Liz Jones, the woman who wrote about eBay only a few weeks ago like it was a new found 'thing'. She said she couldn't believe what she found when she searched. One wonders where she has been whilst eBay has become one of the biggest shopping sites.
Not on blogs I take it?
And now she only just cottons on to mum blogs and pours out her frustrations. Mums blogs have been around for friggin years. Why now??? Why so people even listen?
For someone who writes for the Mail, you'd expect her to be up on these things. She has no real idea.
Who the F cares what people write about?? A mum, a beauty fanatic, a passionate fashion blogger, we all have something to say and there's always a bit of jealousy here and a tad of 'out doing' each other there. It's natural. It's human.
Get over it Liz Jones. Write about other things, like how much you love something for a change??
Oh Liz Jones. You do it to yourself, you do, you and no one else. I truly do not know why people publish her articles. Perhaps the Mail enjoy how much she seems to irritate people?
I have met Liz Jones, and she seemed quite nice. She was actually very kind and encouraging to me. I can't help but feel uncomfortable when I read her column. It is like when she writes, a very insecure side of her is exposed, and that side is not very nice at all.
I am a mother, but I am not a yummy mummy. I find that keeping my house resembling something like a home, and not falling asleep on the job are high enough goals for me. Baby yoga, crochet, baking... too much for me to even consider. And I have help from a cleaner and a nanny part time. (No, I'm not ashamed). But I do not resent women who do all these things. I marvel at their skills of multi tasking, and at times I envy them a little, but unlike Liz Jones, I am big enough to admit that rather than spilling out bile about women I don't know. Ok, so they are different to you, but why do you care so much?
And as for the holiday issue, I took a year off with my son. When I got back people seemed to think I had been on a big year long jolly. Actually, I had a silent infection which lead me to get septicaemia a month after my son was born. All my friends were at work and I was incredibly lonely for a year. I was of course, too embarrassed to say. Perhaps Liz Jones would prefer to read blogs from mothers who feel left out and depressed? Or battered women perhaps? Maybe then she could read without the nagging feeling that perhaps she is the one who is missing out.
Oh I love this! She is so controversial, we are the people that keep her going. Love to hate. However, I stupidly clicked onto mumsnet recently (as lots of clicks to my blog came from there) and boy, are they mean!! Flinging around personal insults about my glasses (yes I have bad eyesight, thanks for making me feel subconscious). Just as bad themselves.....
I cannot read the Mail, it makes me want to punch things and that isn't very attractive. As a scientist, it makes me want to cry a lot of the time too.
I completely agree with what you wrote. I had a friend ask me why I spent so much time on my computer and told me that I was 'wasting my life away'. Well, actually I'm developing my photography, writing, social networking, reviewing, time management etc etc etc skills. Just because my hobby happens to be blogging doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile or time consuming.
I feel really sorry for mums, they do such a good job when they take time off to actually bond with and help their child develop.
Liz is a clever woman, she knows exactly how to antagonise readers. Her readership would be significantly lower if she didn't make us want to throw things by the end of her column.
Liz paints an idyllic view of parenting blogging that she has taken at face value. Blogs are a constructed reality, not a constant stream of a person's waking hours. In the same way that a fashion/beauty/travel blogger's life isn't a series of fabulous moments, parenting bloggers want to show the best side of their lives. To think that it's all cupcakes and angelic infants is crazy.
There's really very little need for validation from magazines and newspapers - we understand why we blog and that is enough.
Liz Jones has the knack to irritate me. I think that's what she's all about. I don't even think she thinks the things she writes. She just likes controversy and annoying everyone. No one who would want to put their opinion accross and have people on your side would write like that. My view is that she writes something, sleep over it and then thinks of things which she could add to rub people the wrong way: the last line about the burka, which totally came out of the blue is a perfect example of that, and, may I say is totally non sensical. I have got no idea where this comparison with burka comes from! But then it doesn't prevent to choose this line, which has nothing to do with 99% of what she wrote to be the title of her article
Liz Jones, you rest happy: you managed, once again, to wind everybody up. Your writing is not art, you've just got the art of winding everybody up.
I am not into kids myself and will never be a parent. I don't have it in me to be a mother. This is a not a problem, as there are enough unhappy kids in this world for me to raise one. Therefore, I am not the right audience for a parenting blogging, but people are entitled to blog about what they want and if they make a few pennies from it, they have all my respect. Bottom line, Liz cannot stand bloggers or likes to claim over the rooftops that she doesn't so that she can irritate every blogger out there.
You had no idea that blogging could be so lucrative and that people are interested to read other things that the daily mail and press? Well, darling, you'd better get used to it because it only just got started.
Comparing maternity leave to a holiday? How very insulting of you, especially for a first time mother.
Great piece BBB. Oh, and Liz Jones referring to herself as 'an artist' has had me sniggering all day. I really must regain focus and get back to baking cupcakes to display on my Mummy blog...XXX
If Liz Jones could write half as lucidly and eloquently as you I might not be quite as irate at her.
I was grimly impressed that she managed to wheedle her Islamophobia into a completely unrelated article in the headline "Free? You might as well wear burkhas." I wonder if the Daily Mail pays her a bonus for that.
Both Liz Jones and Mumsnet make me despair for the modern state of feminism. Can't we be civil and respectful to one another? No? Oh, ok then.
I'm intrigued by this suggestion this suggestion that caring for a baby is so easy that we have time to make cupcakes whilst on maternity leave - and more intrigued by the defence that it isn't. Because in general... yes it is. Babies are easy. They are well behaved and spend most of their time sitting there watching you make cupcakes/do yoga/play Xbox. Colic-cy babies, unsettled babies, anxious babies not so much, but most are easy as pie. Two year olds are not so easy. Four year olds harder still. By the time you get to seven, and it's one class after another, rejection of parents when mates are around (beautiful homecooked meals or no), constant birthday parties and present buying, homework, reading, spelling, football, swimming and they want to go to bed about the same time you do - then it is very tricky indeed. And of course and off-the-rails teenager is harder still. Not as many blogs about that phase. Wonder why? :-) x
who gives a shit what that woman thinks really? Thankfully, in my life I don't know a soul who would read, never mind agree with, a thing she wrote.
As for what a mum does at home, after having a baby, who's business is it? Absolutely no one's outside of the immediate family. (unless harmful or neglectful obv).
Unfortunately everyone is so wrapped up in their own little world and babies that they manage to (conveniently) forget the other side of the coin and Liz does speak for a lot of women without children and as an uncomfortable as some people find it there is no mistaking that it is an unpalatable truth. But I would also argue we as women are our own worst enemies and that the fight for parental rights has swung so far in favour of parents that its alienated many women without children. That she writes for the Daily Mail is an irrelevant and unwelcome distraction from distraction from the very real issues she puts forward.
Wow! After seeing this I hoped over the the mail and read it and was actually shocked.
I am young and don't have any children but I have big respect for woman who choose to come back to work and they should not be criticised for having a year off to bond with their child before they go back to working weeks and missing out on major steps in a child's life. I will admit, I work with a man who insisits thst he needs to leave work early everyday for child related issues which considering his wife is on full year maternity is not necessary. I should not have to pick up the workload for that but I am happy to pick up the slack for someone who is on full maternity leave man or women which I think people forget can affect men. I have a man in the office on full maternity leave as he is taking on the role because his wife is the main breadwinner which is admirable. I also admire woman who can find a way to stay at home with their children and still make a small income. Look at the blog 'Sprinkle of Glitter' for example. She's at home with her baby yet makes a small income through advertising. Is that really a bad thing? She doesn't obsess about all things baby. Her blog is mainly beauty with a few baby bits thrown in, and she has found a way to make it work round a 2 year old.
Liz's views are so outdated she should be embracing this new generation of independent woman where we have stepped away from just being a housewife but instead make some money and enjoy time with their child.
I will agree with one thing though, mumsnet may be the bitchiest thing on the net...
Can I just add that the time I spent on maternity leave was the most physically, mentally and emotionally challenging year of my life. Everything I did in my previously (very demanding) career was an absolute doddle in comparison. Many other mums I know agree with me. Not all women find adapting to motherhood easy & it's impossible to imagine just how much it turns your world upside down until it's happening to you.
Sadly, many women don't like to see others succeed or receive public acknowledgement for their achievements, whatever they may be. A child, a career, a blog - or, God forbid, all 3.
15 comments:
Liz Jones, the woman who wrote about eBay only a few weeks ago like it was a new found 'thing'. She said she couldn't believe what she found when she searched. One wonders where she has been whilst eBay has become one of the biggest shopping sites.
Not on blogs I take it?
And now she only just cottons on to mum blogs and pours out her frustrations. Mums blogs have been around for friggin years. Why now??? Why so people even listen?
For someone who writes for the Mail, you'd expect her to be up on these things. She has no real idea.
Who the F cares what people write about?? A mum, a beauty fanatic, a passionate fashion blogger, we all have something to say and there's always a bit of jealousy here and a tad of 'out doing' each other there. It's natural. It's human.
Get over it Liz Jones. Write about other things, like how much you love something for a change??
Oh Liz Jones. You do it to yourself, you do, you and no one else. I truly do not know why people publish her articles. Perhaps the Mail enjoy how much she seems to irritate people?
I have met Liz Jones, and she seemed quite nice. She was actually very kind and encouraging to me. I can't help but feel uncomfortable when I read her column. It is like when she writes, a very insecure side of her is exposed, and that side is not very nice at all.
I am a mother, but I am not a yummy mummy. I find that keeping my house resembling something like a home, and not falling asleep on the job are high enough goals for me. Baby yoga, crochet, baking... too much for me to even consider. And I have help from a cleaner and a nanny part time. (No, I'm not ashamed). But I do not resent women who do all these things. I marvel at their skills of multi tasking, and at times I envy them a little, but unlike Liz Jones, I am big enough to admit that rather than spilling out bile about women I don't know. Ok, so they are different to you, but why do you care so much?
And as for the holiday issue, I took a year off with my son. When I got back people seemed to think I had been on a big year long jolly. Actually, I had a silent infection which lead me to get septicaemia a month after my son was born. All my friends were at work and I was incredibly lonely for a year. I was of course, too embarrassed to say. Perhaps Liz Jones would prefer to read blogs from mothers who feel left out and depressed? Or battered women perhaps? Maybe then she could read without the nagging feeling that perhaps she is the one who is missing out.
Liz Jones is hilarious, she's so outdated narrow minded, clueless and misinformed in everything she writes!
Oh I love this! She is so controversial, we are the people that keep her going. Love to hate. However, I stupidly clicked onto mumsnet recently (as lots of clicks to my blog came from there) and boy, are they mean!! Flinging around personal insults about my glasses (yes I have bad eyesight, thanks for making me feel subconscious). Just as bad themselves.....
I cannot read the Mail, it makes me want to punch things and that isn't very attractive. As a scientist, it makes me want to cry a lot of the time too.
I completely agree with what you wrote. I had a friend ask me why I spent so much time on my computer and told me that I was 'wasting my life away'. Well, actually I'm developing my photography, writing, social networking, reviewing, time management etc etc etc skills. Just because my hobby happens to be blogging doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile or time consuming.
I feel really sorry for mums, they do such a good job when they take time off to actually bond with and help their child develop.
Liz is a clever woman, she knows exactly how to antagonise readers. Her readership would be significantly lower if she didn't make us want to throw things by the end of her column.
Liz paints an idyllic view of parenting blogging that she has taken at face value. Blogs are a constructed reality, not a constant stream of a person's waking hours. In the same way that a fashion/beauty/travel blogger's life isn't a series of fabulous moments, parenting bloggers want to show the best side of their lives. To think that it's all cupcakes and angelic infants is crazy.
There's really very little need for validation from magazines and newspapers - we understand why we blog and that is enough.
Liz Jones has the knack to irritate me. I think that's what she's all about. I don't even think she thinks the things she writes. She just likes controversy and annoying everyone. No one who would want to put their opinion accross and have people on your side would write like that. My view is that she writes something, sleep over it and then thinks of things which she could add to rub people the wrong way: the last line about the burka, which totally came out of the blue is a perfect example of that, and, may I say is totally non sensical. I have got no idea where this comparison with burka comes from! But then it doesn't prevent to choose this line, which has nothing to do with 99% of what she wrote to be the title of her article
Liz Jones, you rest happy: you managed, once again, to wind everybody up. Your writing is not art, you've just got the art of winding everybody up.
I am not into kids myself and will never be a parent. I don't have it in me to be a mother. This is a not a problem, as there are enough unhappy kids in this world for me to raise one. Therefore, I am not the right audience for a parenting blogging, but people are entitled to blog about what they want and if they make a few pennies from it, they have all my respect. Bottom line, Liz cannot stand bloggers or likes to claim over the rooftops that she doesn't so that she can irritate every blogger out there.
You had no idea that blogging could be so lucrative and that people are interested to read other things that the daily mail and press? Well, darling, you'd better get used to it because it only just got started.
Comparing maternity leave to a holiday? How very insulting of you, especially for a first time mother.
Great piece BBB. Oh, and Liz Jones referring to herself as 'an artist' has had me sniggering all day. I really must regain focus and get back to baking cupcakes to display on my Mummy blog...XXX
If Liz Jones could write half as lucidly and eloquently as you I might not be quite as irate at her.
I was grimly impressed that she managed to wheedle her Islamophobia into a completely unrelated article in the headline "Free? You might as well wear burkhas." I wonder if the Daily Mail pays her a bonus for that.
Both Liz Jones and Mumsnet make me despair for the modern state of feminism. Can't we be civil and respectful to one another? No? Oh, ok then.
I'm intrigued by this suggestion this suggestion that caring for a baby is so easy that we have time to make cupcakes whilst on maternity leave - and more intrigued by the defence that it isn't. Because in general... yes it is. Babies are easy. They are well behaved and spend most of their time sitting there watching you make cupcakes/do yoga/play Xbox. Colic-cy babies, unsettled babies, anxious babies not so much, but most are easy as pie. Two year olds are not so easy. Four year olds harder still. By the time you get to seven, and it's one class after another, rejection of parents when mates are around (beautiful homecooked meals or no), constant birthday parties and present buying, homework, reading, spelling, football, swimming and they want to go to bed about the same time you do - then it is very tricky indeed. And of course and off-the-rails teenager is harder still. Not as many blogs about that phase. Wonder why? :-) x
who gives a shit what that woman thinks really? Thankfully, in my life I don't know a soul who would read, never mind agree with, a thing she wrote.
As for what a mum does at home, after having a baby, who's business is it? Absolutely no one's outside of the immediate family. (unless harmful or neglectful obv).
Unfortunately everyone is so wrapped up in their own little world and babies that they manage to (conveniently) forget the other side of the coin and Liz does speak for a lot of women without children and as an uncomfortable as some people find it there is no mistaking that it is an unpalatable truth. But I would also argue we as women are our own worst enemies and that the fight for parental rights has swung so far in favour of parents that its alienated many women without children. That she writes for the Daily Mail is an irrelevant and unwelcome distraction from distraction from the very real issues she puts forward.
Wow! After seeing this I hoped over the the mail and read it and was actually shocked.
I am young and don't have any children but I have big respect for woman who choose to come back to work and they should not be criticised for having a year off to bond with their child before they go back to working weeks and missing out on major steps in a child's life. I will admit, I work with a man who insisits thst he needs to leave work early everyday for child related issues which considering his wife is on full year maternity is not necessary. I should not have to pick up the workload for that but I am happy to pick up the slack for someone who is on full maternity leave man or women which I think people forget can affect men. I have a man in the office on full maternity leave as he is taking on the role because his wife is the main breadwinner which is admirable. I also admire woman who can find a way to stay at home with their children and still make a small income. Look at the blog 'Sprinkle of Glitter' for example. She's at home with her baby yet makes a small income through advertising. Is that really a bad thing? She doesn't obsess about all things baby. Her blog is mainly beauty with a few baby bits thrown in, and she has found a way to make it work round a 2 year old.
Liz's views are so outdated she should be embracing this new generation of independent woman where we have stepped away from just being a housewife but instead make some money and enjoy time with their child.
I will agree with one thing though, mumsnet may be the bitchiest thing on the net...
Brilliant post Jane.
Can I just add that the time I spent on maternity leave was the most physically, mentally and emotionally challenging year of my life. Everything I did in my previously (very demanding) career was an absolute doddle in comparison. Many other mums I know agree with me. Not all women find adapting to motherhood easy & it's impossible to imagine just how much it turns your world upside down until it's happening to you.
Sadly, many women don't like to see others succeed or receive public acknowledgement for their achievements, whatever they may be. A child, a career, a blog - or, God forbid, all 3.
Nic
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