Playing With the Big Boys

This post first appeared in the comments section of Lisa Belkin's New York Times parenting blog- Motherlode.
Thanks Lisa for continuing this conversation. I, like some have already said, was surprised to hear that you didn't think the article disparaged women, though your point that the Conference Organizers calling themselves--Bloggy Bootcamp didn't cultivate an aura of legitimacy—is well taken. (My sister-in-law raised this on my blog, as well.)(Sorry Cinnabar) ( … though I will forgo the link.)
I would like to speak to the topic of the Women’s Movement.
A million years ago, I was a Women's Studies major. I began to view our culture through a lens that considered access to power, and noticed time and again, that which is associated with women is devalued. One lesson learned from that time was this: what goes on in one woman's home, office, courtroom and vagina is not only her private experience, but one that could (and should) be spoken about in order to transform, i.e the personal is political.
Sadly, what is associated with women, in this case, mothers who blog (about many things, including mothering) is chided and trivialized. “Heed the speaker’s advice, and you, too, might get 28,549 views of your tutu-making tutorial!” I suspect most young women, if given the choice between being associated with the successful blogger Mendelsohn refers to, or the NY Times reporter who mocks the tuto scholar, I’m guessing many would go with Mendelsohn.
I think the blogosphere is our modern day consciousness raising opportunity. And as more women have success in this dot com (if you will) then perhaps one day, we’ll make it to the business section; which is no better or more important than the style section. Except, you know, it’s where the big boys play.

At Least They're Consistent

In case you missed it, The New York Times covered a technology and networking conference in the Sunday paper. Only surprise, surprise ... it disparaged wealthy, white women. (And was covered in the Style section as opposed to, business, technology, Metropolitan, blah, blah, blah. Read it for yourself.




Below is my post reprinted from Lisa Belkin's blog, motherlode.

The tone of Jennifer Mendelsohn’s article was patronizing and trivializing. With regards to wealthy white women, this is what I have come to expect from the NYTimes. It is socially acceptable to disparage this group, particularly mothers. Mendelsohn even made one blogger’s feat of accruing 28,549 hits sound moronic. I’m not sure why these women – both the successful bloggers and those hoping to become so, are so worthy of our disdain, but Ms. Mendelsohn (and the editor who came up with the headline) have done a great job at making a networking conference that teaches ways to make money by using modern technology sound like something to be avoided and/or ashamed of. No surprise there.

Way to go New York Times ... again

I woke up this morning and leisurely embraced that famous ol' rag of a paper while sipping a latte in my 400 thread count kingdom.
Yeah. Right.
After running out to the grocery while my husband manned the domain (read: slept)feeding fifteen, (sometimes I exaggerate) loading one thing and emptying another, I returned a call, typed up my seven year olds' latest song (about love and being seventeen) encouraged one kid to start his homework, found the 3x5 note cards, swept, negotiating with my 13 year old about going to a movie vs. coming home, assisted my daughter's in washing their hair and picking out the day's clothes, I sat down to read the Style Section.
I'm a writer, (At least my publisher and agent think so. Fooled them.)so imagine my interest in Jan Hoffman's article about writer, Gretchen Rubin's latest, The Happiness Project.


I'm not a huge fan of self help books (anymore). Perhaps because I read my fair share (and my husband's) and lo and behold, I have a life I love. But hey, I get that some are better than others, and The Happiness project sounds clever enough. If nothing else, it made me look around my home and consider the possibilities of a life uncluttered. See, dreams are good I tell you. Good for soul. Good for the country. But I digress.
It was this little morsel of brilliance that I felt compelled to mention. In my mind's eye, I wouldn't be doing my job if I let this one fly. I mean, who else is going to speak up for wealthy white American's with vaginas. We are the forgotten ones. The ones it is still okay to bash. Our crime? You wonder, though it is so obvious. Our crime is: Having help. To the stake, bitches. To the stake.

Readers may not realize that she doesn’t live on the generic row of low-rise apartment houses on the cover of the book, suggesting the West Village or Park Slope in Brooklyn. Her triplex is in a neo-Georgian building on the Upper East Side.

And to those who may feel daunted by how she does it all — the charts, the reading, writing, exercising, volunteering, socializing, parenting, scrapbooking and glue-gunning? Relax. She has a sitter and a housecleaner.
Thank you Jan Hoffman. Thank you. For a moment there, I thought this former- Yale Undergrad/editor in chief Yale Law Journal who had researched Boethius, Schopenhauer, St Therese of Lisieux and Tolstoy might have had something interesting to say on the topic of (guffaw) happiness. But you, sister, have set me straight. This Rubin is a fraud. She lives on the UES people. She has a sitter. A housekeeper. A rich, white, Wall Street man in a suit father in law.
Wake up America.
I, for one, wouldn't be caught dead reading such low brow in public. In fact, I prefer the scholars. (Especially the ones in hard cover with even harder penises.)
I'm far too busy for Happiness fluff. There's the rest of style section after all.
So, ahem. No. I will not be running out to get my copy. I have standards.
Then again, there's always my kindle.