments on weight loss and the shaming of fat bodies. Our magazine prefers a weight-inclusive approach to health, at every size.<\/p>\n Want to go further? Our Culture<\/a> section explores how bodies and identities are portrayed in movies, TV shows and books, and our Psychology<\/a> section supports you with self-image, confidence and emotions.<\/p>","cat_name":"Society","category_nicename":"societe","category_parent":0}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434045"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434798,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434045\/revisions\/434798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Never good enough for his son<\/h2>\n
Physical appearance is also a factor.<\/h2>\n
Empty nest syndrome, a mitigating circumstance<\/h2>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Society section<\/h2>\n
\n
Why are beauty standards a social issue?<\/h2>\n
What can you do about discrimination or online harassment?<\/h2>\n
\n
Our approach: connecting the personal and the collective<\/h2>\n
Articles to start with<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What counts as discrimination?<\/h3>\n
What is intersectionality?<\/h3>\n
What is diet culture?<\/h3>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Society section<\/h2>\n
\n
Why are beauty standards a social issue?<\/h2>\n
What can you do about discrimination or online harassment?<\/h2>\n
\n
Our approach: connecting the personal and the collective<\/h2>\n
Articles to start with<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What counts as discrimination?<\/h3>\n
What is intersectionality?<\/h3>\n
What is diet culture?<\/h3>\n