According To Gawker, ‘Mommy Bloggers’ Shouldn’t Have Any Opinions
If you want to split hairs, I happen to be a “mommy blogger.” One without kids of my own, mind you. I cringe at the word because all of us internet scribes are first and foremost writers in some capacity. Yet “mommy blogger” seeks to separate mothers from that arena and in a way, belittle their work, simply by being mothers. I also don’t like the taste of “mompreneur” and other terms made to distinguish women’s professional titles based on whether they have kids at home or not.
But even if you happen to like the terms and want to be up front and center about your role as a mother in your professional sphere, don’t get too disappointed when others roll their eyes at the term “mommy blogger.” Or in the case of Gawker, tell you to shut up.
When commenting on one mother’s disapproval of a gay hookup ad that is positioned close to her son’s school, Gakwer writer Brian Moylan leads in with:
Is there anything worse than mommy bloggers? That is a rhetorical question because if you have two firing synapses, you know the answer to that question.
The writer goes on to point out that even though the “mommy blogger” in question asserts herself as feminist and sex-positive, her discomfort with the relatively tame ad (by my estimation) suggests a lingering discomfort with homosexuality. That very wellmay be true and point taken, but he goes on to describe these “poor mommy bloggers” and this woman’s opinion as “‘mommy blogging’ at its worst.” Swings can of course be taken at a woman’s opinion without denigrating her profession, but don’t tell that to Gawker who esteems mommy blogging as the lowest of the low.
Perhaps mommy bloggers are so culturally disdainful because a mother with opinions is still so remarkable in our society. After all, shouldn’t a woman who has had children just give up thinking entirely and go back to the kitchen where she belongs? What’s with all these women having the nerve to run their mouths after giving birth anyway? Shouldn’t they just — you know — be mothers without participating in online discussions?
I’d surely quit my station and go back to minding my own brood if I had one, leaving the interwebs to the truly capable like the very wise men of Gawker. Although a mommy blogger who is not a mommy is probably just as unfathomable in this narrow-minded circle.
(photo: Shutterstock)
