Mommy Bloggers Achieve Community and Empowerment in the Lusosphere

One of the most active blogging categories in the fast expanding Lusosphere is that of the ‘mommy bloggers’. The movement is championed by a Brazilian blog which turned into book, and now is about to launch its own TV show on a cable channel. And beyond this example, there is a general enthusiasm displayed by the authors and readers of parenting blogs that is part of the general blogging phenomenon already noticed in many other spheres.

Mothern - Mommybloggers
the crazy adventures of two girls who already delivered children

O Mothern, além de ser blog, livro, coluna de revista e casa de ópio para mães internautas viciadas em guestbooks, vai ser também um programa no GNT! O programa está sob a responsabilidade da produtora Radar Mixer, um povo muito competente. Pelo que vimos e palpitamos até agora, tem tudo para ser um sucesso. E não somos só nós duas, corujas, que achamos isso. A própria Letícia Muhana, diretora do canal, disse outro dia na imprensa que “Mothern estréia em agosto e será semanal – a primeira temporada terá 13 episódios, mas digo sem medo de errar que veio para virar programa de linha”. Sendo assim, está confirmadíssimo: nossas aventuras e muitas outras situações mothernas vão estar na tela do canal mais feminino do Brasil. Assistam, nem que seja no televizinho, espalhem e comentem. Crescei e multiplicai-vos, motherns : )
programa no GNTMothern

‘Mothern’ — besides being a blog, a book, a magazine column and an ‘opium house’ to guestbook addicted internaut mothers — now is also gonna turn into a TV show on GNT! Radar Mixer is the competent crew which is in charge of the production. From what we could see and do until now, it has all the ingredients to be a success and we are not the only ones to think that way. Leticia Muhana, the channel director told the press that ‘Mothern will launch in August as a weekly show — the first season will have 13 episodes, but I am not afraid to say that it will turn into a permanent show in our program grid‘. So it is confirmed: our adventures and many other ‘mothern’ situations will star on Brazil's most feminine channel screen. Please watch it, even if it has to be in your neighbor's cable, and then talk about it. Grow and multiply yourselves, motherns : )
GNT TV showMothern

The success of the blog seems to come from its ability to share authentic experiences while offering smart tricks on how to deal with day-to-day motherly issues. It manages to show how ‘girls’ can breed without falling into the cliches that usually make them feel over aged when dealing with motherhood and the approach has resonated deeply among young mothers. The desire to form community is also present, and this aspect is highlighted by many bloggers in Mothern's ring.

Mais um encontro Mothern, desta vez para receber a Carla, de Uberlândia. O encontro foi no Café Tina, ótimo como sempre (tanto o encontro quanto o Café). Reparem que nas paredes atrás da mesa está uma exposição de fotos com 40 clientes-gatos da casa. Logo no começo da noite, estávamos admirando as fotos quando a dona do Café veio conversar com a gente. Toda animadinha ela disse: “O melhor daí é que a maioria é hetero! Com pouca diferença, mas é!”. Obviamente com toda a minha mala suerte, os que achei mais interessantes eram gays…
Mais um Encontro MothernMesa de Bar

There was another ‘Mothern’ meeting, this time to welcome Carla, from Uberlandia. The gathering was at Tina Cafe, excellent as usual — both the meeting and the Cafe. Look at the wall behind the table, where there are pictures of 40 cute male customers of the Cafe. At the beginning of the event we were admiring the pictures while the owner came to talk with us. She urged to say: ‘The best is that majority of them are hetero! For a tiny difference, but still the majority!”. Obviously, my bad luck led me to be interested mostly in the gay minority…
Another ‘Mothern’ meetingBar table

“Todos que convivem comigo sabem o quanto ter conhecido um determinado BLOG transformou minha vida. Claro que foi um elemento no processo de transformação que já estava se desenhando. E foi o que faltava! Conhecer essas mulheres, hoje, mais do que virtuosas, foi um dos meus renascimentos. Elas e tudo que isso trouxe. Todos os encontros, conversas, desabafos, aprendizados. Descobri pedacinhos de mim nessas meninas todas, reunidas por algo em comum: MOTHERN. Não consigo esconder o meu orgulho supremo por ter esbarrado com essas moças por aí! Isto posto, aguardem!!! MOTHERN
P.S: Realmente não era brincadeira o lance de que as motherns dominarão o mundo”
Todos que convivem comigo sabemPalavra Voada

“Everybody in my circle knows how much my meeting this specific BLOG has transformed my life. It was obviously an element in a process that was already in course, the one thing that was missing was here. To meet these more than virtuous women, today, has promoted one of my rebirths. Not just them, but also everything that happened because of them. All the meetings, conversations and learnings. I was able to find little pieces of me in all these girls who gathered because of something they had in common: MOTHERN. I can't hide my supreme joy of having met these young ladies! Mothern!
ps: The talk about “Motherns dominating the world” was not a joke.”
Everybody in my circle knowFlown word

Ingredientes:
1 babá quase perfeita
1 carona de ida e volta
4 ou 5 taças de prosecco
água à vontade
Modo de fazer:
Poupe suas energias ao longo do dia, chamando a babá de manhã e deixando-a brincar com seu filho de 4 anos recém-completados. (Ele não vai gastar nem um dia a mais de análise porque a mamãe passou um sábado lendo na cama – talvez alguns dias a menos.) Vá de carona com o casal mais animado da festa, e assim garanta que será a primeira a chegar e a última a ir embora. Beba o prosecco todo de uma vez, antes de começar a música-pra-dançar. Vá pra pista. Pare a cada 5 ou 6 músicas e beba um copo d'água. Vá bastante ao banheiro, por motivos óbvios. Prepare-se para encarar o day after com dignidade.
Rendimento: 5 horas sem sair da pista
Receita para dançar sem parar após os 35 anosDuas Fridas

Recipe on how to dance the night away after having 35 years
Items:
1 almost perfect nanny
1 ride for going and coming
4 or 5 prosecco glasses
water at will
Directions:
Save your energies through the day, calling the nanny in the morning to let her play and get accustomed with your (4 year old) kid. (He won't spend another day in therapy when grown old just because his mom spent a Saturday reading in bed — indeed, it may save him some days of therapy). Get the ride with the most livened up couple in order to guarantee that you'll arrive early and also be the last one to leave. Drink all of the prosecco before start dancing. Go to the dance floor. Stop at each 5 or 6 tunes in order to drink a glass of water. For obvious reasons, do not forget to go to the bathroom. Prepare yourself to face the day after with dignity.
Serves:
5 hours dancing no stop.
Recipe on how to dance the night away after having 35 yearsTwo Fridas

The wave of ‘mothernity’ has influenced a whole generation of Lusophone ‘mommy bloggers’,and they keep linking to classic posts like the one that teaches how to endure the day after with dignity : ”1. They wake up and jump into your bed. Don't despair and keep your humor at positive levels. As you have chosen to live the best of two different worlds, be happy about that. Think about how it would be if your friends didn't want you at night, and your kids didn't want you in the morning. That would be awful!

The community feeling among Lusophone ‘mommy bloggers’ is enlivened not only through meetings and linking together, but also by collective actions such as the one connected to the annual edition of the World Breastfeeding Week. The active and sincere participation is colored by individual perspectives and the sharing of authentic experiences seems to help mothers feel less alone, less stupid, less inadequate.

Hoje, 01 de agosto, começa a Semana Mundial da Amamentação. Mais de 120 países estão celebrando a data e nós, aqui em nosso mundinho blogal, estamos, também dando a nossa contribuição.Até agora, já são 116 blogs (alguns são fotologs) em nossa blogagem coletiva! e como é a “Semana Mundial da Amamentação”, continuarei incluindo novos participantes até o dia 07 de agosto! Todo mundo pode participar, quem tem blog, fotolog ou qualquer espaço na internet, onde possa colocar alguma mensagem sobre amamentação, Como eu disse, pode ser um texto, uma foto, uma pintura, uma música… e se você também vai postar sobre amamentação, deixe seu nome e endereço aqui e eu acrescentarei à lista!
ATENÇÃO: Criei um blog para hospedar os posts d@s amig@s “Sem-Blog”: Blogagem Coletiva. Se você não tem um espaço na internet, mas gostaria de deixar seu depoimento ou post, mande pro endereço: sdeestocolmo@gmail.com, se quiser, pode mandar foto também. Os depoimentos serão incluidos na lista aí acima.
Semana Mundial da Amamentação – Blogagem ColetivaSíndrome de Estocolmo

August 1st, the World Breastfeeding Week is starting today. More than 120 countries are celebrating the date, and here from our little blogging world we will be giving our sincere contribution. We already have until now 116 blogs (some of them are photologs) in our collective blogging movement, and as we are just starting the week, I will be including new participants until August 7! Everyone can participate — the ones who have blogs, fotologs, or any other space on the web to publish a message about breastfeeding. It can be an article, a picture, music… and if you are going to participate, leave your address so that I can put you on the list! ATTENTION: I've created a blog to host the ‘blogless friends’ posts: Collective Blogging. If you don't have a space on the Internet, and want to participate with something, send it to: sdeestocolmo@gmail.com. You can send a picture also, if you want, and the postings will be included to list above.
World Breastfeeding Week – Collective BloggingStockholm syndrome

Eu planejei amamentar meu filhote pelo menos durante os seis meses indicados, mas não passei de dois. Com esse “currículo” pensei estar excluída da blogagem coletiva sugerida pela Denise, a propósito da Semana Mundial da Amamentação. Mas por que não ? Uma boa hora para digerir o assunto que, passados quase quatro anos, ainda é custoso pra mim e também alentar outras mães que viveram ou vivem situação parecida. Talvez hoje, com mais maturidade e equilíbrio emocional, pudesse amamentar sem maiores problemas. E até consigo entender que as pedras que tomaram conta do meu peito diziam muito sobre as pedras do meu próprio caminho. De um tempo tortuoso que vivia. Foi uma experiência muito diferente do que eu gostaria. Foi penoso e fracassado, mas foi o possível. E tem que ter peito, até pra falar disso.
Leite derramadoCria Minha

I planned to breastfeed my kid for at least the six first months as indicated, but I couldn't go beyond two. With this ‘history’, I thought I was excluded from the collective blogging suggested by Denise by the time of the World Breastfeeding Week. But why not? Maybe it is a good time to digest the issue that is still difficult for me to face, although almost four years have passed, and maybe a chance to comfort other mothers that passed or are passing through a similar situation. Maybe today, as I am more mature and developing better emotional balance, I could breastfeed without the same problems I had before. Now I can understand that the stones that filled my breast at the time were telling me about the stones that were lying my own path through life. Those were tortuous times for me, and it all happened very differently from what I was expecting. It was hard, and it was a failure, but it represented what was possible at the time. It takes courage to talk about that.
Spilled milkMy creation

As we observe the mommies’ conversations, it is not difficult to imagine what all this energy and aggregating capacity could do if directed to political action. Although not yet visible in terms of real influence or power, this possibility is starting to be experimented with by some feminine movements in the blogosphere. With general elections scheduled for October in Brazil, some new blogs are trying to evaluate the political stances of congresspeople according to their positions on the main women issues.

Por sugestão de uma leitora, analisamos o perfil de parlamentares apontados/as por envolvimento no esquema de vendas superfaturadas de ambulâncias e equipamentos hospitalares. O objetivo foi verificar as posições com relação à liberalização do aborto.
Moral sanguessugaMulheres de Olho nas Eleições

Following a reader's suggestion, we analysed the profiles of those representatives accused of participating in the ‘ambulances scandal’. The goal was to verify their position in relation to abortion legalization.
Leches MoralWomen with an eye on elections

“Blogar” é uma forma de relacionamento que pode ser prazerosa, além de ser uma ação política reveladora de uma atitude de abertura e acolhimento de uma nova forma de comunicação que é ágil, dinâmica e adequada para emissão e recepção de opiniões. Os blogs são ferramentas poderosas de ação na medida em que são tribunas que devem estar a serviço do debate de idéias. A Rede Feminista de Saúde (RFS), ao se estabelecer na blogosfera, o faz com a convicção de que oferece às suas filiadas a possibilidade de uma comunidade virtual sem fronteiras que, se bem aproveitada, poderá dar contribuições de vulto para que o Colegiado da RFS possa sentir cotidianamente o “Pulsar da Rede” e, assim, ter mais segurança na formulação e na execução de sua política.
Blog da RedeRede Feminista de Saúde

Blogging is a kind of pleasant relationship which, besides constituting a political action based on openness and receptivity, can also reveal a new and dynamic communication tool which facilitates the emission and reception of opinions. Blogs are powerful tools at service of the debate around ideas. The Health Feminist Network (RFS) is establishing itself in the blogosphere in order to offer its affiliates the possibility of virtual communication without borders and which also allows the permanent verification of the ‘network pulse’. This possibility can provide more legitimacy to the formulation and execution of its policies.
Network's BlogHealth Feminist Network

‘MommyBlogging is a radical act’. This was the name of a Session Discussion at BlogHer, the women bloggers conference which took place last month in San Jose, California. Some controversy erupted there as this category could be seen as “just” blogging about their feelings, their families and the joys and struggles of parenting, which could be translated into a less empowered blogging act.

We readers and authors of parenting blogs are looking for a representation of authentic experience that we're not getting elsewhere. We sure as hell aren't getting it from the parenting magazines. If you want to find out how to make nutritious muffins that look like kitty cats, you can read those. But a parenting magazine will never help you feel less alone, less stupid, less ridiculous. This is the service I think parenting blogs provide-we share our lopsided, slightly hysterical, often exaggerated but more or less authentic experiences. If one blogger writes about, say, her bad behavior at the doctor's office, then maybe at some point, some freaked-out new mother is going to read that and feel a little better-less stupid, less ridiculous-about her own breakdown at the pediatrician's.
Comment by Alice, at BlogHer '06 Session Discussion: MommyBlogging is a Radical Act! on Day TwoBlogHer

Women speaking up has always been radical in our society. Mommyblogging is definitely important as a method of bringing voice to women who aren't necessarily living in a mommy + baby fairyland. So many mommybloggers discuss issues like PPD, anxiety, autism, and other things that are still difficult and sometimes taboo to talk about with your friends and neighbors.
Comment by Mary Tsao, at BlogHer '06 Session Discussion: MommyBlogging is a Radical Act! on Day TwoBlogHer

The blogosphere has performed the role of perfect tool for minorities needing to express their values and experiences. Although pioneered by the geeks — a category that is usually seen as predominantly male and tech driven — blogging has already lost its once pronounced exclusiveness. Mommy blogging is bringing renewed life to this environment exactly because it deals directly with that: caring for life, which could also translates into love. What can be more basic, and direct, and full of life?

Devolva o manual (Ou “Durma com uma testosternona desta”…)
-“Mamãe, meu pinto tá duro !”
Cria Minha

Give back the manuals (or ‘How to deal with such testosterone?'…)
– “Mom, my cock is hard !”
My Creation

Outro dia eu estava comentando com a Alice uma história acontecida com a minha estagiária e a namorada dela (aliás, ex-estagiária e atual colega de trabalho. Parabéns pela contratação, Elisa!).
A Lili estranhou:
– Ué, namorada? Ela não é menina?
Expliquei:
– É, mas tem meninas que preferem namorar outras meninas. A Elisa namora a Mirna.
Então ela ficou pensando um pouquinho e decretou:
– Tem uma vantagem, né, mãe, de namorar outra menina…
– Qual?
– Elas podem pintar a casa delas toda de rosa!
:-)
Barbie GirlMothern

On the other day I was commenting to Alice about a story that happened with a trainee and her girlfriend (or should I say, ex-trainee, as she was hired. Congratulations, Elisa!).
Lili found it strange:
– How is that? Isn't she a girl?
I explained:
– Yes, there are some girls who prefer to date other girls. Elisa dates Mirna. They are girlfriends.
She kept thinking for a while and then declared:
– There is an advantage in a girl having a girlfriend, Mom…
– What is that?
– They can paint their house all over in pink

Pink House
“Querida, cheguei!” – “Dear, I am home!”

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