Mommy Dearest

In the past on this blog I've noted the rhetorical power of mommy blogging, how female bloggers may see their writing as gendered, and how journalists who question the legitimacy of blogging will sometimes specifically call up the image of the housewife scribe. So it was interesting to see how Mommy Blogger's Irreverent Observations reinforces a number of still prevalent stereotypes about blogging and the domestic sphere. The first is that blogging involves extremely personal and intimate revelations rather than newsgathering, reportage, or engagement with the public sphere and broader communities than the unit of "the town." The second is that "successful" blogs involve the advertising model and the paradigm of small business.