Strollerderby

Parenting Propaganda and Mommy Porn

Posted by Adrienne Martini

Just when I thought I'd found a sister-in-spirit, a mom who understands how hard it is to juggle kids, jobs and life, she had to break my heart with some wonky interpretations of the data and a general inability to write a coherent sentence. I hate it when columnists let me down -- which means I'm in a perpetual snit.

Witness Penelope Trunk's latest Brazen Careerist column about parenting propaganda. Trunk starts strongly, with nods to celebs who make the whole working mom thing look like a piece of delightful cake. And I'm sure it is when you have a staff of 20. 

But then Trunk starts to wander off into wackyland, weakening her own argument by citing data (the bit about childless women earning more than childless men) that doesn't mean what she thinks it means. Read the story for yourself right here.

Frankly, Trunk's column wouldn't phase me in the least -- lots of bloggers wander off into the logical underbrush every now and again -- but for one thing: this is a topic that hits my house in a big, fat way. And I'd imagine it hits your homes, too. It's too important to let get muddied by well-intentioned but imprecise and crappily written screeds.

Is it just me? Or does Trunk rub you in a weird way, too? 

 


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Comments

 

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) said:

Well said... celeb mommy porn is just another level of how we're all fucking up if we're not blissfully happy (with twins!!) while working 80 hours a week.  Trunk veers off course but ignites an interesting discussion in spite of herself.

June 11, 2008 11:51 AM
 

Chiken said:

General inability to write a coherent sentence?  That's rather harsh and, in my opinion, untrue.  To my mind, the article makes significantly more sense than your post.  Maybe Trunk didn't note that the young-women-earn-more-than-young-men statistic applies only in cities such as New York, but that hardly impacts her thesis.

June 11, 2008 1:57 PM
 

Amy said:

I read Penelope Trunk's column in blog on a regular basis.  She's like a friend I can get along with 75% of the time, and the other 25% I want to ask "What's wrong with you?"  I personally think she writes like she's a bit stuck on herself as well.

June 11, 2008 6:10 PM
 

steffmarcusky said:

I dunno, I thought it was pretty interesting. At first I wasn't impressed with the whole "we chose to go to work because we want to get away from our kids", not because we need the money. Then I remembered how I've said before that I would go out of my mind staying home with the Boy. Interesting

June 11, 2008 9:52 PM
 

Karen said:

She does misrepresent and/or misunderstand the salary data but she does make a few good points. Funnily enough, she does call out the the anecdotal self-reported parenting data in parenting porn. Besides the data topics, I think she makes enough good points that the bad points don't make me need to dismiss her outright.

June 11, 2008 10:47 PM
 

cocosmalls said:

her comment about being asked who is with the kids becoming normal instead of offensive is so true and i think really the heart of her issue.  men ask me all the time, but  no one asks my husband ever-EXCEPT when i am in his office consulting, all the sudden his co-workers ask him where our kids are.  the good part is he gets it....

June 12, 2008 8:41 PM

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