Lisa over at The Mummy Whisperer has blogged recently about a campaign to persuade women to ditch the bitch, and stick together.
I want to love this idea. Certainly, I love the sentiment of it. I think anything that celebrates people being respectful and truthful and decent is unquestionably a good thing.
But I don’t love the campaign. Not completely.
For starters, I tend to think most women are pretty supportive and non-judgmental. I think most people are that way. And I definitely think most parent bloggers are that way. Maybe I’m mixing in all the wrong circles, but I can’t remember the last time I read a post on a parent blog that was "slagging off" another parent.
Like Rosie, I question the need for a campaign of this kind. Because if I was getting slagged off, I'm fairly confident that other parent bloggers would be helping pick me up and dust me off.
I also don’t love something that perpetuates an outdated myth that women are somehow wired differently to men, which makes them more bitchy, more judgemental, more ruthless. I find it a bit sad that women are perpetuating the idea that there's an epidemic of bitching and sniping in parenting, or blogging. Because – honestly – I don't see it. I don't think it's there.
That's not to say it never happens. I've dealt with women who have taken my breath away with their capacity for ruthlessness and bitching and sniping. But I've had the same sort of experiences with men. There will always be people treating each other badly – because they're hurt, or upset, or defensive, or they're just not Good People. But they're probably not behaving badly because they have breasts.
Ultimately, a campaign that presents judgement and bitching as somehow a "women's problem" seems counterproductive to me. I think something more inclusive, about blogging with respect, would be a better idea.
I believe in being decent to people, and treating them as you’d like to be treated.
I believe in forming your own opinions of people, not basing them on gossip.
I believe in trying to respect other points of view even when you don’t agree with them.
I just don't believe those ideals only apply to women.
What do you think?
