I’m following the BlogHer conference from home this weekend. I was very excited to find that many participants are blogging and uploading pictures from the event. (Wave to me, people!) After sifting through the first batch of Flickr photos, I followed a Technorati link to Ladash where Sherri tells us how much she hates mommybloggers. I have something to say about that.
Women who are meeting face-to-face for the first time who have being MOTHERS who journal about their experiences of being MOTHERS in common with one another are likely going to talk about their children. That’s natural. A great number of the “mommybloggers” attending BlogHer this year haven’t met many other bloggers in person - and certainly not on a such a large and public scale as the BlogHer conference. Not only is talking about their children and families natural, it is a great icebreaker.
It doesn’t mean they cannot have conversations about other things. It doesn’t mean they are no longer women, wives, sisters, crafters, thinkers, human beings. It just means that’s what you heard them talking about. To suggest they are no longer anything BUT mothers is ridiculous.
If I were attending the conference, I would most likely seek out the women I link to and read and the women those women link to and read. I wouldn’t talk to a “non-mother” simply because she doesn’t have children. That’s ridiculous. I’d want to talk to as many women there as possible, whether they’re mothers or not. If you really hate the conversation so much, walk away. Or try asking a question that will steer the conversation elsewhere. Or maybe, just send someone else to BlogHer next year in your place so you won’t have to hear about everyone’s “retarded kid”.
