The Knives Come Out For Writer Who Refers To Blogging Mommy As Mommy Blogger

Here at TTAC, we have a job that consists solely of standing behind me every day and whispering “Remember, you are pro tem.” The EIC of Autoblog, John Neff, had no such reminder, but when he “retired” he turned out to be kinda pro tem anyway. His replacement is Sharon Silke Carty, who refers to herself in her Twitter caption as someone who “balances the glamor of auto reporting with the glamor of motherhood.”

When Carscoops’ John Halas referred to her as a “mommyblogger”, however, he learned in a hurry that there are some lines you don’t cross.

It’s nice that there are still guys who enthusiastically expose their sexism to the world at large and try to pass it off as humor…

You can’t lurk behind “it’s a joke,” when the focus is so obviously sexist, and for no reason…

She’s not a blogger, let alone a “mommy blogger.” You start with a complete factual inaccuracy…

If the author of this lazy, sexist grotesquerie was truly confused as to who Sharon Silke Carty is, he could have asked any prominent person in the world of car writing–a set that clearly excludes him–every one of whom would have told him that she’s a top notch journalist, writer, editor, and person, and none of whom would have made such snide, baseless assaults on her character…

I’m trying to find something to measure how stupid this post is. Nope. Can’t find anything. I don’t think the measuring device exists. Sharon Carty is an accomplished journalist, one of the best in the business…

And finally, saying in as indignant tone as possible (as if that can really be conveyed), “I mentioned her credentials in the post” smacked solidly of “I’m not a racist! I have black friends!”

As Maurice White once sang, “Yow.” Meanwhile, Ms. Carty was busy thanking her defenders:

As is often the case in the autojouro-cum-PR scene, everybody seems to be reading from the same script, but I’m having a trouble finding a copy of it. Is “mommyblogger” some kind of deadly insult? If so, then why do so many women call themselves “mommybloggers”? Are we to understand that the grand business of reprinting press releases is so majestic that it must not be tainted by conflating it with blogging about children and/or parenting? If someone chooses to refer to themselves as an autowriter/mother combination, is it beyond the pale to also refer to them as such? My Twitter description is, and has always been, “Writer, auto racer, musician, father, inveterate bad guy, hopeless romantic.” So if someone had written, “TTAC Loses Bertel Schmitt, Gains A Hopelessly Romantic Father At Its Helm” would anybody have cared in the least, including me?

Mr. Halas is in the process of learning that you simply cannot apologize quickly or profusely enough to obtain the forgiveness of people who derive their identities from being easily offended. When the person who is nominally being offended is also someone who has the power to hire in an industry known for lack of full-time employment, the indignation ratchets up by a factor of ten. As gratifying as it is to defend someone against sexism, it’s far more gratifying to do it in a manner which burnishes one’s resume and/or ability to get an article published at HuffPo. Which just goes to show: you can do anything you want in this business, as long as you don’t stand between a blogger, mommy or not, and the buffet.