I’m rather new to this whole mommy blogger world. It’s been exactly two months since I started my mommy blogging efforts, and I’ve been having a fantastic time meeting other mommy bloggers and moms around the world. It was brought to my attention, however, by a mommy blogger no less, that mommy blogger is now an unacceptable description; that I should use a term like “lifestyle blogger” or just blogger. What?
Unsure if I should take this advice to heart, I went in search of an answer as to why “mommy blogger” might be considered an unacceptable description (because I didn’t think to ask – I was too shocked to hear this) and what the general consensus was on using the terminology. In a recent article mother and author Kate Hopper stated, “Once something is labeled “momoir” or a “mommy blog” people don’t take it seriously as literary venture.” Fair enough, but a difficult statement to substantiate. Heather Armstrong, whose writing is impeccable, is one of the most well-known mommy bloggers. She is taken seriously as literary venture and deeply respected in the literary world. There are others, as well, including Scary Mommy’s Jill Smokler, The Bloggess Jenny Lawson, Alice Bradley of Finslippy and the list goes on. These women have written bestsellers, author popular columns and have been featured in countless publications. And they have achieved literary venture through their respective mommy blogs.
Not satisfied with Kate Hopper’s reasoning, I kept digging. I was a little shocked to find another article describing the recent BlogHer convention as “More than Mommy Bloggers”. Seemingly contradictory to the premise of BlogHer, it appears this headline was used because both women who are not mothers and men also attended the event alongside the mommy types. Makes sense. Mommy bloggers still exist – happily – at BlogHer.
Carrying on, I arrived at an infographic on Mashable titled The Rise of the Mommy Blogger, followed by a comment, “The term “Mommy Blogger” is jaw droppingly backwards. These are women, who are mothers, who write, and sometimes they write about being a Mother. Packaging it in pink fluff is just a bummer.” Again…Huh? What? Some of us like pink fluff! Take a look:
This infographic and comment resulted in Nancy Friedman writing a piece on her own blog called Don’t Let them Call you a Mommy Blogger crying out “So here’s a bit of advice, brands, (and Mashable) unless I birthed you or raised you, don’t call me Mommy.” She, like many others who commented on this infographic, appears to be insulted by the use of “mommy blogger”. She goes on to say, “Using that phrase excuses companies from thinking they have to compensate us for our work. Mommies’ work has always been undervalued. Why should Mommy Bloggers’ work be any different?”
Everyone has their opinion. Yet, I’m not following. Why the extreme negativity surrounding the use of this term? Brands and marketers associate “moms” with power and influence, a formidable force to be reckoned with and one with a voice they are seeking to hear. How is that a bad thing? Is the term “mommy” construed by some as weak or less deserving? Are moms perceived as not being sexy and, therefore, this term is off-putting? Or is this simply about jealousy? People prey on successful people (look at what happened to Lance Armstrong) and will lash out in any way possible to cause them misery. It just doesn’t add up for me. There are a thousand literary devices and terms used to describe bloggers. You have lifestyle bloggers, tech bloggers, LGBT bloggers, hairy bloggers, tall bloggers…why the hatred of the term “mommy bloggers”?
Personally, I’m comfortable referring to myself as a mommy blogger, and I’m absolutely okay with a brand calling me a mommy blogger should I ever be that lucky. Sure, I blog about things that are way outside of the scope of being a mother like social media and current events. But I do so because I want to share my opinions and possibly help others by sharing my experience and knowledge. At the end of the day, I’m still a mother and technically, a mommy blogger. I’m not offended by the term. I also don’t mind being referred to as a female blogger, chick blogger, plain ole’ blogger, blogger extraordinaire…I guess that’s just me. It doesn’t matter what kind of blogger I am, if you enjoy my writing and are having fun following along, I’ve accomplished my goals.
So let me ask you. Is the term “mommy blogger” unacceptable?
