This weekend I attended the Mumsnet Blogfest in London. It was my first blogger conference and I was all geared up for a love-in where we would celebrate the collective strength of the mommy voice and learn how to make it stronger.
I got some of that but only because I was so desperately trying to get it. It turns out that the term “mummy blogger” is almost derogatory. My thought on that is “What the what?!?!?!”
Where I come from (the US for those of you who don’t know), mommy bloggers are a powerhouse. We drive social change, holding politicians, brands and individuals accountable for their words and their actions. We raise money for charity, we support one another through hard times, we write bestselling books, go on Oprah and the Today Show. We are absolutely 100% not shrinking violets. We are loud, proud and respected.
I walked away from Saturday asking myself why our British equivalent, the “mummy bloggers”, have such a hard time embracing their moniker.
Maybe what we need here in the UK is more transparency about our collective reach. Maybe if more of us would stand up and say “This is my reach. These are the changes I have driven. These are MY accomplishments”, maybe then we’d feel more pride about being a part of the mummy bloggers instead of trying to distance ourselves from them.
In my mind there is no doubt that we MUST do this. If we band together, brands and PR firms will have no choice but to pay us rates that equal our worth. Politicians will have no choice but to listen to our voice. Trolls will have no choice but to hide away in the shadows. And perhaps most importantly, WE will have no choice but to take pride in our online alter-egos.
I’d like to invite all of my fellow mummy bloggers (regardless of whether you embrace the term or not), to stand up and proclaim your achievements. I’m not going to put forth a template of what achievement looks like for a mummy blogger – our goals and successes are as unique as our personalities.
If you’d like to participate, please tag your blogpost and social media shares with #mumsroar. Let’s remind everyone, ourselves included, just how powerful we all are.
My #MumsRoar Accomplishments:
In the past year, 7700+ unique individuals have visited my blog. (If you added up all of the people I’ve met in my life and doubled that number, it still wouldn’t equal that.) I’ve joined ParentDish Canada as a Contributor and BLUNTmoms as a Global Community Manager, both giving me the chance to reach thousands more people. THOUSANDS. I’ve been paid for my writing. PAID! And I have met some of the most amazing women that I will probably ever encounter. Women who write the news, women who make the news, women who are the news. And the best part for me is that there is still much, much more to come.
What are your #mumsroar accomplishments?
The Great Escape – #BlogU14
Finding the Funny in Cancer
37 Women Walk into a Bar
I won, I won!!!
How to Blog for the Huffington Post
Kirsty Rice says
I despise the term Mummy Blogger, almost as much as I despise having the conversation over and over again. My favourite piece on the subject was written by Eden Riley over a year ago, you have to go visit the post if only for the pic.
http://www.edenriley.com/2012/10/i-am-mummyblogger.html
I guess I have two major problems with the name:
1. – I wasn’t a Mummy HR expert, or a Mummy Account Manager. I am not defined by being a Mummy (proud yes, but defined no).
2. – It’s a very career limiting title as a Blogger.
I plan to blog for a long time and when I’m in my 50s and my children are grown I don’t think either they or I will want me to go by the term Mummy Blogger.
Men blog. Women blog. Just call us all bloggers please.
I’m more than happy to share my collective reach and gather together to set a benchmarks for paid ads and sponsorship – but can I just be a blogger?
P.S. So glad we met at the conference xx
Lynn (The Nomad Mom) says
I think you are fantastic and you can call yourself whatever you want! My point is that you should not be embarrassed to call yourself mummy blogger if that is what you are. Right now, I blog about being a mommy. I write as a mother to other mothers. And I guess that makes me a mommy blogger. I will not be ashamed of that. I am also a marketer. I am not a mommy marketer because, as you rightly say, my marketing work has absolutely zero to do with motherhood. It is up to us to bucket ourselves in the right category AND it is up to us to stand up for our category.
And now that I’ve said all of that, I’m off to read the link that you suggested and I really hope that I don’t have to come back here and respond again, typing around the foot that I’ve inserted into my mouth.
Love you!
Mrs. Chasing the Donkey says
I’m torn on this Title as a blogger, for the jury is out! So far I’d have to say in less than a year of my new blog about my new life here in Croatia I’d claim my #mumsroar accomplishments as appearing in nationally across TV, print, online and radio and the fact that I manage so darn well in a new place, without knowing the lingo, parenting solo for 50% of the year. Rrrroooooaaaaarr!!
Mrs. Chasing the Donkey says
Ohh PS: I love how it’s Mum and not Mom… yay!!
Not From Lapland says
I don’t have a problem with the term mummy blogger, but I don’t identify with it. I’m not a mummy freelancer, or a mummy business owner and I’m not a mummy blogger. I’m a blogger. I started I guess as a travel blogger or an expat blogger and like Kirsty I intend to be blogging for many years, well beyond the time anyone calls me ‘mummy’. But Women bloggers, yes I am one of those and I thin k that together we have a strong voice and a loud reach. We are smart and passionate and funny and caring and we matter. We accomplish. We should roar.
Fadra says
I’ve written a post about this because it still gets people fired up. I rarely write about parenting but I’m lumped in with “mommy bloggers.” Personally, I don’t mind. It’s a title. And a very hot button title at that. Many people higher up in the corporate and PR world know simply that “mommy bloggers” are influential. If that’s how they need to label me and relate to what I do, I welcome it. For me, it simply opens doors and gives me the opportunity to prove myself as an individual.
As I like to say, call me whatever you want. As long as you pay me!
Jess says
I swear, the same muse whispers into both our ears; I just wrote a piece the other day on another version of ROAR (inspiring my infant girl to find hers someday). I am a strong proponent of the to-each-her-own on just about every issue (within moderation, of course). When I started blogging, I had no idea why. I thought it was to be a voice for other women fearful of exploring personal style. Then, as my child grew, I concurrently became more passionate about food. Those two topics have dominated my posts in the past year, and what I thought I wanted to focus on is now a side note.
So, for me? I’m too drifty to settle on any kind of label, but as long as I can change it in the future, I’m proud to be a momma blogger (I HATE THE WORD MUMMY). We are, individually and collectively, a force to be reckoned with. Once I heard something like this from the mouth of an entrepreneur friend: “The two people a business doesn’t want to piss off are mothers and bloggers. When a woman is both, bow. Bend backwards.”
Rock on, mummy blogger. The Brits will come to their senses when they hear your roar.
xxx+o,
Jess
Lynn (The Nomad Mom) says
I was thinking of you when I wrote this post….I could hear your voice talking about the Girl Scout cookie debacle and saying, “Don’t they know who I am? I am a blogger and a mom. If there is one group you don’t want to piss off, it is the momma bloggers!!!”
Hopefully these Brits will realise the potential for power that is sitting in their fingertips.