A few paragraphs into Tara Sophia Mohr‘s HuffPo piece “Why BlogHer’11 Got Me Angry“, I was squinting to figure out what it was that so enraged her.
Everything she mentioned- the “energy”, the “spirit”, the “impact [women have] in the world”- sounded so idyllic and on point. She even admits to getting “a little choked up” during the ” Operation Glory” flash mob. If I could have completely shunned the outside world, BlogHer 2011 would have been the perfect dream vacation for me too!
I was nodding, nodding, nodding until I got to this line…
It was also evident in the lack of presence from the rest of the technology world at the conference. Cereal and makeup companies were there, but somehow, almost none of the tech companies who sell services and software to bloggers saw this as a relevant group to promote to.
As someone who was a panelist for a session SPONSORED by Samsung, sat in the Geek Bar for two hours across the room from Google, and attended mtgs with HTC and other tech companies… I was steamed at this comment. On one level, I GET it. BlogHer was a deluge of non-stop sights, sounds, smells, and “Squee-ing” (i.e. the sound women make when they have just been reunited after a long separation, “long” being anywhere from several years to several minutes.)
It’s impossible to get to everything at BlogHer, but just because you are not actively LOOKING to engage with the tech companies does not mean that they were not there. That’s as foolish as asking me to name which fashion or beauty companies were represented. I’m not a style blogger. I have no clue.
Trying not to miss the forest for the trees, I read on and realized her anger wasn’t really about BlogHer at all. Nor was it about the tech companies who were or where not there. It was about the mass media’s tendency to brush aside “women’s concerns” of child-rearing, education, family life, relationships, etc. to “women’s publications”.
[The] continued devaluing of the feminine in our culture, our delusional collective belief that the domain of heart is less important than the domain of the head, that the public realm is somehow more serious than the domestic one. That talk about business, politics and science are of greater importance than talk about mothering, marriage or creating beautiful moments among family and friends.
I agree with her, but I would also like to ask the reverse. Why can’t business, politics, science, and TECHNOLOGY be the domain of women and considered just as important to us as our families?
The real problem I see is this. A man who has children (a dad, if you will) and blogs about politics is a political commentator. If he writes about woodwork, he’s a DIY expert. If he blogs about video games, he’s a gamer geek. If a mother blogs, she is automatically deemed a “mommy blogger”, even if she never types a single word about her children.
I proudly wear the title of “mommy blogger”. After all, I’ve been blogging about motherhood and my marriage for the past five years. However, I know and respect many women who desire to be seen as “more than a mom” and actually be recognized for the fruits of her brain, not of her womb.
The fact that the rest of the world cannot see this… Now, that’s what gets me angry.
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Disclosure: This post has been sponsored by ChicaLogic. I have been compensated to represent ChicaLogic as a Brand Ambassador. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of ChicaLogic.
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You hit the nail on the head on this one. I had the exact same reaction to that post. I just replied, but it has taken me awhile to calm down enough to do so. Her arguments were all over the place and had nothing to do with BlogHer 11. By the way, it was nice to see YOU around at the non-existent tech events. =}