Babble Succumbs
Chalk one up for the establishment. Babble, the online magazine that had previously billed itself as a hip resource for both parents, has changed its tag line to the humdrum, typical "for a new generation of moms." The only problem is, if we really want the "new generation" of moms to be any different than their older counterparts, we're going to have to start embracing the Other Parent. Too bad Babble thinks this moms-only change is a smart business move - undoubtedly designed to drive up female traffic. Yet, stats say that 80% of the new generation of women want equal partners. So why the step back to segregation?
Over at the always-spot-on True/Slant Work.Life blog, Astri von Arbin Ahlander wonders the same thing. Asked to co-coordinate a work/life conference for women, she muses about why these things keep getting booked as single-gender events. Women can't keep shutting men out of these issues and expect to make real progress - whether they're talking about parenting or balancing careers. It's kind of like trying to clap with only one hand.
I really hate to see a good online parenting resource become yet another chirpy mom-o-sphere. Don't we have enough web destinations for mom-bonding already? Maybe it's true that dads don't want to read about parenting on their computers - they'd rather just do it. Nonetheless, today we mourn one step back for Parenting-kind, but there are many more steps ahead to a better future.
Hat tip to friends Rebeldad and Jeremy Adam Smith for sharing the sad news.
Update: I'm happy to report that Babble has seen the light - the tag line now says 'parents' rather than 'moms'! Thanks, Babble, for getting yourself back on the only sustainable path for progress. But not so fast with a full compliment - the sidebar on Babble currently reads "A mom must. Get the Daily Babble." Let's see...will this change to "A dad must" tomorrow? Next week? We don't need every word to be gender neutral, of course - just going for an overall gender equal tone.
Update: I'm happy to report that Babble has seen the light - the tag line now says 'parents' rather than 'moms'! Thanks, Babble, for getting yourself back on the only sustainable path for progress. But not so fast with a full compliment - the sidebar on Babble currently reads "A mom must. Get the Daily Babble." Let's see...will this change to "A dad must" tomorrow? Next week? We don't need every word to be gender neutral, of course - just going for an overall gender equal tone.
posted by Marc @ 8:01 PM
2 Comments:
What a shame. Just another site that wants to shut dads out of the conversation!!
Also, so sad for children when they do this.
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