I didn’t plan for this week to be a series of anti-Babble rants, but it is turning out that way. First Babble tried to deceive nursing moms experiencing difficulties by telling them to call Similac’s feeding hotline. Then I found out that they have been violating the trademark of Ann Douglas, one of my favourite parenting authors, which reminded me of the time Babble stole photos off of flickr from Sweet Juniper blogger (which is apparently not the only time that happened). I also learned from Danielle Friedland (@that_danielle) that they helped themselves to content from the Celebrity Baby Blog that they did not have the rights to.
And then…
Babble’s 50 Best Twitter Moms
My name appeared on a list. Babble’s list of the Top 50 moms of twitter. Initially I was honoured to be recognized and included (and also a bit surprised given my anti-Babble rant last week). There are a lot of fabulous women on the list and there were also a lot of fabulous women missing. That is always the case. Not everyone can be included on a list. But this wasn’t just an issue of Babble having forgotten to list some of my best friends. Instead, Babble left out major segments of the population in favour of an almost exclusively white list. As Renee from Womanist Musings said in her post on the issue, this is not uncommon behaviour:
When these lists come out, they usually have one thing in common, they privielge dominant bodies. In this case, this list of great twitter moms amounts to a White woman’s convention. There is a decided lack of mothers of colour. Of course, they probably didn’t mean to be racist, but then White women never do when they are busy promoting themselves. I find it interesting that whenever men put together a list of the fifty best ___ White women are immediately on the bull horn to yell about their exclusion but somehow, when they are in the seat of power they have no problem using racism to uplift themselves.
There are two black women on Babble’s list and, while I don’t have a copy of each person on the Babble list’s Census form in my hands, I would venture a guess that a maximum of five of them (or 10% of the list) would identify as women of colour. In the United States, around 75% of the population identifies as white alone, meaning that 25% of the population is made up of other ethnicities.
Maybe it is because I’m Canadian, maybe it is because I live in a government town, but whatever the reason I have learned over the years to consider diversity and to ensure that I make choices that are inclusive – not just because it is good politics, but also because being inclusive is the right thing to do. No one wants to be left out, everyone deserves to see people like them reflected in society, and a diverse society is richer than a homogeneous one. I am not perfect all of the time, but if someone does call me out on a lack of diversity in something I’ve worked on, I would at least acknowledge the mistake (instead of being defensive and trying to deny it by pointing some token diversity) and I would either fix it, or if it was too late to fix, I would apologize and ensure it didn’t happen again.
My List of Amazing Moms of Colour
So, while I can’t fix Babble’s mistake for them or apologize on their behalf, and since they certainly aren’t doing that, I thought I would use the space on this blog to celebrate some of the great moms of colour on twitter.
I decided to focus on moms with more than 2,000 followers, since that seemed to be at least part of the criteria for the Babble list (#50 on their list has around 2,400 followers). This doesn’t mean that they are “better” than other moms out there on twitter (there are lots of amazing people with small followings), but it does mean that they are ones Babble should have been looking at for this list. Most of the moms of this list I have been following for a while and a few of them I added yesterday as I started pulling together this list. I’m sure there are many many others out there, but I was focusing primarily on those that I’m already familiar with. It really isn’t hard to find amazing moms of colour on twitter, unless you’re keeping your eyes closed.
So, here they are…listed in order of number of followers:
- @mombloggersclub – 17,923
- @blogdiva – 10,670
- @bizziemommy – 10,462
- @ReneeJRoss – 9,620
- @nycitymama – 7,328
- @BabyMakingMama – 6,952
- @mominthecity – 6,949
- @ModernMami – 6,841
- @sheenatatum – 6,311
- @momconfessional – 5,809
- @mommyniri – 5,632
- @MicheleDortch – 5,395
- @thinkmaya – 5,352
- @chookooloonks – 5,093
- @bostonmamas – 4,829
- @yayayarndiva – 4,279
- @DarleneMacAuley – 3,926
- @ADramaticMommy – 3,747
- @AskWifey – 3,438
- @womanistmusings – 3,300
- @lexirodrigo – 3,270
- @momnoir – 2,809
- @veronicaeye – 2,760
- @TheChattyMama – 2,636
- @MyBrownBaby – 2,601
- @PPDiva – 2,444
- @blacktating – 2,377
- @MommyReporter - 2,349
- @cyn3matic – 2,221
- @playactivities – 2,168
- @mamasonbedrest - 2,118
- @cosmicgirlie - 2,093
- @mariestroughter – 2,033
And that is just a start. In addition to being more ethnically representative, the Babble list could also have sought to be more diverse in other ways including sexual orientation (e.g. lesbian moms such as @debontherocks, @lesbiandad) and moms with disabilities (e.g. @deafmom).
Even if Babble doesn’t recognize these moms, I certainly do and I hope you will too. If there are other amazing moms of colour that you follow on twitter (or if you are one yourself), please list them in the comments. I’d love to follow them too.
{ 81 comments… read them below or add one }
I wish that there were more lists like this for child-free bloggers. Seems like everything is about mommy bloggers.
Lisa:
Babble is a website for parents, so I think it makes sense for them to focus on moms and dads (where is the dads list?). But it would be great if others would create lists too.
I honestly wouldn’t now who to put on a list, or how one would develop a list. I don’t like sorting it by number of followers.
As someone who has a parenting blog and two fashion blogs, I know that there are lists like this for most any niche out there. Not everything is about Mommy bloggers. Gosh right now with New York Fashion Week and various cities hosting Fashion’s Night Out, it feels as though everything is about fashion bloggers. And then sometimes it’s all about cooking bloggers or decor bloggers or travel bloggers. You just need to network with the niche that fits your blog.
Though I must say when larger companies or Web sites make a list of the top blah blah bloggers, the list is usually full of white bloggers, and often based upon followers and not content….
I’m glad you pointed this out. I’m going to go back to the list now.
I thought the list was interesting. In many ways, the same old group. How many of those folks actually interact with their followers? I’ve been on Twitter since 2007. My blog suffered because of it for a long time, but I loved it because of the immediate conversations and because it allowed me to develop relationships with all sorts of people from all over the world–because I got diverse viewpoints.
Love many of the women you listed. Going to get to know the ones I don’t.
It’s obvious that many people are missing from the list – ethnicity, cultural identification, AND just because they’re plain awesome and should be on it.
But I’m guessing there are probably a few more folks than you have listed, like myself, that might consider themselves to be bi-racial and/or women of color; I’m of Asian descent. There’s a whole other issue – not being “diverse” enough.
Speaking of which, there are a myriad issues about multiculturalism, twitter, and the blogosphere, so it’s difficult to encompass them in one comment, but I do agree that it (and its many facets) should continue to be addressed, questioned, and examined.
Interesting…just looked at the list again and it looks like there are three Asian moms: you, Anissa and Asha from Parent Hacks. I didn’t notice any Latina moms, which is very strange. Latinos make up about 13% of the US population, Asians about 5% and African-Americans about another 13%. I can think of a LOT of Latina moms who should’ve been on that list. I know these things are always very arbitrary but I think they left a lot of major players out who aren’t white. And as Rene said, if there were a list of Top 50 Bloggers on Twitter and there were only 5 women on that list, I think many of us would have had a huge problem with that.
I also noticed that lack of ethnic diversity on that list. Thanks for putting together this list. I also recommend @nycitymama and @mominthecity.
Thank you for the suggestions Kim. I’ll check them out later and add them on twitter.
Just went to Ann’s site and realize they are STILL using “The mother of all blogs” as their tagline a year later. WTF?!
Thanks for including me and my mug!
As for Asian moms, I always count them as women of color. But even with them, still a lack of diversity on the Babble list.
I do appreciate you starting a conversation about having more diversity on such lists. Thanks for including me on your list too.
I think you are being a bit harsh with this Babble criticism. By your standards, you should never have posted your nummies video this past Wednesday – after all, it only has 1 black mom and is definitely not statistically representative of diversity. You can see racism in just about anything if you try hard enough.
Otherwise – I love your blog. Back to lurking now.
Fate:
I think it is always better to err on the side of more inclusion rather than less. However, I do think the Nummies video was more representative than the Babble list. Nummies is a Canadian company and the video was produced in Canada. I remember Alison recruiting volunteers for it, so I’m pretty sure she wasn’t handpicking people she thought would be “best”. I just watched the video again and I count about 20 women in it, of which:
1 is Black
2 are Asian
14 are most likely white-only
3 could be white only, but might not be
That is not bad, considering that in Canada only 16% of the population are (what we call) visible minorities. Of those, most are Asian (around 10% of Canadians) and only a small percentage are black (2.5% of Canadians).
As I said, more diversity is always better in my books and there probably was room for more of it in the Nummies video, but I think it did a better job of at least matching the population than the Babble list did.
I didn’t realize that nummies was canadian. It does make more sense from a canadian viewpoint – 1 black is inadequate for American statistics.
A, I have been following your Babble posts with interest and admiration (sorry, I’ve been a bad commenter lately and am trying to get better about that!) and I commend you for thinking here with a constructively critical eye in a situation where it would be easy enough to simply enjoy the honor of inclusion. The constructive thinking is what the community appreciates in you and the inclusion is well deserved by the way.
I think this list is really wonderful (and I’d be saying that even if I weren’t on it) and I look forward to learning more about all of these women. At BlogHer in Chicago I felt so energized and happy to connect with the community of women bloggers of color — it’s part of my identity that is obvious but I haven’t always felt comfortable in my skin (due to growing up in a 99.9% Caucasian super judgmental and affluent suburb of Boston).
Anyway, thanks for not only drawing light to the issue, but for putting together the list. And I second Kim’s mentions of @nycitymama and @mominthecity — both are passionate community connectors and Kim (of Mom in the City) is one of the smartest and thoughtful bloggers on the planet.
-Christine
Look, I think the list is great. I was pleased that there were some list “newbies” on there who totally deserved it. Now was the list incomplete? Absolutely. Part of the issue may be that 50 is never enough to check every box. While I was also shocked not to see Renee on there, or @chookooloonks, I was equally surprised not to see @designmom or @queenofspain listed. Let alone @dooce.
Here are a few I would add:
I second (or third? fourth?) Christine’s suggestions above, with Christine of course at the very top of my list.
I’d also add Liza Sabater (@blogdiva -10685 followers) who doesn’t quite run with the mommy blog crowd, but is the influential publisher of CultureKitchen, and genius on twitter.
Glennia (@glennia – 4555 followers) is the co-founder of Momocrats and I love following her. Same with Stefania Butler (@citymama – 5358 followers) who is also co-founder of Clever Girls Collective. Okay, so I admit I’m partial to all the Momocrats.
Jennifer James is a huge oversight (@mombloggersclub – 17,955 followers).
And do they all have to be bloggers? Because Holly Robinson Peete (@hollyrpeete -55,130 followers) is super active, and an outspoken autism advocate.
One side thought – if we’re getting into fair population representation as some people suggest, we should looking at the population on Twitter, not in the continent. For example, Mormons make up about 2% of the US but happen to have very prominent voices on twitter and are strongly represented in this list.
Mom101:
I’m not sure if your additions were intended as additions to my list or to Babble’s list. All great suggestions in any case and in terms of my list, @mombloggersclub and @blogdiva were certainly two that came to mind immediately and that were included on my list. Liza (@blogdiva) was one of the first people I followed on twitter and is still one of my faves.
If we are looking at the population of Twitter, then the list is even more glaringly inaccurate. Black people make up 25% of Twitter users. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/twitter-disproportionately-popular-black-users/story?id=10561451
Thanks Elita, I remember seeing that article and it was really impressive.
So now I’d like to ask, what is the percentage of black moms on Twitter? And then do we consider the percentage of Black moms who discuss more than just Black mom issues? I would ask the same question about homeschoolers, Mormons, Jews, evangelical Christians, or geo-local boggers, by the way. If you self-identify as a niche blogger, does that change anything? And are we simply looking for diversity, or are we looking for diversity that still appeals to a general mom audience or specifically to Babble’s own audience?
Then we can start going to the questions like why aren’t there more black moms on Twitter that have followers in the 10-50,000 range in the first place? As Kristen (Motherhood Uncensored) said above, boy, there are a lot of issues here.
Mom101 — What, exactly, is a “Black mom issue”? And how is it different from a “White mom issue” which, as a white woman with a kid, is I presume what I write about? And given that I write about the intersection of race and parenting, and am apparently “controversial” for doing so, how would what a Black mom writes be any more niche than what I write?
Or is it that when white women write about being a mom, they appeal to “everyone”, but when a black woman does, then it’s “niche”, because us white folks can’t be bothered to care about anyone who doesn’t look like us even at the same time we expect everyone to care about what we say?
And if this comes across as particularly snarky, it’s only because I’ve been reading a lot of Babble and racism apologism today and it’s all starting to blend together and I’m getting short-tempered. So you might be catching some flack that rightly belongs to about a hundred other people, too.
(But hey, I am supposed to be controversial, right?)
Arwyn, I’m not Mom101 but I can think of some “black mom” issues right off the top of my head, based on things my friends and I have discussed: lack of BFing support in the African American community, discrimination within the Af-A community towards the darker-skinned children/preferential treatment for lighter-skinned kids (this was an issue in my best friend’s extended family), problems with teachers and school administrators placing a higher burden on children of color (my neighbor had this problem last year in AZ in our sons’ Kindergarden class, and I had it for years with my oldest son who does look “ethnic”).
And unfortunately, even in this “post-racial” society (which is BS), I’ll paraphrase you and say that most white folks *can’t* be bothered to care about anyone who doesn’t look like them, even at the same time they expect everyone to care about what *they* say. Just look at all the white people in AZ saying that SB1070 is *not* racist! It’d be so much easier if most people would be honest and cop to what they really think & feel. Sometimes I think it’s easier to deal with the blatant racists, because at least they’re honest, whereby lots of supposedly non-racist people have all sorts of prejudices they act on and then try to disguise. But you’re well aware of that, no? How many times do people say that they’re sick of the race card being played?
Did you guys check that link to Amazon’s cover contest I linked to on Twitter this morning? I was stunned that in the first 30 covers, only two had POC (one of them being Obama, so that was a gimme, really). Then go to the “Most Controversial” choices and all but one were POC. That’s some skewed numbers! And I think worse than the Babble ish because we’re talking MSM magazine *covers*, submitted by their editors for voting on *Amazon*. Waaaay more exposure than Babble, that very niche little blip on the web.
Thanks Micaela –
and Arwyn, whoa lady, don’t assume the worst of me, or what you think I can or can’t be “bothered” to care about. Sorry you’re having a bad day.
Let’s start over from a non-accusatory place, okay? I’d hate this conversation to be emblematic of PHD’s question as to why people are reluctant to publicly discuss race.
Many blogging mothers self-identify as say, Black mothers, Latina mothers, homeschooling mothers, urban mothers, evangelical mothers, Jewish mothers, attachment parenting mothers, single mothers, and their blogs focus on issues specific and relevant to those groups. If you read Kimchi Mamas for example, it’s specific to the Korean-American parenting experience. I check in from time to time, and plenty of those women write personal blogs that are at the top of my list; but while that community site is interesting to me from a sociological perspective and I feel more in touch by reading it, I admit it doesn’t engage me in the same way as a blog that covers topics I myself am experiencing first-hand. I doubt this statement would be offensive to them.
I don’t read too many homeschooling mom blogs either, or mom blogs that quote psalms. It doesn’t make those blogs any less relevant or wonderful or important in the scheme of the greater community. It just makes them less general.
Arwyn, Micaela, Mom101:
I think perhaps where this discussion got off track was with the concept of a “general mom audience.” Does such a thing exist?
I can understand Mom101 saying that there are some blogs she reads in order to understand the perspectives of people who are different from her in some way and others she reads because she can relate more closely to what is being said. I feel the same way. I read a lot of blogs specifically to broaden my horizons. I think it is important that I do so because I think that my writing on parenting issues is less valid and less representative if I do not have the perspectives of more than just the upper-middle class able-bodied male-partnered white mom.
But I don’t ever assume that my articles are going to appeal to a “general mom audience.” One of the things I like the most about the blogosphere and twitter is that there is room for so many different perspectives. However, I do still think that some voices get heard more loudly than others and get validated more so than others. I don’t know that it necessarily makes them more relevant to the “general mom” audience though.
To take one example, it is “back to school” for a lot of families. Right off the bat, the content around back to school isn’t relevant to homeschooling families. But within those that are going “back to school” a post on an issue like “school lunches” might sound like it is going to have “general mom” appeal. However, a post about how to come up with interesting, yet nutritious school lunches is only really going to appeal to the middle class audience. The lower income moms are more worried about being able to put any food in their kids lunches, period. The higher income moms have the nanny or the private school lunch program feeding their kids, so they aren’t interested either.
I find that reading different perspectives on many issues like this is extremely important. To give another example, everyone was rallying around Lenore Skenazy’s take your kids to the park and leave them there campaign. Great idea, right? Us helicopter parents need to learn to let go. She is leading the charge. Well, not everyone sees things quite the same way and I was interested to read @mamitamala’s take on why Free Range isn’t accessible to everyone: http://www.lamamitamala.com/blog/?p=720.
On any issue, even if it seems like a “general mom” issue, there are going to be different perspectives and I think it would be very rare to find a topic and perspective that is universal.
I’m adding @chookooloonks to my list. I thought of her as I was writing my list, but wasn’t sure if she was a mom or not until I was reminded that she is on Momversation.
With regards to @dooce, I agree she belongs on any list of Top Bloggers, but I wouldn’t put her on a list of top people on twitter, since her tweets are pretty much one-way communications. I think to be tops on twitter, you need to be engaging with people there. Just my opinion though.
A great post. It’s funny how I always never notice such things. I’m of Chinese decent and am honored to be a part of the new nominations, although I feel strongly that I don’t belong to part of such a great list of people. I did notice at BlogHer the lack of Asian bloggers that I was so excited to meet @BostonMamas at an event.
I also second or third actually @nycitymama and @mominthecity. I love Carol and Kim. They are wonderfully engaging without losing their identity. Another miss was @MommyNiri, she’s a sweetheart!
I am completely embarrassed to have forgotten @mommyniri. I have now added her, as well as @nycitymama and @mominthecity (two new people to me) to my list.
@MomConfessional:
Of course I have added you now too.
Thank you for writing about this.
As soon as the list was released, I tweeted that it was a good thing I was not looking for diversity. *insert punch on the good old sarcasm button.* In fact, no one responded; Babble or other followers. Then, I wrote about it on my blog. According to initial census figures, 35% of people in the U.S. are minorities. Babble, by their list, is at a striking 8%.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of women ON the list did not take Babble to task, which, to me, is acquiescence of the oversight and gross exclusion. But let’s be honest, this isn’t something new. It’s just more of the same and until white women stop congratulating themselves and start looking out for EVERYONE, it will continue.
Here’s my post about it: http://sixyearitch.com/2010/09/10/diversified-babble/
I loved your blog post!
I want to commend you for highlighting that huge oversight on Babble’s part and for giving this issue the attention it deserves. Many of us in the blogging world know that this happens far too often. Also, I’m so glad you made a list of deserving nominees since I found quite a few new amazing mamas to follow on Twitter!
-Aimee
Also want to commend you for actually linking to the Twitter accounts of these great bloggers so we can visit them and decide to follow. Babble just linked back to their site which was frustrating and didn’t help promote those on the list.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how I ended up on their list. I never tweet while at work (my severe spanking several years ago has not healed yet) and I barely have time when I’m home. I agree that there are many others who are far more entertaining and interesting. I echo your debontherocks, and many others on your list. Now, pass me a cookie.
as the token member of the original babble top 50 mombloggers with a penis, I have to chime in.
I live in the poorest and blackest major city in North America. I also happen to be one of few blogging voices coming out of this city. I have wrestled with this more than anyone knows.
I think the an even bigger issue is that blogging and the tools we use to do it make it a medium for the privileged; laptops, dslrs, smartphones, and leisure.
When I was in law school, my university was involved in affirmative action lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court, and this topic was always on everyone’s mind: should people be given special attention simply because of their race? I think the question posed in this post is equally useful: should Babble have paid attention to moms on twitter to make their list more representative of demographics, simply to make the list more representative? Or should we talk about WHY there aren’t more “women of color” (particularly poor, working-class “women of color”) participating in these online conversations.
But that leads us to the ugly discussion of whether the blogging and twitter universes are representative of real world racial AND CLASS demographics in the first place. One could argue that blogging and twitter just aren’t on the radar of poor people who only have access to computers in public libraries, who have to take several buses to poor-paying jobs w/o health care benefits. And that’s not Babble’s fault.
I can’t believe I just sort of defended Babble.
jdg:
The points you raise are all good ones and important ones. I agree that if there are not a lot of poor, working-class women of colour on twitter, then that isn’t Babble’s fault. However, there are certainly a lot of prominent, strong women of colour on twitter who were overlooked in favour of an almost completely white list. Two issues, related perhaps, one of which is Babble’s business and another of which it COULD make part of its business if it wanted to.
Actually, if we are talking specifically about Twitter, the digital divide really doesn’t apply. As I linked above, black folks are actually overrepresented on Twitter. Even though many poor folks can’t afford a computer and monthly fees for access to the internet, the wide availability (and relatively low cost) of smart phones is making it much easier for poor people and people of color to get online, particularly to a microblogging site like Twitter. There is a service in the US that provides free cell phones to low income folks and companies like Metro PCS offer cheap cell phone plans that do not require a line of credit because once your minutes are up for the month, the phone no longer works. There was actually a whole piece on this on NPR within the last few months, explaining how and why Twitter is so popular amongst minorities and those with low incomes.
Me: http://twitter.com/cyn3matic
I’m in that very small Venn diagram overlap of WOC/Political mom bloggers.
I read, but didn’t have much to add at first. My only thought was that latina bloggers seemed also very under represented. Which led me to brainstorm lists of Latina “power” Twitter moms. And, I didn’t get very far so felt like I didn’t have much to add. Honestly, the list seemed so short sighted. I think one person, at most one writer and editor came up with the whole thing so it was just Twitter as that writer saw it.
Kristine:
That is certainly part of the challenge – i.e. the fact that it is one writer. However, I sometimes do work that requires me to identify the “best” of something. When I do, I sit down with my clients, and a group of other stakeholders, and identify the criteria that is going to be used for that assessment. I also have other people check my work to ensure that I haven’t missed anything.
Thanks for the new list!
It’s so easy to forget how wide the web is, and that at any given time you are only seeing the little snippet that you’ve decided to open up. Sometimes I realize that something is lacking in my virtual social circle, only to realize that it’s lacking because I neglected to include it.
I’ll be checking out your list, and following some new mommies (I’d love to see some daddies, too!)
Thanks for posting this! Love it when people point out stuff like this. Most white people don’t even notice. I do wonder why people aren’t commenting. Is it because they aren’t sure what to say or do they disagree with you but don’t want to be called racist? I don’t see this as “racist” in the purest sense of the word but it’s sure ignorant and discriminating—that said I don’t get to decide that as a White woman, and there is more than one definition of the word. @blacktating also posted a while ago that I think in Better Homes and Gardens or one of those women’s mags that they had bloggers with no one of color in that article too. there are some great Black women bloggers and I agree that they should be included for sure.
Thanks again. Let’s keep this stuff in the open. Call it as you see it. Good job.
I have waves of white guilt in my life (including one right now) and at the moment I just don’t know how to comment on race issues at the moment.
know who else is missing? Aboriginals….. Are there any mommy bloggers of Aboriginal heritage?
Yes, there are.
Anna:
Could you suggest a few? I would love to follow/read them.
I don’t read Babble, I’ve never liked it. One of the reasons is that I do feel it’s very white/upper middle class-centric, so I’m not the least surprised by this list. I don’t demand that their list – or their articles, for that matter be exactly representative of the population, but to completely ignore part of the population, especially when that population is well-represented on Twitter, seems really closed minded to me.
Even though when I mentioned on Twitter these lists lack diversity, I didn’t only mean from a white/black/latina point of view but I agree 100% with what you are saying Jerseygirl89. I just get a bit tired of seeing the same names thrown on these lists. I would love for Babble to possibly do a list of new moms to follow and shine some light on the unknowns. I am sure there are a ton out there with a decent amount of followers (how much of these numbers are spam anyway?) that engage with people and have lots to say. When I talk about diversifying the list, shake it up a bit-and adding 3 or 4 to the usual suspects is not diversity.
I’m always looking for other mothers of color to follow on Twitter. I usually go to my friends list and follow people from there.
Thanks for raising this issue and using your voice in such a clear manner. Congrats for being on the list and choosing to speak out as well. Bravo.
It’s an interesting discussion that touches all types of lists of Top 10 or Top 100s etc; there’s often a celebration/concentration of just the top. I like to know the new and notetable or up and coming people too. It’s my favourite part of iTunes
that section.
The lack of diversity probably reflects the fact that Babble doesn’t mix in a diverse enough network itself to have missed so many awesome ladies. How big an oversight is Jennifer James and Rene?
There are so many amazing women of colour on Twitter doing their thing without recognition from Top of the X lists. Congratulations to those that made it this time around and those that will in the future.
Thanks for including me in your list.
So let me get this straight….one person ( @mamaista ) was asked to pick the 50 top twitter Moms by babble.com. Top meaning what? Her personal opinion of them? Whether they have a blog or not? Whether they have interacted with her? How long they have been on twitter? How active they are? Why does what @mamaista think mean anything to ME? Maybe the list should be renamed to “Who I like on twitter”.
I don’t understand what I am missing about #woc on twitter. Is there an icon or twibbon I am not seeing that identifies them? I can honestly say I have never followed (or not followed) anyone on twitter due to their ethnicity. How would I even know that for every person? Sure, some are obvious by name or picture, but not always. Why does that matter? If I relate to other Moms that use cloth diapers, why would I care about their ethnic background?
What about minorities such as Greek or American Indian? How can you determine that by a person’s twitter avatar? It is some weird requirement that I missed to disclose your ethnicity when signing up for twitter?
I guess my problem with this line of thinking is that each person has their own definition of who they like to interact with, whether IRL friends, or on twitter. Their choice is most likely based on common interests and similarities; whether it be parenting style, physical location, political views, or sense of humor. I don’t think that is limited to one ethnicity.
I could care less what @mamista thinks when I decide who to interact with on twitter anymore than knowing whether a person is a Mom or not plays into that decision. I don’t play into the sheep mentality.
BTW: Can I have a definition for #woc? Does this just mean everyone except White (not Hispanic/Latino)?
discussing race is SO complicated and energy-consuming that I didn’t have it in me yesterday. But yes, all this (^Laura’s comment). I understand and recognize that we need to do more to diversify the images that we’re exposed to, that our children are exposed to, as far as who is successful in our world. That’s the only way to fight back against the ever-present fear of “The Other” that threatens to take over our society on a fairly regular basis. This morning I saw that New York Magazine cover that had slurs scrawled all over Obama’s face (9/28/09), and I cried. We owe our children better. Here’s the thing tho: as Laura pointed out, you can’t always tell someone’s ethnicity by looking at them — Magda from Ask Moxie is Hispanic (on her mother’s side, IIRC), for example. If you look at pictures of me, either alone or with my husband and youngest child, you would assume that I’m just another “white woman in a position of privilege”. But I’m actually a very fair-skinned Puerto Rican, and have encountered prejudice not only among white people but also “my” people, which hurts me even more. And therein lies the rub. I’ve had people who look at my skin color and, not knowing my history, dismiss my thoughts and opinions on matters of race, I’m completely shut out and invalidated. It’s frustrating and, honestly?, I’d rather spend more of my energy promoting breastfeeding, birthing education & empowerment, babywearing, comprehensive family leave & health care policies that benefit all families, so that in the end it doesn’t matter what ethnic background you come from because what I’m advocating is/should be race-neutral.
How well does Babble represent the interests of minorities in general anyway? They certainly hold no interest for me — I checked them out when they started up and quickly realized it I was not in their demo.
So yes, let’s tell Babble that there are plenty of non-white twitterers that are awesome, show them your list and then? Let’s please move on to other, greater issues that are affecting women, mothers of ALL colors.
Micaela:
I agree that we need to focus on issues that affect women, mothers of all colours, with an understanding that they do not always affect all mothers of all colours in the same way or equally.
Laura:
I also interact with people on twitter based on common interests, not race. However, if my twitter following list (by chance or design) was exclusively (or almost exclusively) demographically identical to me, then I would be missing out on the experiences and wisdom of other segments of the population. When I talk about cloth diapers, I need to understand that people who are living paycheck to paycheck in rental housing and that have to walk several blocks to a laundromat face different barriers than I do. I need to understand that people without access to the Canadian healthcare system may not have the same choices with regards to where and how to give birth that I have. I need to understand that women of colour face different barriers to breastfeeding than I do as a white woman. I am less likely to understand those things if I am only following middle-class, Canadian, white moms than if I am following moms with different experiences than mine.
All that said, yes, I follow people based on common interest. But I also follow people to learn and to stretch my understanding of the world. If I do not broaden my circle to include people who are not just like me, then I may inadvertently be propping up and further ingraining my privilege over others rather than working to break down barriers.
With regards to a definition of women of colour (#woc), here is one on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_of_color. Perhaps others have better/different definitions to point to. In Canada the term more commonly used is “visible minority”, which is similar to the definition of people of colour except that it conceptually seems to exclude those who pass as exclusively white (even if they are not exclusively white).
Sorry for any confusion, I did not mean that I would be following people on twitter with the same interests AND demographics. I enjoy interacting with people that have differing opinions, background, demographics, etc. What I meant was that the decision on who to follow/interact with is not based on ethnicity, but other factors that transcend race and/or ethnicity. I hope that makes sense, becuase it does in my head.
Thanks for adding me to your list, Annie!
When I saw the list l really wasn’t surprised that many WOC weren’t on it because I’m not so sure WOC are a huge part of their readership. I don’t read Babble, but I can understand where their list suggestions came from. They recommended moms who (I guess) their readers would most resonate with. I can respect that.
I followed a couple of your tweets last week and when I read their justification about number of followers, I knew that was bogus. Hello @Dooce and even @Twittermoms if that were the case.
Great post!
I don’t follow lists because most are well, elitist. The same group of people and normally their friends and cliques. I can barely fathom how they choose the “influencer” etc but feel no surprise or disappointment that I won’t make any list. Thanks Suzanne (@momconfessional) for mentioning me and thank you for including me, though I would have remained a fan of yours even had I been omitted.
Coming from South Africa race is a sensitive subject with me and I really appreciate you standing up for shedding light on this topic. The fact that you were brave enough to mention this in your well-read blog is another reason I have to respect you (more).
Thanks
Niri
This is an interesting discussion that I have been having offline with some local (NYC) blogger friends. As soon as the list came out, people started asking questions/making accusations – only 2 Blacks, no Latinas, etc.. Really, I think the fault is the way that Babble frames these “lists”. Instead of being a definitive “Top 50 Twitter Moms” list, it was in reality a “Top 50 Moms That @Mamaista Likes on Twitter”. (But then again, that framing wouldn’t have prompted as many page views and discussions, right?)
I don’t necessarily think that Mamaista is inherently racist, homophobic, etc. (I don’t know her to say one way or the other.) I think that she simply highlighted her friends and the people that she enjoys following on twitter. Given the same assignment, each of us would have a totally different list. (I know that mines would be weighted more heavily towards NYC area bloggers and bloggers of color. It wouldn’t be because I have a bias AGAINST other twitter folks. It would just be because I don’t know them in order to recommend them.)
Besides the framing, the other thing that made me shake my head was Babble’s dishonesty. I was reading the Womanist Musing post that you mentioned and one of Babble’s community managers made the most disingenuous comments. “It couldn’t be racist because it was based on numbers of follower.” That’s obviously not true because many of the people that you listed on this post have more followers than those that were on the list. Then, she followed with “It couldn’t be racist because there were 2 Black women on it.” Really? Did she notice that the two Black women both had the word “mocha” in their twitter handles. (Maybe it was me, but I found that hilarious. Nothing against the two that were included…I’m happy whenever any mom gets props!) I just left thinking, “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks”
Anyway, congrats to all who made the Babble list/ your list/ any (good) list. Hopefully, the next time “the list” will include more women of color who are actually active on twitter. Your list is a good starting point!
P.S. Thanks Kim M., Christine & Liz for the mentions. I’m so glad to know all of you!
Kimberly:
The responses from the Babble editor (both on Renee’s post and to me directly on twitter) maddened me so much. She obviously had no clue and was doing a great job of putting her foot in her mouth. I hate it when people speak first instead of thinking first.
“Top 50 Moms That @Mamaista Likes on Twitter” – bwhaha, that’s what I was meaning but you were more eloquent.
It makes sense to consider race because the United States has such a conspicuous history of treating blacks differently from whites. Obviously, imbalances as in this list make us think about complex sociological issues of lingering racism. However, we also should ask ourselves how diverse a list such as this is in terms of class. Do we see a range of income groups represented? My guess is that we do not.
When I first saw the list I had two thoughts. How come so few women of color and what the heck is Babble?
Then I found out it’s a parenting site for hipsters. When I hear the word hipster I think of white people that are not me.
I’m glad that Arwyn, some others and you have raised awareness of this issue. We don’t talk about race enough. As a white mom raising an multiracial child, I recently decided to search out a more diverse set of moms because I found that I didn’t relate to a lot of other moms out there that I was already following on Twitter. I feel like I fit in with everyone and no one.
Thanks for giving me some new moms to look into and thanks for starting a conversation about race and how we handle (or really ignore) these sorts of conversations. Let’s stop pretending we don’t need to talk more about these things.
Wow. I genuinely liked your blog, until I read this post. Why does it matter what color the skin is of the bloggers? The list was compiled based on the quality and popularity of the blogs, right? Aren’t the ratings based on the number of followers? Not based on what the women look like. I somehow doubt Babble specifically avoided choosing certain blogs, because their owner was black, asian or hispanic. Sounds a little backwards to even imply so. I’m from a government town, and a mixed race family. Can’t say I’ll be returning to your blog, but it certainly isn’t because of whatever color your skin may happen to be.
Lesley:
No, the ratings were not based on number of followers. It was a handpicked list. If it was based on number of followers it would have included some of the women I listed on this post and would have excluded some of the ones that were on the Babble list.
I’m not implying that Babble purposely left out bloggers of colour, but I do think it is possible that it is an unconscious thing. I think when developing a list that claims to be the Top 50 it is important to have clear criteria for selecting them.
Great discussion on diversity. A group that does a lot of important work on this issue — and that is always looking for contributions from mothers for books, discussion panels, etc. — is The Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (formerly ARM): http://www.motherhoodinitiative.org/
i’m waiting for babbles list of best jewish bloggers. i’m hoping to make that one at least.
actually, i think lists are stupid. but sadly, par for the bloggy course unfortunately.
You know what? As it’s Yom Kippur and all, I must confess that I would love to make that list as well. Probably the only one I’ll ever have a shot at making.
Any community worth calling itself a community is willing to look at this issue. The standard for inclusion is definitely higher if you are going to publish a Best Of list than with general projects, but even with projects we should be challenging our community to support and encourage diversity. It’s absurb to say that diverse women aren’t in the community, so we can’t include representative numbers. If that’s so, it’s because they don’t feel welcome or relevant. It’s actually continually shocking to me to see such blatant bias as revealed on the Babble list perpetuated and defended. We have a long way to go. Thanks for speaking up–and for the shoutout.
Hi!
1st of all, thank you for including me on your list
This was drawn to my attention a few days ago, and as you remember I was chuffed to bits! Having had time to step back and have a think, whilst I’m still chuffed, I’m also a bit sad by it all. I’m flattered to be on lists, but become wary of them because I always think there’s someone else who deserves to be on their! I don’t understand Babble – like a previous commenter said, I’d never heard of them before this, and it immediately became clear to me that whilst I don’t mind some of those on the list, it still looked horribly elitist. Is the criteria for the babble list pretty much just how many followers they have? Because if that’s the case then it’s a load of cock.
xx
There can be such stiff criteria for lists, and it’s a fact that not everyone will be happy. Some can be glaringly wrong, some can be almost spot on. I believe there’s a list for everyone, but get frustrated by the criteria that needs to be met.
On the flip side, I applaud you for recognizing diversity in colour also; I never forget going to BlogHer 10 and Cybermummy (UK version) and genuinely wondering if I was going to be a severe minority. I know you can’t please everyone, but it’s good to bring it to light. Much respect to you for raising this on your blog (which is clearly very popular!), subjecting yourself to some potential serious flaming!
The recognition is lovely. So thank you
jay:
I agree that there are many people who are amazing who aren’t on the Babble list and aren’t on my list either. I started out trying to list all of the amazing women of colour that I follow, but soon realized that (a) it would have taken me all weekend and (b) I would have missed someone who really deserved to be on it and that wouldn’t have been right.
That’s why I decided to simply list people I thought Babble should have been looking at given its assertion that number of followers was the big criteria. For me, quality of content and ability to connect is much more important than number of followers and there is plenty of that coming from people with much smaller followings than the people on any of these lists.
Well, first thank you for the conversation starter and the mention. I was directed to your post by a friend. I honestly don’t follow Babble, and never read them, and will confess that I looked at the list quickly because a few darling friends were listed, but have no idea what all else they have done or do or whatever.
Before I discuss the race thing, I want to say that I respect a lot of the people listed and I do respect and feel happy for their being recognized. I congratulated many of them as they announced their mention and meant it wholeheartedly. However, I feel that these lists do more damage to the community then they do good to the individual. What makes a mom a top twitterer, actually? Isn’t the point of social media to be genuine and honest and real or at least isn’t that what draws most of us to it? Not that these people aren’t, but there is no doubt that it will leave some others feeling as if they aren’t “doing it right”. I realize that not everyone on twitter or FB is 100% themselves, that money needs to be made, professional identities need to be protected, however, for most/some it’s about going on there and just talking and sharing and connecting, right? What makes my (general my) opinion or discussion less valuable or worthy of recognition than anyone else’s? And why should my friends, people whom I love as people and as bloggers/writers have to lower themselves to begging their readers for votes to make it onto “the list” to prove that they too deserve top anything mention? If they are great, shouldn’t they just be great and be done with it? I don’t know.
But at the same time, I don’t want to take away from how great those who are on there should feel. I am also thankful when listed on anything, I appreciate the mention and recognition, and flattered that someone noticed me. It’s a cool thing to be read and liked enough to be mentioned in a positive manner, anywhere.
Based on followers is an insane way to measure the value of any twitterer or blogger. I don’t follow a lot of hugely followed twitters simply because I don’t particularly find them interesting, so being listed based on how many followers anyone may have doesn’t affect me one way or another. I also have found some “popular bloggers” to be quite awful, as writers, as bloggers, and/or as human beings…so again, their continuous mention as “must reads” would not really apply to me.
Followed or mentioned based on race would be worse. I have been recognized by my community of Latinos as a Latina blogger, and even mentioned in some #WOC sites, however, my hope first and foremost would be that they like my content, and find some value in whatever it is they focus on, in me as a person. Being chosen as THE Latina or WOC of choice would eventually lead to disappointments because as a member of a biracial, multicultural family I wear a lot of hats on any given day and may seem less Latina, and less “of color” on some days then most people would like from someone “representing”. Cause really, what does a Latina blogger, WOC say, what would people expect me to talk about, specifically?
I have long stopped paying attention to lists, too much to even notice the whole color thing. Unless it’s a REAL list, like Forbes, or People Magazine : ) I would be pissed to be listed because a quota needed to be filled and hope I am never listed for that reason…I better be some freaking-incredible-amounts-of-awesome-in-a-whole-lot-of-other-things before the fact that I am Latina and of color is even mentioned.
Carol:
Thank you for reading my post and sharing your thoughts.
I absolutely agree that people should be recognized based on their merits and I don’t like the idea of someone being recognized because they help to fill a quota or allow a box to be checked off. I would also be pissed to be included for that reason.
However, I also see the value in quotas in some circumstances. For example, in Canadian universities, the professors used to be virtually all white males. When a position became available, there was probably a white male human resources person doing a first pass through the resumes and then a committee of white male professors looking at the prospective applicants. It is no wonder that they kept hiring white males. They were further entrenching the status quo and their privileged place within it. But then some universities put quotas in place that required a certain percentage of new hires to be women (I think, but I’m not sure, that there may have been quotas for people of colour too). If I was among the first wave of women who were hired and if I was hired instead of perhaps a more qualified male candidate, then I would feel a bit silly. However, hiring that first wave of women, and the next, and the next until there was more balance, eventually led to a situation where all candidates could be evaluated based on their merits because both genders were equally represented in the group that was selecting the new candidates.
From that perspective, I see some value in quotas as an interim measure until equality is achieved. But, more so than quotas, I think it is common sense for anyone who is making a list to simply consider diversity and question whether they truly developed a representative list or whether they just developed a list that would further entrench existing power structures. I don’t think a white mom should be bumped from the list and a black one added just to reach a quota. But I do think that if a list appears to be quite white, the list maker should question whether some people were missed who deserved to be there too.
Just my silly 2c – Coming from South Africa I used to hate affirmative action – thinking that everything should be equal. It took me a long time to understand that to counterbalance the inequalities an interim plan to pick up the group that was disadvantaged at some point needs to balance all out.
The point whether token people of race should be included based on race or not is not the point for me. The fact that many women of color should have been on that list, not because of their color but because they are more influential and deserve to be.
There are many on that list that I simply adore but many that I have never heard of as well.
I agree with your point in that the search for candidates should be expanded to go beyond “the norm” or people’s standard source of reference, or even beyond people’s comfort zone or what they are most familiar with. As far as universities reaching out to students of color, for example, most extend financial assistance in order to encourage minorities who in general lack the means to attend university (for all sorts of reasons and not saying that there are non-minorities who couldn’t use the help). But even those students need to have met academic requirements and compete in the pool of applicants. Even when looking to diverse it is important to, after finding the pool of minority candidates or pool of candidates of color, put the focus back on quality and experience and so forth. The eagerness to have a Latina involved in something, just to show “diversity” has often led to my feeling embarrassed even though non-Latinos might feel proud.
It’s important to expand one’s horizons so that it is inclusive and goes beyond the expected, but no matter what the color, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, who ever it is still has to be good if not great. It keeps us all trying our hardest and away from falling into that sense of entitlement that even many people of color suffer from.
Again thanks for starting the conversation…I think it’s courageous and takes a lot of patience to keep the dialogue going : )
I hear you Carol. I still remember when I started my job as a software engineer how I hated being told that I was there simply as they had a quota to fill. The fact that I was already qualified and had an engineering degree to boot made no difference how some saw me.
The idea was the quality should never be over looked – when both are equal then race – when quotas needed to be filled, can be looked as a secondary measure.
Feeling like we are just the colored face they needed to fit is a tough one. I always try to work doubly hard so people never have a doubt that my quality is why I was chosen. Having said that I am sadly still faced with people throwing little barbs. Oh and Carol, I just want to say you rock and I love having you as my friend.
you just got yourself another follower… *LOVE* what you wrote here!
Excellent comment and one that should be a post in and of itself.
Though I do think, given these are really just lists of peoples’ personal favorites, if there is little diversity in the list, might the not be a prompt for introspection.
And so many of the IMO glaring omissions are WOC. Elita is one of the most provocative moms on twitter, IMO. You are hysterical. Niri is so helpful.
Anyway, I especially appreciated what you said in terms of “white guilt”…you are there to do your thing, not represent a race or make someone else feel better.
At the same time, if all m favorite online people were white, I would wonder why.
Of two minds.
First, yes, these lists are always the “Top 50 people so-and-so likes” or possibly the “Top 50 people I want to like me”–several times I’ve thought of making my own such list and just being blunt about what it was–the top 50 people I think are interesting/influential/whatever.
Also love Liz @Mom101′s (and I’m paraphrasing because I’m being lazy) “list of 50 people who responded on twitter when I asked if they wanted to be on a list”. That’s a fun list.
Now, I am not really into PC and quotas. And I do see the point that some are making that a list’s diversity can ALWAYS be called into question–and not just based on visible or self-associated race. I also see the point that appearances can be deceiving, certainly.
HOWEVER, I think you have a very valid point here, Annie. When I saw the list, I immediately thought it looked rather white. And when you are putting together a list, with photos, the whiteness really might jump out at the person assembling it (in a way other factors might not).
And if it were just one list, just one campaign, just one whatever, it might not be a huge deal…but at this point, I think it is fair to say that anyone assembling a social media list should at the very least be seeking a balance of voices.
Your list is a great list and includes some of my favorite people on twitter.
Way to go with this post, Annie!
P.S. Can I be added to your list, too? I’m Greek…
By insisting that ‘women of color’ be included on this list you are encouraging labels. Why do you feel the need to label people? By labeling them ‘women of color’ you are belittling who they are and focusing on race. When I fill out a job application I refuse to check a race box. I want to be chosen for my skills and talents and what I have to offer the company. I do NOT want to be chosen because a prospective employer has to fill a minority quota. If people want to be treated equally they need to stop demanding special preference for their differences. Stop insisting that you be called ‘person of color’ ‘person with alternative sexual orientation’ ‘differently abled person’. How can we raise our children without racial barriers if we keep throwing the barriers up? Just because ‘of color’ is more PC than ‘black’ does not make it more appropriate. You’re still labeling. You’re still zeroing in on differences instead of similarities. Why do you feel the need to say ‘that woman of color over there’ when its just as easy to say ‘the woman in the red shirt’. Just stop labeling! Period.
Nia’s Mama, in defense of this post, I don’t think that Annie is demanding we put labels on folks. I think she’s simply pointing out that there is a lack of diversity of viewpoints in the list, with the most glaring omission being mothers who self-identify as women of color.
Plenty of blogs have names like “Lesbian Dad” or “Blacktating” or “Single Mom Seeking.” Those bloggers seek to identify themselves as part of a more niche or focused group of parents who blog. I don’t think we can fault them for writing about their own experiences through those particular lenses.
I just wanted to say that this was timely and I will link to this on the post I just wrote. Many thanks for basically doing my homework for me!
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