Together we have co-written a blog about mothering and writing since 2011 and we continue enjoying the twists and turns of thinking through sharing, disclosure and self-censoring in digital writing situations. As feminists, we are grappling with ways to invoke privacy values and boundary setting in a liberatory tradition that celebrates the female voice and the possibilities of self-expression.

As teachers / writers / scholars, we have a longstanding interest in the reflective, educative, and revelatory nature of personal writing. Does writing a parenting blog necessitate presenting news about close relations and relationships? What is frank and fair and what constitutes stepping over the line in talking about others? What are dangers of unsanctioned digital talk? Are there measures or flexible standards to guide how much to reveal about self and others, and how do these questions play out for bloggers with an online presence?
ABOUT

Mommy Blog Lines: Ta[l]king Care is authored by Jaqueline McLeod Rogers and Fiona Joy Green from the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We are mothers of adult children and also interested in exploring the ethics of mommy blogging. We all make decisions about protecting privacy, consciously or not. We want to offer space for open discussion and reflection on this decision making process.

We first began writing together under a different blog: Fluid Maternities: Gender Fluid Parenting and the Blogosphere in November of 2011. We saw this as a place to talk about fluid practices needed when parenting adult children. At that time we chose to keep our identities anonymous because we felt identifying ourselves might pose ethical problems in relation to our families. And we were right! Blogging about adult children was fraught with issues related to personal disclosure about our adult kids that breached their privacy. Fiona’s response was to write about her general observations of parenting, mommy bashing, feminist mothering, and issues of identity. Jaque, too, wrote about an increasing general interest in mommy blogging, relational identity, and the work of witnessing and listening to difficult subjects. these blogs are now archived on Fluid Maternities: Gender Fluid Parenting and the Blogosphere.

By February 2012 our concern with ethics and blogging about family members, particularly children, was a topic of our blogging and has stayed with us. It inspired us to find out more about what other bloggers are thinking and doing in relation to writing about their kids. We attended the BlogHer12 conference in New York City in July 2012. (for our reflections on BlogHer12 see http://fluidmaternities.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/we-went-to-blogher-and-learned/ and http://fluidmaternities.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/reflections-on-blogher12/).

Our time at BlogHer12 solidified our commitment to talking about the need to be respectful of the privacy of children (regardless of their age) and to open up the discussion further. To that end, we have changed the name of our blog to Mommy Blog Lines: Ta[l]king Care and have also committed to being as transparent and as responsible as possible for the words we post in our blog by using our full names and posting an image of ourselves here.

We use the title “Mommy Blog Lines” to extend and play with the concept “motherlines” frequently used in motherhood studies to refer to the relational connections among women and their children through time. The term resonates with our blog project that proposes to use and examine words or “lines” to talk about taking care of parent-child relationships.

We’re hoping this blog serves as a place for communal discussion, where multiple voices can be spoken, listened to, and shared. We know you’re out there making decisions about parenting and telling. We hope to make our blog an interactive place where you can find space to share, reflect and come to terms with your own personal-privacy code which likely changes. You may hear the voices of others who share similar experiences and responses, or voices that offer different perspectives or approaches.

We invite you to check our bi-weekly posts and offer any comments or challenges you care to share.

 
Fiona Green
... is a feminist mother, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg, and loves to cycle.
Jaqueline McLeod Rogers
... is a mom of two young adult daughters. I received a Ph. D. for studying fiction by women, and have always worked full time as a professor with an interest in writing and women’s experiences.
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