~by Michelle
There was recently another post about Mormon mommy bloggers, this one at The Daily. (We talked about another such post here: Self-proclaimed atheist feminist addicted to Mormon mommy blogs.” And again, the focus was on the happy life of young Mormon mommy bloggers as portrayed on their blogs.
It’s good that people look at Mormon mommy blogs and see “happy.” We’ve talked about some of the reasons Mormons are sometimes described as being happy people. And we’re grateful to the Mormon mommy bloggers who are catching the attention of the media, communicating the joy and happiness they experience in their family lives.
But whenever I read articles like this, I’m always left feeling a little bit like the woman who posted recently at Mormon Perspectives, when she said, “[T]o me these articles are missing the essence of what makes being a Mormon so great.” I think articles like this tend to miss the heart of our doctrines — such about who we are, who God and Jesus Christ are, why we are on this earth, what happens after we die, and why family is so important to Mormons.
I think they also miss the variety in the lives of Mormon women.
Mormon bloggers featured are often young “hipsters” as these articles call them. But Mormon women span all age ranges (including Mormon women like women like this one who are great-grandmothers). Many Mormon bloggers are not married. Some are married but don’t currently have children. And yes, there are a lot of Mormon Mommy Bloggers out there, as well there should be, because motherhood is important in our doctrine.
But each Mormon woman has her own style, personality, talents, hobbies, educational background, career interests…. We sometimes talk about the unity our Mormon beliefs can give us, but there is a lot of diversity in who we are, stereotypes notwithstanding. Anyone who believes in a stereotypical Mormon woman probably doesn’t know very many Mormon women. So why not get to know us a little better?
So before you look to the media to define Mormon women, Mormon mommy bloggers, Mormon bloggers, or Mormons in general, we invite you to take a minute and peruse a few of the thousands of Mormon blogs and mormon.org profiles to get more of a feel for who we are, what we believe, and how we live.
Here are some quick links where you can find more about Mormons:
You can search mormon.org by gender, and find thousands of profiles of Mormon women sharing about their lives and beliefs
Portraits of Mormon Women – one of the features here at Mormon Women: Who We Are
Mormon Moms has an index of over 600 Mormon bloggers (not all are moms, and not all are women)
Mormon Mommy Blogs has an index (see the three ‘categories’ tabs that alphabetize blog types) of hundreds of different Mormon blogs, from parenting blogs to blogs from Mormon singles, from blogs focusing on hobbies, fashion, or crafts to spiritually-focused or reflective blogs. Mormon dad bloggers are listed, too.
Mormon Women Project features the lives of Mormon women from all over the world, from all walks of life, with varying backgrounds and life stories.
Modern Molly Mormon includes posts from various Mormon bloggers, as does blog Segullah (see their sidebar for more Mormon blog feeds).
Chocolate on My Cranium and We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ, often do blog hops and blog link-ups on their sites. For example, you can find several Mormon women bloggers listed on the Book of Mormon forum posts, and on the Family Proclamation Celebrations. (Scroll down on the pages to find the links to various Mormon bloggers.)
We’re also (slowly but surely) building a Mormon bloggers board on Pinterest
And this is only a few places where you can find Mormons online….
Great job. What a great group of women.
Thank you, Michelle, for a powerful message today. I hadn’t thought of things in quite that way and believe that we are each blessed with gifts and talents that can bless and strengthen others’.
Not all women have the same blessings, gifts or challenges. We strive for light and truth – and…sometimes trials cause our lives to be different that what we most earnestly desire. I am one of those. 🙂
I appreciate your willingness to share from many perspectives and open the dialog for us to be more sensitive and aware of the needs of others’.
I just stumbled onto your blog this evening (coincidentally, just after reading the Emily Matchar article). While I enjoyed Emily’s article, and while I applaud the positive effect of the many Mormon Mommy bloggers out there, I cringe at being labeled a “mommy blogger.” Hence, I very much appreciate this post and the reminder that not all Mormon women who blog fall into the tidy group of 20-something young mothers who like to craft. 🙂
Juliana,
I’m so glad you stopped by. I just took a moment to read a post on your blog and was moved deeply. Am off to add you to our bloggers board. 😉
Please consider submitting a guest post as well. We’d love to hear more from you.