I’ve noticed that the mother-in-law (MIL) and daughter-in-law (DIL) are natural enemies much like the mongoose and the snake or the Korean convenience store clerk and the black man.  If the MIL is Asian and the DIL is White, then the problem is that she isn’t Asian.  But if she is in fact Asian, then the problems becomes she’s not Asian enough (yes that’s a real thing and is an issue more often than you think).  The MIL will go on despising her if there are no grandchildren, and if there are it’s a problem if the baby isn’t a boy and vice versa.  And then there is the whole ‘You aren’t raising the child correctly, and even if you followed all of my steps, you are still f*cking it up.’

It’s similar to when cops decide to stop a car that is seemingly above reproach, “If we want to pull a car over, we’ll find a reason.”  MILs can hunt for flaws like a crack CSI unit.  Daughter-in-laws, you will always lose because of the very nature of who you are and what you represent.  Men by nature, whether they are the hunters or the momma’s-boy hunted are attracted to women like their mothers, because to them they are the ideal- the paragon of what their dream girl should be.  It’s an Oedipal hangover.  So for the mother-in-law, the DIL represents a threat because not only is she being replaced, but replaced by a younger perkier version of herself.  This is why they will always be adversaries.  They are fighting over the same man.  That’s a sandwich I want no part of.