Banner Logo
Home
The Real Kato
About Me
Twitter
Facebook
Frozen Lunches
Links
Kottke
Daring Fireball
Amalah
Secret Agent Josephine
Dooce
Contact



Archives
Most Recent

2024 March
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
2005 May
2005 April
2005 March
2005 February
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November
2004 October
2004 September


Categories
All Categories 

bloggers 
books 
commentary 
dating 
food 
funnyhaha 
interesting 
life 
movies 
music 
politics 
reviews 
science 
site-business 
sports 
style 
techwatch 
television 
theater 
travel 


Recent Comments
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Ken said:
Yeah, we've both had our share of hope and disappointment in this game. Let's just hope for a good b...
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Dan* said:
I'm not sure how I feel about this game. On one hand, I feel pretty optimistic that we have the tale...
On College Football 2022: Week 1 Preview
Dan* said:
Glad to see you'll be back writing football again, Ken! Congrats on the easy win today. You didn't ...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Ken said:
Yeah, sorry one of our teams had to lose. I've come to appreciate Penn State as a classy and sympath...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Dan* said:
Hey Ken, congratulations on the win yesterday! Some really odd choices by our coaching staff in that...


<< Previous: BlogHer Coverage 6: ... | Next: BlogHer Coverage 8: ... >>

BlogHer Coverage 7: More Saturday Afternoon
Monday, 2005 August 1 - 4:23 pm
This is about the mommyblogging breakout session.

Saturday 3:30 p.m.
MommyBlogging
People are surprised I'm in this session, but it's a really a sort of follow-up to the "How to Get Naked" session, just with a less provocative title.

Our panelists are Meghan Townsend, Jenn Satterwhite, and Jenny Lauck.



The first question is, what is "mommyblogging" and why does the term have such a negative connotation? It seems that it really stems from a feminist issue, the idea that being a stay-at-home mom is a less-than-worthwhile pursuit, and so a blog about being a stay-at-home mom isn't worth reading. It's a suggestion that moms face from other women, as well as from men.

I think the best suggestion I hear for this problem is to embrace the term "mommyblogging" and own it, as Melissa did by using the phrase "please, call me mommy". Words can lose their stigma if we don't allow ourselves to be insulted by it. But we have to also make sure not to use the word as an insult ourselves, or we only perpetuate the problem.

In the next part of the discussion, we touch back on the identity blogging issues, the fact that mommyblogs do post a lot of personal information about women and their families. People are sensitive that there can be negative consequences associated with this if they're not careful... but mostly along the lines of "I might hurt someone with what I say", rather than "some crazy Internet person will find my kids". Most people in the room strongly agree that the dangers towards people's kids are overstated (as Alice would say, "When I take my son outside, I put a tarp over him.") I'm gratified by the fact that people agree with me on this.

There's a lot of talk about positive things. People discuss how mommyblogs are among the best in terms of writing. There's a point made that mommyblogs are not blogs about children and husbands; they're blogs about women, and the issues those women face in the course of parenting. It's that personal aspect, that identity-blogging aspect, that makes these blogs so valuable and entertaining.

There's also a sense that families will come to see the moms' blogs as being useful for fostering communication. I think that's a terribly important point also.

I'm impressed with this discussion, even though it devolves into a fairly unstructured conversation. But I kind of expected that: like the blogs they write, the mommies are intimate and immediate, and they're not likely to remain bound by a formally structured discussion format. I don't see this as a bad thing (though the podcast of this session will probably be utterly indecipherable.)

Something else I would eventually discover: the mommies on the panel sure know how to party. More on this later.
Permalink  4 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: bloggers

Comments

Comment #1 from Busy Mom (Guest)
2005 Aug 1 - 6:18 pm : #
Interesting to read from your perspective, thanks!
Comment #2 from MetroDad (Guest)
2005 Aug 3 - 7:35 pm : #
I admit. I originally came to check out your site because I was curious about what kind of guy would attend a conference for women called BlogHer. But after having surfed through some of your archives, I'm genunely glad to have found you. Although you're not a "daddy blogger", I think it's rare to find men who blog about their lives and are so enthusiastic about the power of blogging.

Kudos to you, Kato. Keep up the great writing. I'll certainly be back.
Comment #3 from Lorrian (Guest)
2005 Aug 4 - 6:35 pm : #
Ditto to MetroDad's comment. I was curious, and am glad I came upon your blog. I admire your wit and candor.

You'll find your lucky girl someday..my bf is 46 (gasp) and his family had pretty much given up on him. Perhaps that's WHY we finally met.
Comment #4 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Aug 4 - 8:17 pm : #
Aw, you're all so nice! Thanks for dropping by.

Comments are closed for this post.
Login


Search This Site
Powered by FreeFind