I Wasn’t Even Alive in The 50’s.

I love that major news organizations are taking note of the power and voice coming from parenting blogs. I am not complaining that more and more articles are coming out, featuring friends of mine no less, and are generally really awesome.

I do take exception, however, at the fact that the phrase “mommy blogger” continues to be thrown about, when it has been almost universally rejected by the cohort at hand. To be clear, I personally don’t give a fig if you call me a mommy blogger, but the point is, people have spoke out repeatedly to have it stop – and no one is listening.

I also take issue with the gender separation of mom blog vs. dad blog. Why are we not “parenting bloggers,” period, end of story? There is no split in any other segment than I can think of – even in areas that might make sense, like fashion.

But MOSTLY, and SERIOUSLY here… Can you guys STOP using retro clip art from the 1950’s to represent mom bloggers?

Yes, I am talking to you, Mashable and Forbes.

Forbes_Mom_Blogger   Mashable_Mommy_Bloggers

I was born in 1970 and I am on the top-end of the age-bracket for most parenting bloggers. I grew up after the Summer of Love, and lived through the end of the Cold War as a teenager.

Some mom bloggers may use that kind of imagery in their headers, but my sense is it’s a joke – a slap at that 1950’s mentality of motherhood, which means these news organizations have never even read the blogs they are now clambering to cover.

I can promise you, I have never worn an apron, much less a pink one – and I swear “June Cleaver” is the last phrase my husband would bring up to describe me or my mothering.

So, let’s send update our images next time, and really listen to the voice behind the avatar.

This article has 16 comments

  1. Everyfann

    RIGHT ON Aimee.

  2. Megan

    Yeah – what is that about? So funny.

  3. Erica Mueller

    A-to-the-men!
    That phrase has bothered me for a long time. I don’t blog about mothering. I am a mom. I happen to blog. But, on my blog I’m a professional freelance writer and web developer. Please stop referring to me with cutesy names and images. #thatisall

  4. this week for dinner - jane maynard

    ha ha! love it! and my oh my are you a quick writer – good job! 🙂

  5. this week for dinner - jane maynard

    oh and on the whole parent-mom-dad blogger phrasing, two thoughts. first – marketers/advertisers target men and women separately, which I think is a big reason for the separation…money makes the world go round…

    second, I LOVE the phrase parent bloggers…but I also have to stop and realize I edit a website called DailyBuzz Moms – we do feature content from dads, but the focus really is on moms, and I have to say that it is unique to the dad experience in many cases…BUT, that said, I really do love the phrase parent blogger above all else and hope that it eventually becomes the standard!

    also…the woman who wrote the forbes article did talk about how people shouldn’t use the phrase “mommy blogger” – which was something we talked about in my interview…was glad to see she put that in there…too bad the editor threw that 50s image with the phrase “mom bloggers” at the top of the article. wah-waaaah.

  6. Aimee Giese

    Jane – totally. But really, great article! And so glad you talented ladies were featured!

  7. Aimee Giese

    And also, I have been trying to migrate the phrase myself, but uphill battle – and it is hard when people are searching for you on that term!

  8. mom101

    My avatar walks away sheepishly.

    In fairness to Forbes, she never used the word mommy blogger, did she? I thought she was really respectful about that and totally got it. I’ve never given an interview where I didn’t start by saying, please don’t call it mommy blogger. Some listen, some don’t. I’m glad more are starting to.

  9. I Dream of Diapers

    Love this post! I keep trying to move to “parenting bloggers” – but feel like it’s an uphill battle. Let’s get the movement started!

  10. Kimberly Hosey

    I agree wholeheartedly on both the retro thing and the “parenting bloggers” vs. sex-based divisions.

    I write a monthly column for a paper here on family outings. They always send me correspondence about my “Mom column,” and I ALWAYS send back replies corrected to “Here’s my family column.” They don’t seem to have caught on yet.

    And yes. That imagery is usually ridiculous in any but the most ironic of senses. Now if they have clipart of a woman in a faded college T-shirt, gym shorts, and a pony tail, running out the door at the last second because she’s late to pick up her kid … that might fit.

    Which reminds me, school’s out!

  11. Anonymous

    That is so silly!!! – m

  12. Magpie

    “Women who have at least one child in their household and have read or contributed to a blog in the past 30 days.”

    Just because one has a child does not make one a “mommy blogger”. That’s the part that makes me apeshit. The 50s aproned imagery is insult to injury.

  13. Aimee Giese

    Maggie – seriously.

  14. Aimee Giese

    And to reiterate… the Forbes article was quite good … it was just the retro sparkly 50’s mom blogger icon that made my head explode.

  15. Kelly

    Because really, in 2012, do they think that stay at home Moms have no soaps to watch, so now they take to the blog-o-spere? sigh.

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