Comments

1
The vast majority of blogging, regardless of sex, race, class and so forth, is nothing more than good-ol' fashioned navel-gazing. Writing a journal/diary is understandably therapeutic, but sharing it with the world is generally unnecessary. (I admit this as someone who has blogged -- feel the self-loathing.)

My opinion aside, I believe everything you say, Danielle. Anecdotally, I have a lotta middle-class white lady friends who write an awful lot about their kids and family. As a middle-class WASPy dude, I don't gain much insight from them. I guess I occasionally enjoy photos of cute kids, but even that gets tiresome.
2
Jesus... want some cheese to go with that wine?
3
"American Blogger Documentary Debuts Trailer, and Everyone Gets Upset":

http://www.babble.com/entertainment/amer…

4
*Clarification: I don't gain much insight, not because they are women and mothers, but because their experiences are so similar to mine and my wife's. Who would have thought that middle-class white people reading about other middle-class people's lives wouldn't be that educational?
5
On the one hand, that prominent bloggers are dominated by white people is hardly surprising, but on the other hand there's ever decreasing diversity in mainstream media. At least with non-traditional media, minorities have a voice, it's just that few people are listening.
6
That's why we need to go flood women of color's blogs and pump up their numbers right now. Got a list, Danielle? Who should we be reading?
7
I don't have a lot to add except this is great stuff and you should talk about this subject more. And talk about some of those other bloggers, the women of color and low-income women. Have you heard of A Girl Called Jack? She's British, and white, but she both campaigns against poverty and provides cooking information priced down to the penny so that poor folks can eat better food cooked at home.
8
1: While that's true for a lot of people who blog, I think you overlooked the fact that many of the top "lifestyle" blogs are much more aspirational than navel-gazing. They're business. These women work really hard to show well-manicured, stylish versions of their lives, and if you're thinking it's entirely confessional then you're naive. Even the style of photography and the colors used is the same across most of these blogs!

It's my guilty pleasure the way some people read trashy magazines. It's not realistic to the lives of most of the awesome women I know, and sometimes I feel like shit after reading them, but I'm always reading them.
9
@ Danielle less than 13% of the U.S. population identifies as African American. So when you ask why only 2 out of 52 blogger's interviewed are of color, you have a point. But then you make it weird by bringing in the economics.

Of course the white bloggers are going to be paid more, they have a much larger target audience. People as a whole are much more likely to seek out and empathize with people who look similar. This is a systemic problem and does not seem germane to your larger point.
10
That trailer was dripping with schmaltzy awfulness. It was horrible, agreed, I just think it's due to the grotesque dramatization of an incredibly mundane thing. Oh my god! a road trip! in a a refurbished Airstream!...how cliche can he get in that stupid pink hoody. ugh deluxe. It looks as interesting as a grown up frat guy interviewing his wife's sorority sisters for a reunion newsletter.
11
Ah yes the plight of the women of color mommybloggers. Truly the great injustice of our time.
12
you did this, you thought that, you said this and that about some other people. you wrote a thesis.

you failed to give me a compelling reason to care.
13
White woman who writes a bunch of stuff that almost no-one cares about complains about other white women who write a bunch of stuff that almost no-one cares about.

Cool story, sis.
14
@6 Exactly. Is there a gathering place where one can go find these non-white bloggers that exist?
15
I'm disappointed that anyone is making that kind of money on mommy blogging.
16
I'm a huge fan of white women. Women are the progressive hardcore in the US, and there are more white women than there are women of any other culla. They are imperfect, but not for this reason. This kind of thinking should really be kept quiet. It doesn't win elections, and it's difficult to measure.

No, seriously. Just mentioning race, even where warranted, makes white people more conservative. White people being conservative is a really bad thing. THere are hella white people in the US. So race should be mentioned only where it's really necessary and where there's more of a prospect for improving the plaintiff given race(s)'s conditions than for alienating the other race(s)
17
Could you possibly write an article without mentioning your academic research/accomplishments?
18
So I blog. And I'm white (well, about two-thirds). These women - in this film - are not me. They are blogging about their "lifestyles?" Okay.

I blog about public education. I blog because I believe public education is the backbone of our democracy and there is a LOT of crap going on that people should know about. And, there should be a place for parents to talk about it.

I have so little in common with these women, I don't know where to start.

I make so little money , it's just laughable.

The voiceover on this documentary really made me think it was a mockumentary (but I can't tell for sure).

All bloggers are not all "bloggers" - I wish people would get that.
19
@16 has a pretty good point. If you want something to change, get a bunch of white women working on it...they seem to be the only common element to every bit of social progress we've made in the last 150 years. Kinda seems like bagging on them as a whole is pretty stupid.

Yes, there are dumb blogs, and dumb bloggers. I'd even entertain the notion that the stupidity is disproportionately white and wealthy. But part of the point of having a big old degree and some print space to use it is to paint with a finer brush.
20
"I have two years worth of research to back it up"

That's not very much research.
21
If this post is an example of what un-white mommy blogging is all about, I'm not surprised it doesn't make any money.
22
@9: Of course the white bloggers are going to be paid more, they have a much larger target audience.

Oprah made billions off of white women.
23
LOL "the value of your voice and the power of sharing your story"

Yeah, your voice is valued ($) if a bunch of other white rich ladies can relate to it.

So disturbing seeing all those heavily made up, normatively pretty skinny white ladies interspersed with glamour shots of this great nation's most scenic vistas. If you took off the voice over it would look like a recruitment ad for the KKK.

Please wait...

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