Madonna and Child

I thought this was a fitting title given the upcoming holiday season. However, I'm not talking about Mary and Baby Jesus, but Madonna and her newest son David. I'm behind the 8-ball in reacting to this, but I think it deserves some comment (one quick digression: why is Richards apologizing AGAIN?!).

It seems that whatever beef people have with women who are openly sexual gets aimed at Madonna full throttle. As a result, there's always some group that hates her music, her clothes, or whatever the project she is working on at the time. I'm not going to engage a discussion of whether she's talented muscially, whether we buy her devotion to the Kabbalah, or anything else for that matter. Again, I think the pull to criticize her for these parts of her life have nothing to do with her and more to do about the people levelling the criticism. How many of us reach our late-30s and wonder what this life is all about? She's been doing yoga and the Kaballah for nearly ten years, one cannot exactly accuse her of hopping on a trend and dumping it when it was no longer useful. These aspects of her life have taken her art in new directions (whether we like them or not). I think this is part of how women have stereotypically been perceived as flakey and without substance belief. Eight years later it seems that Madonna has proven us wrong on this tip.

Further, her activism in Africa is not some Johnny-come-lately venture. What many do not know about "Madge" is that she has engaged in philanthropy for YEARS before supporting orphanages in Malawi (she started that project one year before David ended up in her life!). She volunteered to walk and donated to AIDSWalk here in New York, she is known for visiting children's wards in hospitals, and she has given much time and resource to the GLBTQ community. Often she does this without bringing press attention to herself and so no one knows she did it. Her commitment to making sure things are right in the world and her love of children were in her life long before even her children. It's time we gave her a break.