Something about this neighbourhood, this momosphere neighbourhood, that you might have noticed: it’s kinda difficult to figure out what it actually looks like. You learn very quickly that your neighbours here are funny and literate and that they love their children, but you may never actually find out what they look like. Nor, for that matter, is it likely that you will ever see what kind of car they drive (tho’ may I say for the record that CrazyMumma drives an ’84 Trans Am and it is HOTT) or what their house looks like or whether they push a Bugaboo or a hand-me-down Perego.
You may never know their age, or their hair colour. Or their race.
It’s pretty commonly assumed, in the parenting blogosphere, that most of the folks in the ‘hood hail from a more-or-less common socio-economic background. And this is a fair assumption: to really embrace blogging as a hobby, you need to love to write (which assumes a certain level of literacy) and you need to have a facility with technology (which assumes certain education or experience) and you need to have reliable access to technology (which assumes that you can afford a computer and internet access in your home). The assumption that parent-bloggers are likely to be solidly middle-class is, in other words, likely NOT to be a gross error.
There’s a lot that I could say here about the politics of class and the socio-economic homogeneity of the momosphere as symptomatic of greater and more problematic and unexamined class divisions in North American society, but I won’t. What I’m interested in, for the purposes of this post, is whether that homogeneity extends to race and family structure and other characteristics among Canadian bloggers.
My own bloggy ‘hood extends well beyond Canadian borders. I read a lot of blogs by American bloggers, and count some of these bloggers as dear friends. And my experience of the American blogosphere (parent corner) is that it is, in fact, pretty diverse. So diverse, that I wouldn’t be able to adequately characterize (and link) that diversity here – there are A LOT of blogs by parents of other races/ethnicities and diverse sexual orientation and quite a few blogs by single parents etc, etc.
But when I consider the landscape of Canadian parent blogs, I’m struck by how unfamiliar I am with its diversity, or lack thereof. I can think, offhand, of a few blogs that I read that are not written by men or women who fall firmly into the white, married, hetero norm – but only a few. What I don’t know is this: is this apparent lack of diversity a fact of the Canadian blogosphere, or is it only apparent, the result of a Canadian tendency to be more reserved? However counter-intuitive this might seem (don’t we, as bloggers, by definition lay bare all of the details of our lives?), it has certainly been my experience that it can sometimes take time to discover the details of a bloggy-neighbour’s life – not every blog shares pictures, not every post announces a blogger’s race, sexuality or (dreaded word) class.
So tell me: does the Great White North really just have a Great White (Straight/Married/Able/Middle-class) Blogosphere? Or is it just appearances? And if the latter – what’s up with that? Don’t we Canadians pride ourselves on trumpeting our diversity? If we’re so diverse – why are we not trumpeting it in the momosphere?
It’s an interesting question, and one I’d not really thought of in those terms before. I do know that while I don’t look on Canadian blogs with the same disdain we usually reserve for Canadian television(Degrassi excluded, of course), most of my feeds don’t contain a maple leaf, because that homogenous experience you speak of doesn’t really speak to me.
I do think that maybe as Canadians we’re a bit more reserved in our blogging–not all of us, of course, but mostly. Even those who let it all hang out a la Karen Rani and Thordora do it under the guise of a pseudonym.
Heck, my name isn’t actually Kelly Lovelock, although that’s what it says on the feeds. And even with that level of anonymity, chances are you won’t read about my financial situation (My goal is to break the poverty line. And it won’t be happening this year) or my social life (my *mom* reads that blog!)
Spin Me I Pulsate (www.vomitcomit.wordpress.com) flies outside the mainstream I think. Sure, she’s married, white, and middle class, but she’s also very openly bi-polar.
Mary P. is unique both in the daycare provider status–so much fun to hear about write so lovingly yet honestly about *other* people’s children, and she’s not actually married.
Nadine Silverthorn writes for Blogging Baby. I’ve not really read her blog, but I do know she’s not white. She is solidly metro middle class and straight married, though.
Really, those are the only 2 that I really enjoy that I can point to offhand and say “These are both Canadian and somehow outside the norm.”
(Thanks for the link. I honestly never thought you knew who I was.)
I would love to find them. It’s so important that we hear these various voices if they’re out there! I’ll let you know if I come across any.
I have the same questions and concerns about diversity. I read several american blogs that are not all WASP-y but I want to find more Canadian blogs that reprsent the Canada I live in!
It’s as if across the state and country lines a whisper reached my ears to say, “Come on over… tell us something…”
So, I oblige.
In relation to other blogs by people of color (as opposed to what?) I’m sure I’m viewed as…ummm… less colorful. I’m not sure what I mean by that except that politics comes to mind. So many great blogs by African Americans do a much better job of exploring those issues than I. Shall I do some name dropping?
Ok.
*disclaimer: I suck at linking. I don’t know how. You can either Google them or see them on my Bloglines)
Angry Black Bitch, Negrophile, All About George, Negro Please (by the wonderful Jason Toney) and the posthumous blog of the late Aaron Hawkins (get this… I learned at BlogHer that he and I were schoolmates! Not only did I not know he had a blog, I hadn’t learned of his death until I read it).
Then there are blogs by women of color that I love: Urbs, Chookooloonks, No Pasa Nada, and Ebony Mommy.
While I know for a fact they’re out there I must say this: my links are overwhelmingly white/middle class women many of whom are mothers. Diversity is always out there. Like so many other things, it’s a matter of actually searching them out and blog-hopping from there to find more. There are even Black Weblog Awards each year!
I would say that starting with those winners is a sure bet for people who want to become more aware of them.
Who knew I could be so helpful? Yeah, yeah. Even with my linky deficiencies.
i have a feeling they’re out there….we just haven’t found ’em yet!
I blog. I’m white/straight/able/middle-class – but I’m single…and I have 3 kids. Am I a little diverse? I don’t own my home, I rent, but it’s a nice two-story townhouse with 2 bathrooms and a park across the street. I drive a new 2006 Saturn Ion, the cheapest car I could afford to buy new because my 95 Escort Wagon quit on my two months ago. I struggle financially, but it could be worse at least I have an awesome job. The thing is, even if most of the moms who blog are white/married/straight/able/middle-class…it doens’t meant they’re not diverse. Everyone has their own story, their own set of circumstances, their own secrets and scars. I’m sure they have lots in common and even more differences. Some are happily married, some only pretend to be. Some post because they love it, some post because they need it to stay sane. Just some random thoughts, I’m feeling random today, unorganized.
Cheers:)