Here at TTAC, we have a job that consists solely of standing behind me every day and whispering “Remember, you are pro tem.” The EIC of Autoblog, John Neff, had no such reminder, but when he “retired” he turned out to be kinda pro tem anyway. His replacement is Sharon Silke Carty, who refers to herself in her Twitter caption as someone who “balances the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of motherhood.”
When Carscoops’ John Halas referred to her as a “mommyblogger”, however, he learned in a hurry that there are some lines you don’t cross.
The article in question seems like pretty mild stuff to me, but let’s be forthright for a minute: although I was the Diversity Chairman for Dodds Hall in my days at university, in the twenty-plus years since then I’ve had a lot of time in the so-called “real world” and that time has scrubbed the insta-outrage out of my system. Unfortunately for Mr. Halas, there are still plenty of wow-just-wow types in this business and the minute he made the mistake of calling Ms. Carty a “mommyblogger” the knives came out.
It’s nice that there are still guys who enthusiastically expose their sexism to the world at large and try to pass it off as humor…
You can’t lurk behind “it’s a joke,” when the focus is so obviously sexist, and for no reason…
She’s not a blogger, let alone a “mommy blogger.” You start with a complete factual inaccuracy…
If the author of this lazy, sexist grotesquerie was truly confused as to who Sharon Silke Carty is, he could have asked any prominent person in the world of car writing–a set that clearly excludes him–every one of whom would have told him that she’s a top notch journalist, writer, editor, and person, and none of whom would have made such snide, baseless assaults on her character…
I’m trying to find something to measure how stupid this post is. Nope. Can’t find anything. I don’t think the measuring device exists. Sharon Carty is an accomplished journalist, one of the best in the business…
And finally, saying in as indignant tone as possible (as if that can really be conveyed), “I mentioned her credentials in the post” smacked solidly of “I’m not a racist! I have black friends!”
As Maurice White once sang, “Yow.” Meanwhile, Ms. Carty was busy thanking her defenders:
As is often the case in the autojouro-cum-PR scene, everybody seems to be reading from the same script, but I’m having a trouble finding a copy of it. Is “mommyblogger” some kind of deadly insult? If so, then why do so many women call themselves “mommybloggers”? Are we to understand that the grand business of reprinting press releases is so majestic that it must not be tainted by conflating it with blogging about children and/or parenting? If someone chooses to refer to themselves as an autowriter/mother combination, is it beyond the pale to also refer to them as such? My Twitter description is, and has always been, “Writer, auto racer, musician, father, inveterate bad guy, hopeless romantic.” So if someone had written, “TTAC Loses Bertel Schmitt, Gains A Hopelessly Romantic Father At Its Helm” would anybody have cared in the least, including me?
Mr. Halas is in the process of learning that you simply cannot apologize quickly or profusely enough to obtain the forgiveness of people who derive their identities from being easily offended. When the person who is nominally being offended is also someone who has the power to hire in an industry known for lack of full-time employment, the indignation ratchets up by a factor of ten. As gratifying as it is to defend someone against sexism, it’s far more gratifying to do it in a manner which burnishes one’s resume and/or ability to get an article published at HuffPo. Which just goes to show: you can do anything you want in this business, as long as you don’t stand between a blogger, mommy or not, and the buffet.
I must say, if you are going to write about outrage, get definitions right. “Mommyblogger” is not the same as “Father”, so false analogy doesn’t get you very far either. Calling someone “mommyblogger” when their blog is not about family/parenting/kids/household is strongly implying that someone just strayed from the kitchen a tad too far. Yep, that will get some people upset. You are welcome for clarification and having your frame of reference reset :)
This, exactly. Halas clearly used “mommyblogger” as code for “haha look at this precious ‘woman’ with her ‘opinions!\'”
Yeah, has anyone referred to Jack (or any other number of male auto journalists who have frequently made reference to their offspring) as a daddyblogger? There’s a bit of a double standard at play here.
That said, given Carty’s chosen discription, I think the internet just needs to quickly mutter “dude, not cool,” at Halas and leave it at that.
If Jack ever changes his Twitter caption to: “I balance the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of fatherhood.” Then “daddyblogger” is the nicest possible thing I am going to say about it.
I’ve never heard the term “mommyblogger” before, but I think it refers to the genre of writing where absolutely all issues and discussions are self-consciously written from a mother;s (or formerly woman’s) perspective. There used to be a columnist named Ellen Goodman who was a master of it. You know, “Baby on board!”
I’d say its a fair criticism to call someone who writes excesively in that style a “mommyblogger”
> Yeah, has anyone referred to Jack (or any other number of male auto journalists who have frequently made reference to their offspring) as a daddyblogger? There’s a bit of a double standard at play here.
This is more akin to connotations of the n-word than “daddyblogger” even though they’re logically symmetrical.
Language is non-trivial: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/02/the-knives-come-out-for-writer-who-refers-to-blogging-mommy-as-mommy-blogger/#comment-2853129
“Yep, that will get some people upset.”
The only people it will get upset are the perpetually offended “professional victim” class, who will go so for out of their way to get some victim street cred that they will outright hoax some “hate crime” on themselves.
In the event that someone (like John Halas in today’s example) says something they can conceivably seize upon, they will drama queen it up and milk the internet outrage economy for all it’s worth.
The right thing for Halas to do would have been to laugh it off and ignore them, because apologizing to the mentally ill outrage mob is like trying to appease a shark by letting it nibble some of your arm.
Whether the insult was intended or not, the term “mommyblogger” is an implied insult in many ways, usually having to do with someone who just gushes over their new baby’s feats as it learns the world in which it finds itself. In other words, it implies–if not outright states–than anything presented by a “mommyblogger” is mindless drivel. To me, and by no means am I a mother since I’m simply the wrong gender, it’s an insult of the worst kind to use on someone offering well-thought-out commentary.
Agree 100%.
P.S. Love the avatar. :)
Thank you. I wish I could take credit for the art, but an online friend created the original for me.
I read autoblog. There’s plenty of drivel there to go around.
Seriously. I wish there was a less stupid way to get the latest press releases and photos.
I understand that stuff is outside TTAC’s mission, but I wouldn’t mind if there was a robot-curated section for PR here, along with a decent photo viewer.
It could have been so much worse, imagine the outrage if the knuckle-dragging neanderthal had referred to her as a “minivan driving housewife”
“inveterate bad guy”
How so?
Yeah, I don’t understand that either. I think Jack shows plenty of backbone.
Inveterate = having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.
Now you have me wondering if you accidentally read “invertebrate bad guy”. Because that would just be …squishy.
That’s what makes the joke funny.
Humor. It is a difficult concept.
Here’s where the Gregor Samsa references come in, with allusions to a carapace injury in his ’09 Towncar.
Ah.
“I balance the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of motherhood. Have to move carseats every time I test a new hot car.”
She interestingly hasn’t changed the twitter caption, despite its validation of the mommyblogger claim. Definitely looks like she is playing mommy blogger: “Hey, look at me, I reproduced, I bet you can’t wait to read about it!” But you better not dare say it.
As for the first part, “She’s not a blogger. . .”, dude, AutoBLOG.
Sad, and a bit pathetic, to see Brett Berk so desperate to play sycophant.
The most sexist thing going on here is the male writers patronizing Silke Carty by not letting her respond on her own.
Seriously! Mommy (and proud of it) and blogger (and proud of it). What’s the debate here?
is it about the implied tone of the comment? Fine, that’s somethiing worth discussing. But let’s not pretend “mommyblogger” isn’t a real word describing a sizable profession (and used openly by that profession).
I can’t believe she hasn’t fixed the typos and grammar! Shouldn’t a professional journalist know the correct spelling for “glamour” and “car seats”? That little Twitter profile reads like something from my 5 year old niece.
“Glamor” is a correct alternative spelling in American English. It’s uncommon, but not incorrect.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/glamour
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glamor
But “carseat”?
Miriam Webster
carseat
comes back…
car seat
noun
: a special seat for a baby or a small child that can be attached to an automobile seat and that holds the child safely
“glamor”
comes back…
glam·our
noun ˈgla-mər
: a very exciting and attractive quality
No mention of alternate spelling
You’re reduced to picking over this?
Webster’s has it hiding in plain sight (not “site”):
Variants of GLAMOUR
glam·our also glam·or
Given what we know (not “no”) about ol’ Noah and his hatred of silent letters, he would almost certainly have preferred “glamor.”
“You’re reduced to picking over this?”
Because, “journalist”
Oxford and Merriam’s may argue one way, but that doesn’t look like a sophisticated use of of the English language to me. To just about anyone reading a piece by a supposed professional writer it would look…
a) incorrect (not in accordance with particular standards or rules)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/incorrect?q=incorrect
and
b) stupid (lacking intelligence or common sense)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/stupid?q=stupid
Dictionaries are catalogs, not authorities.
What is the authority on spelling then?
You may not care for it, but Webster’s is the standard dictionary of American English and the OED serves the same purpose for British English. Both of them state that it’s (not “its,” in this particular case) the correct spelling, which would make your claim incorrect.
Mind you (not “ewe”), I would be personally inclined to use the version with the “u” in it. But I don’t live my life as a Brit-hating spelling reformer, as did St. Noah (PBUH).
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” “its” is a possessive pronoun, hardly the same thing
“It’s” is widely abused on this website.
There, their, they’re now, you needn’t pick on the B&B we’re not journalists
In fairness to Berk there may be no patronizing going on at all–maybe he is just trying to get in her pants.
Is calling someone a “mommyblogger” worse than calling her a “hack” I’d say no. Its a criticism that someone excessively draws attention to her status as a mom in her writing, in a self-absorbed way. If it fits, its a legitimate criticism.
I can promise you that Brett Berk isn’t trying to get into a woman’s pants.
Well… certainly not in the sense you meant.
It is a pejorative, since it places a fundamental biological process ahead of intellectual output. Moreover, it disparages the quality of her output by transforming it from a profession to a hobby. Still, if that’s the worst thing she’s been called in life, she sounds to be on track for whatever post-mortem Valhalla she believes in.
If it is a pejorative, it is one she invites, perhaps even claims, by her Twitter bio.
Someone called mommyblogging a profession here above. Wouldn’t surprise me, given how many foodies make (or at least supplement) their living from blogs nowadays. So, wrong on that count too: Not “transforming it from a profession to a hobby”.
“Sad, and a bit pathetic, to see Brett Berk so desperate to play sycophant.”
Exactly.
It’s their word, and only they get to use it, or you’ll get such a pinch.
There ARE mommybloggers, and it’s a marketing term. There are plenty of companies who seek out the hundreds of women who fold nearly any topic into the context of their daily lives. It could be food, cars, music, flashlights… if it’s posted by a mother who makes her living repeating press releases and/or giving generally favorable reviews to free products.. she’s a mommyblogger. It’s an industry term.
Last year I scored a Buick knife and cheese set from a mommyblogger who held a Buick Encore short essay contest. She was invited to the Buick junket and was encouraged to hand out the set in a way that “earned content” for Buick.
In this sense, it was probably derogatory toward her expertise, and NOT because she’s a female. Same as calling a poor male sports journalist a “jock”. It’s not meant to imply anything about sexism, but rather that she was one of the hundreds of hacks that repeat press releases in a process called “earned content”.
One thing I learned while working for a marketing-driven company: there is NO safety anymore. If you are saying anything of interest, it’s necessarily polarizing and thus WIDE open for outrage.
You’re correct about the industry vernacular, and the likely intent of the writer. (He’s not the only one who isn’t crazy about Autoblog.) But it was still sexist, and unnecessarily so.
On one hand, I do think that “mommyblooger”—irrespective of Silke’s impressive resume—was disrespectful and should not have been used in this context, and that the perpetrator should have been called out for it. On the other hand, there is indeed something irritating about these proponents of Internet justice, who seem to rant and rave about issues of political-correctness merely for the sake of doing so…
The SOP in situations like this is for Carscoops to apologize, but I would not if I were them, because apologizing admits a wrong I don’t see here. This is legitimate satire of the Twitter caption.
They should not apologize. This herd behavior of who can say the most anodyne or orthodox thing at every opportunity, combined with the ever-decreasing threshold of what requires sackcloth and self-flagellation, makes for a stultifying and ultimately dead discourse. Is she not a big girl? Does she really need all the white knights to ride to her rescue? What happened to people who could respond to this sort of thing with an appropriately wry joke or tart remark?
Edit: To remove all doubt: +1 racer-esq
Jeez, you can’t call it a ‘tart remark’! It’s a ‘witty response by a lady’!
@MrGreenMan: My sentiments *exactly*.
Polital correctness is retarding America.
Let’s just say that in my viewpoint AS a writer, you have to learn how to write clearly and succinctly without being insulting. There are those who make a business out of insulting people and they are either among the most loved comedians or the most hated commentators on the web or on the air. They may get the most hits, but they are almost never the most liked. They are polarizers at best and serve more to generate conflict than to forward an honest commentary.
Easily outraged at the easily outraged is pretty much my take on the vocally “PC has gone too far!” crowd.
The world ignores that fact that offense is something cannot be GIVEN – it can only be TAKEN.
So when you attack someone, it’s actually their fault that you picked them?
“people who derive their identities from being easily offended.”
Exactly.
“that time has scrubbed the insta-outrage out of my system”
Love this and wish more people were not trying so hard to be outraged.
My own Twitter bio is semi-delightfully obtuse:
“Server farmhand, Web finagler, paleoblogger (not a food reference) and pony fan. Considered legally bland in 32 states.”
I figure, in the unlikely event that you were going to follow me in the first place, there’s enough there to talk you out of it.
(Despite that, both Jack Baruth and the ever-delightful Cameron Miquelon follow me, and I am eternally grateful for that.)
I like to keep mine simple.
Gen-X and sensible shoes…
:D
“people who derive their identities from being easily offended”
Heh… yeah, every time they read about a new way of nailing speeders.
That’s not being “offended” that’s being “busted”
The difference?… about $300
He was a little disrespectful for sure, but there are two ways to read this. If it was just a thoughtless dig at someone he doesn’t know or know much about then it was a sexist comment. This can understandably irritate women and there’s no positive reason to stick up for him. On the other hand if he knows her and doesn’t think she stacks up in terms of auto knowledge, writing skills or whatever then it wasn’t really a sexist comment at all. In that case he’s using “mommy blogger” as a modern, journalist industry specific, stand-in for established terms of contempt, such as hack or quack.
I’m not personally familiar with either of their work so I couldn’t care less which it is. It’s not like I go to autoblog for fine writing or editorial content, and I just never go to carscoops at all so…
yeah, well, go out and actually look at how women are treated online. Go look at 4chan, where at one time the word “woman” was auto-replaced with the word “cumdumpster.” Or the incessant “get in the kitchen and make me a sammich” posts on any number of sites.
or read this, specifically #4:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html
“Her face is so ugly you can smash it into some dough and make gorilla cookies.”
“So fugly, I’d say ‘don’t even look’!!!”
“At least Medusa was modestly attractive by comparison.”
“This person is disgusting and I would never trust ‘it’s’ opinion on ANYTHING!”
these people are saying these things about a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE.
so yeah, go ahead and whine about how you can’t say bad things about other people with impunity, and how awful they are that they didn’t see the “humor” in what you said.
“This person is disgusting and I would never trust ‘it’s’ opinion on ANYTHING!”
Come on, this is obviously a reference to Scalia, a male.
And it is easy to find people saying mean stuff on the internet. Even sick people advocating gender based genocide:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/killallmen
But that doesn’t make the satire of a stupid Twitter caption sexist.
If some other full of themselves person had the Twitter caption “I balance the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of Christianity”, and someone called them a Christian blogger, would we be calling that person a religious bigot?
“Come on, this is obviously a reference to Scalia, a male.”
if you’d have actually looked at the link, you’d have seen how wrong you are. This is where that comment came from:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2510390/posts
these are some of the other “charming” things people there said about Elena Kagan:
“Lesbian To Be Nominated For Supreme Court
Obama to Pick Pro-Abort Elena Kagan for Supreme Court: Report”
“I am very fed up with these sick sex people getting pushed in my face as leaders”
“You know, I’ve been thinking about this, and I wonder why HolyO is making such a racist choice with this…this…person.”
“Maybe the liberal jewish women’s vote.
and the gym teacher/womens’ coach vote.”
“Tell me that doesn’t look like Patton Oswalt in drag.”
Please, racer-esq. defend those comments.
You are deflecting with a strawman. I said it is easy to find people saying mean stuff on the internet. I am not defending the mean stuff. Defend male genocide.
You do not at all address what I said about the carscoops article.
If those comments came from places like Free Republic, then I’m guessing the vitriol has more to do with Justice Kagan being an Obama appointee than anything else.
If she were a conservative nominee then there would be little critical talk of her appearance from those sources and if the President nominated a supermodel they would be crying “skank” and “vanity”.
“Please, racer-esq. defend those comments.”
Hell, I’ll do it for him.
Welcome to the internet, buddy.
If you want to avoid things that offend your progressive sensibilities, go back to the gigantic hugbox that is the Gawker network.
If not, be prepared to deal with people who are viscerally offended by everything you hold dear and aren’t afraid to let you know about it.
jim z
I don’t think I implied that sexism is a great thing in my comment. But now that you mention it sexist jokes can be hilarious, and women are known to make them as well. The cutting edge of modern sexist humor is probably best demonstrated by Tosh.o, where the imagined outrage caused by the comments is the punchline. That’s all besides the point however.
I don’t like the kind of comments you highlighted either though, and I certainly don’t like the mommyblogger comment if it was just meant as a casual put-down. My point was more that mommyblogger has popped up recently as a smear of sorts in automotive publications. This is because manufacturers have started including them in vehicle launches and all the car guys in attendance keep pointing to them in disbelief in their articles. I can see why, the car journos probably (correctly) infer that they have been included not only for access to their readers, but for the uncritical perspective they would bring to the table as non-experts. So, I’m saying that mommyblogger is starting to enter the vernacular as a catch all for uncritical and uninformed reporting, at least in the auto industry. If used in that context it is roughly analogous to “hack” just with a gender specific twist.
Jack you could run an article letting us know if she is, indeed, a hack. You’ve definitely done this before to my great amusement, and if the answer is no, then we can proceed to jump all over the sexism in the original comment.
This is yet another example of what goes wrong when points are raised in this fashion.
This hasn’t done the writer any favors because the focus has been shifted toward the writer and his errors, at the expense of the subject of the article.
The accompanying hyperbole and dose of sexism may bring joy to a few chest thumpers on the fringes, but it hurts the writer because the wrong choice of words detracts from the message. If his point was that Autoblog sucks and this new editor is unlikely to fix the things that make it suck, then he should have made that argument. Many who read that piece will miss the thesis entirely.
If you’re going to make the story about you instead of your subject, then you had better be damned good at it, as Hunter S. Thompson could be. Most people should stick to getting their facts straight and making a compelling argument about the topic at hand.
Autoblog sucks like a million vampires operating two million vacuum cleaners trying to dispose of six million mosquitoes.
although I was the Diversity Chairman for Dodds Hall in my days at university…
You are just a couple of years older than me Jack and I’m guessing the line: “Well you know I am the Diversity Chairman for Dodds Hall…” got you laid so many times you lost count.
College… good times, good times.
“Hi, Jack Baruth, Diversity Chairman for Dodds Hall. Damn glad to meet you!”
“Hi, that was Jack Baruth, the Diversity Chairman for Dodds Hall. He was damned glad to meet you.”
Really, that was the phrase that pays? Damn!
He had to wear a snorkel at all times, or he would’ve drowned in it.
Lots of genuflecting before pious orthodoxies, people lining up to demonstrate their bone fides.
The “Wow, just wow” crowd loves to burn the witch. I’m quite sure there are social media and crowdsourcing sites devoted to today’s target of the two minute hate.
They’re not content to be offended. They go on the offense to engage in personal destruction.
Thank God for publishers that won’t kowtow (can I say that without getting called an anti-Chinese bigot?) to the church of the perpetually offended and aggrieved, but there are fewer and fewer of them, and seemingly plenty of writers willing to conform to groupthink and groupwrite.
I wonder if Brett Berk has ever read Orwell’s Politics and the English Language.
that’s nice and all, Ronnie, but didn’t we just read a bunch of posts from Jack over the past couple of months about his accident? About how happy he was that his son was unhurt? About how happy he was that he bought a good car seat for his son? Where were the people calling him a “daddyblogger?” Didn’t you post about how you ran out and bought a similar car seat after his accident?
Jack Baruth talks about being a father and car seats, and we all line up to call him “awesome.”
Sharon Carty talks about being a mother and car seats, and it’s open season to dismiss anything she says.
The tone-deafness and hypocrisy here is frickin’ stunning.
Well said Jim Z. It is frustrating that considering the line we got post-Bertelle (and post Ronnie using the n-word a bunch of times and then deleting it) was that TTAC would stick to car journalism, and not post stupid things attacking commenters or journalists or whomever.
I also find it HIGHLY entertaining that Ronnie, apparently someone who is never offended, got so not offended by some article on Gawker about rich people a few months back that he spent the better part of a morning defending the cruel, inhuman treatment of the 1 percent by todays media, in the comments section.
Borrowing from Jason Torchinsky’s “Will it baby” segments of his reviews at Jalopnik, I’ve done “Will it Zayde?”, since I babysit my grandson every Thursday.
If someone called me a Zaydeblogger, I’d laugh. I call myself a writer, it matches my last name, but if you want to call me a blogger or a journalist, I’m not going to get all huffy.
Halas never dismissed her, he said, “she does have a long and impressive resume that includes stints at the Huffington Post, The USA Today, Associated Press and Dow Jones.” That’s hardly dismissive.
Sharon Carty writes about being a mother and using car seats and apparently it’s open season to demonize those who say that she’s a mother who writes about car seats.
Since you’re on the topic of tone-deafness and hypocrisy, and seemingly so offended by the term “mommyblogger”, what’s your impression of the terms used for the former mayor of NYC in this comment thread: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/02/strict-enforcement-of-nys-parking-laws-affects-official-vehicles/#comment-2851169
“Since you’re on the topic of tone-deafness and hypocrisy, and seemingly so offended by the term “mommyblogger”, what’s your impression of the terms used for the former mayor of NYC in this comment thread: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/02/strict-enforcement-of-nys-parking-laws-affects-official-vehicles/#comment-2851169”
BTSR isn’t being “tone-deaf” or a “hypocrite,” he’s just being a bigot. a double whammy of an anti-Jewish slur and borrowing Nugent’s slam against Obama.
“Sharon Carty writes about being a mother and using car seats and apparently it’s open season to demonize those who say that she’s a mother who writes about car seats.”
Welcome to the world of newspeak, my friend.
Anyone outraged over “transgressions” like these is just another willing cog in the Orwellian machine of modern liberal discourse.
I thought he was being a bit of a daddyblogger, yes. I didn’t cry out about it, because I don’t find it a bad thing that needs crying out about — no more than being a bit of a mommyblogger is or does. And nobody asked me, but if somebody had, I’d have said, “Yes, he’s being a daddyblogger”.
About mrs Silke Carty, who said “Let’s dismiss anything she says!”?!? Nobody, that’s who… Except all the people who rush to her “defense”, that is. The tone-deafness is on the other foot entirely.
Who said it’s open season to dismiss anything she says? They just said she’s a mommy-blogger. Seems to be you, and Brett Berk et al, who are saying — *reading into this* — that this means it’s open season to dismiss anything she says.
Let’s try it this way: Progressive people in America are, as far as I know, quite comfortable not only with having a black President but also with admitting this, in those exact terms: They’re comfortable with talking about the fact that the President is black.
So if one of those Progressive Americans mentions that President Obama is black, and J. Random Schmoe claims the Progressive American has just said it’s open season to dismiss anything the President says — is it then the Progressive American or J.R.Schmoe who is saying those are equivalent; is it the P.A. or Schmoe who is the racist?
Seems to me the parallell is exact: It’s all the people who scream “you’re belittling her by calling her a mommy blogger!” who are calling “mommy blogger” a belittling term.
PMS is a bitch
Especially when guys get it
Hey, I remember reading that science did prove that men operate on a 28-day cycle similar to ladies’ with bloating and mood swings and everything. We just don’t menstruate.
Sharon Silke Carty.
Never heard of her in any context. Should I have?
This term is not unlike the n-word. Acceptable when used among the party in question, but not something outsiders call the party members.
People are often get confused about these because they don’t understand how language works. Words often mean different things in different contexts.
Writing like this is a form of convey your meaning to the *audience*, and therefore must consider how they interpret words.
I really don’t see anything sexist with the term.
It’s poking fun… but come on, it’s the same kind of fun the old guard of writers used to poke at “web journalists” (complete with air quotes) in the old days, or the derision many still hold for casual “bloggers” in general. Funny to still hear it, having progressed from web-work to print… and from other former web guys, no less.
Nothing worth getting up in an anti-sexist ruffle over, but if you correct the man for deriding her as “merely a casual blogger”, that’s definitely fair play.
it may be “just poking fun” to you, but you aren’t entitled to tell the people you’re poking fun at how they should feel about it.
If she chooses to be insulted because the writer painted her as a motoring journalism lightweight, so be it.
If she chooses to be insulted because she thinks it’s a sexist insult, so be it.
–
I am not claiming it wasn’t a mean poke. It’s just that it doesn’t seem like it was meant in a sexist manner.
“Mommyblogging” is a thing. An actual thing. An actual profession, apparently for a whole lot of mommybloggers. Which is why the insult is less “I think you’re not a real auto-writer because you’re a girl” than it is “I think you’re not a real auto-writer because you’re the lowest common denominator of blogging.”
Which, given the woman’s credentials, is resoundingly untrue. Hence he deserves a dressing down.
I find the situation incredibly ironic, as I’ve met (again) a lot of journalists who use “blogger” in the same derogatory fashion.
I guess everybody thinks they’re more professional than somebody else, and labeling person a mere “blogger”, “mommyblogger”… or… let’s put it more directly: “AMATEUR” makes them feel better about themselves.
Righteous indignation over others’ righteous indignation is the funniest sh1t.
A squabble between internet male chauvinists and internet PC white knights. How tiresome.
So, “don’t worry your pretty little head”?
Nope, anything goes as far as I’m concerned.
Amen!
Anytime you mention, in the form of a joke or “dig”, as one of our colleagues here had previously posted, anything about a woman being a mother or mentioning anything about her kids or her having kids… then be prepared to feel her wrath. It will most certainly rain down fire upon you as the offended woman unleashes her fury.
Taking that into consideration, along with the fact that she is clearly (genderwise) a minority in the automotive journalism industry, I guess I am a little baffled that most people don’t see- or cannot understand- that calling this woman a “mommyblogger” is inappropriate.
As a married man- seemingly I am not the only man here with a beautiful woman on my side- why am I one of few who understands this?
You can pick it apart or sugarcoat it any way you’d like, but if she wants to refer to herself as a “mommyblogger”, then that’s certainly her own right. For her male colleagues to take a stab at it, for mere humor or to apply some label- I’ll say it again. Yes, it’s inappropriate.
A woman being a mother is natural, beautiful, and sensual. It’s like witnessing real life art. As a proud husband and a father, I can understand that being a mother is an around the clock career which should be admired, appreciated, and respected at the highest of levels.
However, should you take a cheap shot at a woman being that, no matter how unintentional, and you’ll find out quickly that you’ve made a big mistake.
Ignorance really is bliss to some. But, fortunately for most of us, ignorance is just that.
Ignorant.
The bigger question is who are these people, and why should we care?
I think this “age of outrage” needs to come to an end and people need to grow thicker skins.
I then hope she isn’t the type of female who demands the toilet seat be left in the down position.
Of course the darn seat must be in the down position — otherwise you can’t close the LID of the poo-pot!
Why people — of both sexes — leave the bloody lid of a POO-POT open, THAT’S the mystery here.
Fricking disgusting habit.
All I read was “For the record, I am right”.
I don’t care, now please review an Avenger.
But how are her sandwiches?
You made me spew my coffee. Congrats.
:-)
For anyone curious as to how other bloggers (and blog readers) view ‘mommybloggers’ check out getoffmyinternets.net. Mommy bloggers are generally seen as the scum of the earth by other bloggers, and in many ways they earn it daily.
too many microaggressions before the coffee has kicked in
in our modern world we have two minute hates constantly
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Million Mom Marches, Mom’s Demand Action…etc….etc….etc.
Mothers are constantly mixing their personal and professional credentials – usually to attract attention or to imply that their experience as a mother instantly makes them an expert with a unique view on the topic at hand.
It’s stupid. Being a mother doesn’t automatically make you an expert in motherhood, let alone any other topic. Those credentials need to be earned. Simply reproducing doesn’t make you an expert in anything.
Sharon Carty mentioned motherhood in her professional twitter caption. She invited “mommyblogger” status – no one forced that on her.
Anybody equating parenthood with glamour is also arguably delusional.
Hey, cleaning up shit is a luxurious profession. They call septic trucks ‘Honey Wagons,’ and you can make a fortune in the manure business!
It’s not the cleaning up shit that’s a problem, it’s the being shat, pissed, and vomited on (taste the rainbow) by a screaming pot roast while attempting to clean up shit.
A baby boy is like a spitting cobra. The sense of aim that they possess is downright uncanny.
After having kids for a while, I remark how little that trifecta of stank really bothers me anymore.
Like Bob Lutz scrubbing toilets and urinals with his bare hands in the Marines, it just ceases to bother you after a while, and you end up stronger for it.
My first child, a boy, I met when he was almost two. (I had left the country of his birth, and it took a while for his mom and I to catch up again). In the first few hours he fell asleep while I was holding him…I remember the cold slobber dripping on my arm…ugh. But now that seems like nothing.
Funny thing is, that juxtaposition implies a sense of humour which this laboured outrage then denies.
I have no idea who the hell she is..sorry…
You articulated my thoughts well.
Nice name: “silk” with an “e.” Like “old” with an “e.” Seriously, guys, you can rationalize it all you want, but the use of the adjective “mommyblogger” was dismissive and intended to be so.
Man up and admit it.
Now, the question of whether this is worth getting in a lather about is another matter, as is J.B.’s observation of all of the wannabes queuing up to suck up to the “mommyblogger” in hopes of getting a byline someday.
Face it guys, “gasoline alley” has been considered a male domain since it was created . . . and there’s probably a part of us that longs for the days when automobiles were unruly beasts that had to be beaten into submission with equal parts of The Knowledge and brute strength. (Ever hand-cranked a 4 liter 6 cylinder engine? I have; it’s definitely a “brute strength” exercise, where the engine is the brute). The evidence of this wistful nostalgia is the continuing fetish over “3-pedal” cars and manual transmissions (Hey! I drive a manual, ’cause I have The Knowledge!)
That’s just the way it is.
Of course its dismissive. Its just not bigoted. Its a pejorative accusation that the writer asa kind of formula, turns any and all subjects to a discussion of motherhood and/or femininity no matter what. That’s a recognized and remunerative if not terribly respected market niche for female writers. Its also an accusation that she’s not necessarily good at it.
You could describe a sycophantic sports writer as a “jock sniffer” Not nice, but then, some of them are.
Whether this applies to this Silke person, I don’t know. My guess would be that she is a fairly talented writer in that genre.
There was an older, female car writer in my town named Denise McLuggage(?). I’m sure she was a pioneer, as she would have been active in the early and mid-sixties. I can tell you that nobody would have described her as a “mommy blogger” On the other hand, she wouldn’t have promoted herself in that way, either.
“Silke Carty”? So one name ends and the next begins with the same hard “C” sound? Weird. Say it out loud: it’s kinda hard to say.
There’s the temptation to combine them to say “Silkarty”, like “Bacardi” or “Vaccaro”, similar to the way people stick an extra syllable in “nuclear” to make it “nucular.”
Fine. That’s it. No more alliteration ever again. Metonymy, I’ve got my eye on you.
I could say a lot of things here, but I will keep it to this:
This article is not about cars, and I am disappointed that it was written.
Can’t say I care much about offending mommy bloggers. Sign up for the draft and get back to me.
I get so sick of this nonsense.
There’s no telling how much less real racism and sexism there would be in the world if it wasn’t for professional victims always looking for an opening.
The woman describes herself as a mother in the Twitter handle and ties it in with her auto blogging:
“I balance the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of motherhood.”
She does herself no favors by piling on and encouraging these people to scream “sexist” on her behalf.
If you don’t want your role as a mother to be part of your identity as a blogger, don’t make it part of your identity as a blogger and get upset when people dare to mention it.
I’ve always admired people who have been legitimately sleighted for something like sexism in their lives, but didn’t trip all over themselves to exploit it for personal gain. They also tend to go much further in life.
And predictably the same people who used to think using the n-word was ok, still probably think using the fa-word for the gays is ok, and probably will continue to believe by dressing down the womenfolk they “don’t mean nothing by it”. It’s like the Paula Dean support network in action.
Jack of all people should understand how words work well enough to know substituting these other ones in the same article wouldn’t fly. To be clear, a certain amount of slack is afforded a comedic context, so there’s no real reason to make a martyr of Halas for fear they come for you next.
But on the other hand, Carty misses an opportunity to do some cutting of her own which is unfortunate because the knives in question have been so dull. “Daddyblogger”, really? Might as well use “Cracker” or “Straighter than an arrow” next time.
She could go “edgy” by calling them fat, middle-aged, buffet-table frequenting man-children who live vicariously through automobiles that they’ll never in their lifetimes be able to afford, and only get to drive once if they promise to write something nice.
Of course, the kind of person who tries to glamourize the status quo doesn’t tend to call attention to its inherent ridiculousness.
> She could go “edgy” by calling them fat, middle-aged, buffet-table frequenting man-children who live vicariously through automobiles that they’ll never in their lifetimes be able to afford, and only get to drive once if they promise to write something nice.
Sick. Thumbs up.
Wow! So much to like about this post, Jack.
Thoughtful, well founded opinion piece, that is not just another TTAC re-post of Automotive News daily output. There is a lesson or a message to just about everyone one in that piece. Kudos
Some auto bloggers and others on internet driven sites, are a jealous, spiteful, bunch, much like architects, automotive designers, artists, writers, musicians, and critics of any venue ad absurd-um.
Spiteful comments, no matter how couched, do not add any valuable content to any discussion. It is just stupid noise.