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TRANSFORMATION OF MOTHERHOOD

Mommy Blogs: The Transformation of Motherhood’s

Online Representation in the 21st Century

Anna Heerdt

Niagara University
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ABSTRACT

The internet has created a platform for people of all subgroups to connect, form a

community, and find ways to make a living. Mommy-blogging has been a specific hobby that

many mothers have undertaken in the 21st century. However, with the constant change and

expansion of social media platforms, the representation of motherhood online is becoming more

and more complex. Women from all over the world are invited to share their experiences with an

online audience and influence them to buy the clothes they wear, the products they use, and the

ways they raise their children. The good mother/bad mother dichotomy is not as much of a

question in this time, as mommy blogging has become more focused on the visual appeal and

perfect presentation of their representations. In this article, I will analyze a variety of mommy-

bloggers by looking at what platforms they use, how they use their following to make a living,

and in turn, how they contribute to the everchanging representation of motherhood.

Keywords: Motherhood, Mothers, Blogging, Social Media, Mommy Bloggers

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INTRODUCTION

The Internet has become a gateway for many new forms of interaction and representation

in society. One of the most prominent platforms people have come to be represented in the

digital age is the blogosphere. Online blogs have become a place where people of a specific

subgroup, whether that’s a fan group, part of a certain community, or play a certain role -- for

our purpose, the role of mother – can go to post about their lives. Mommy bloggers have become

very popular since the turn of the 21st century, and they have transformed the meaning of

motherhood through their online communities and representation. In recent years, these women

have taken their role as mother and transformed it into a professional career, making money by

interacting with other moms and sharing their experiences not only through blogs, but other

online platforms as well. Many mommy bloggers also use their platform to promote activism for

social causes. In this research paper, I aim to find out how mommy bloggers have contributed to

the transformation of their once non-commercialized representation of motherhood.

Going back to the beginning of time, the foundation of civilization lies on procreation. It

is and always has been a basic function of human beings to not only have a family, but also

increase population and ensure that society will continue growing. This is where mothers come

in. They are the sole reason for the continuation of society, and they are caretakers to their

children. The meaning of being a good mother, however, has been transformed with the addition

of new technologies and changing times. How do blogs represent their idea of being a good mom

and through what platforms? How authentic is their sharing of experiences online when they are

monetized? Has the motherhood representation become more about the mom and less about the

child? These are all questions I aim to answer in my research. I will use a qualitative feminist

approach, focusing only on mothers who currently consider themselves mommy influencers or
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mommy bloggers on a variety of platforms including on blogging sites, YouTube, Instagram, and

TikTok.

LITERATURE REVIEW

There has been extensive research done on the impact of the mommy blogosphere on the

construction of motherhood since the turn of the 21st century. Rebecca Powell (2010), in her

article titled “Good Mothers, Bad Mothers and Mommy Bloggers: Rhetorical Resistance and

Fluid Subjectives,” she uses a feminist approach to uncover the specific construction of mothers

online and how they use this to represent motherhood through their blogs. She argues, “White-

middle class mommy bloggers construct multiple ideas and practices of motherhood, subverting

the good mother/bad mother discourse to an “All Mothers” discourse, where mothers are

encouraged to tell their stories and create new possibilities” (Powell, 2010, p. 49). By studying 3

different mommy bloggers, she discovers that the space is not really about being a good or bad

mother, but more about opening their audiences up to their personal experiences as a mom,

whether that is their hardships or their victories (Powell, 2010).

A more recent study done by Andrea Hunter (2016) covers the monetization side of

mommy blogs. In this study, Hunter takes the three most popular mommy blogs on the site

GOMI and analyzes them based on the loss of authenticity that comes along with monetization

of blogs. She discusses the beginning of commercialization of mommy blogs, and how this has

shaped the audiences’ views on their genuineness. Hunter concludes, “On one hand, mommy

bloggers present themselves as authentic, but on the other they are clearly creating content

geared to be marketable” (Hunter, 2016, p. 1318). Monetization, in her opinion, creates an

atmosphere that does not feel as authentic, even if it claims to be.

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Since Powell’s article was written in 2010, it did not consider the different platforms that

blogging could take place on since they were not established yet. Also, the professionalization

and monetization of the motherhood lifestyle was not as common in this time. Although Hunter

(2016) does explain the monetization factor of mommy blogs, she does not explain how it has

been universalized across more than just a blogging site, which is what I plan to implement into

my study. These studies are influential in their findings, however, because they help create the

framework for future research to be done on the social construction of motherhood through

online platforms.

ABOUT THE TEXT

Motherhood has always been a role that women play in life, almost inevitably in most

cases. Most women are known to get married and create a family, which presents the role of the

mother. Mothers are expected to be there for their children, raising them in a way that is

considered ‘acceptable’ on society’s terms. In modern culture, mommy blogs provide the most

observed representation of what it means to be a mom. They take the stereotypical role of

‘mother’ and create their own meaning of it through their blogs. Blogging is a term used for

people who post on a website talking about a specific issue, topic, or just their life experiences.

Mommy blogs focus mainly on blogging about how they raise their children, their life

experiences as a mom, and, more recently, brands that they find most influential in raising their

children. They provide an example for qualities that are involved in contemporary motherhood,

and they inspire moms from all over by giving them an outline of how they raise their children.

The community created by mommy bloggers is one based on common ground of being a mother,

and it has potential to create some of the most meaningful connections between mothers.
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In the 21st century, mommy blogging has begun to take other forms than just posting their

own journal formatted blogs. As technology is developing, these women considered to be

mommy bloggers are becoming popular on YouTube, TikTok, and using social media platforms

to create a deeper meaning of motherhood. They are now using their platforms to advocate for

important social causes, create their own brands, all while creating and sharing new strategies of

motherhood that are relatable to modern moms. So, what is deemed as acceptable in terms of

modern motherhood when a lot of the representation seen is filtered by social media’s high

expectations? Most of their audience is usually younger, but there is a wide variety of people

who follow them. By following and studying a diverse list of contemporary mommy bloggers on

different platforms, I have analyzed the use of online platforms by mommy bloggers, how they

appeal to their audience, and how this use of online platforms becomes the representation of

motherhood in modern society.

ANALYSIS

EXPANDING THE PLATFORM

A theme throughout almost all of the mommy bloggers I chose to analyze was the fact

that in 2020, they do not only have their own blogging site, but they also have a YouTube

channel, Instagram account, and some even have a TikTok account. These women are

transforming the meaning of the once literal term of ‘mommy blogger,’ and turning their

platforms into lifestyle blogs through the different social resources that are becoming available to

them. Many of these mothers have a link connected to their Instagram bio that gives media

consumers the option to navigate to these platforms, and some even to promote other work they

have done or their own merchandise. Motherhood is no longer just featured on one platform; it is

working its way onto every popular social media of the time.
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YouTube

YouTube is an online outlet that mommy bloggers use to blog their lives through video,

also known commonly as ‘vlogging’. Often, they include only the parts of life that appear close

to perfection, and do not show the messy side of being a mom. For example, in a video posted by

Faith Drew, a mommy and lifestyle vlogger from Western New York, she describes that she, too,

shields her viewers from the imperfection of her life. She states, “Don’t look at my videos and

other mommy vloggers’ videos and think that ten-minute snapshot of our day is how our whole

day is, because I was doing that” (Drew, 2019). She understands that most people are likely to

feel as though she and her baby appear perfect, but she claims that’s not why she edits her videos

the way she does. She only puts the parts in that she knows people would want to watch, and as

she says, “People don’t want to watch a baby cry” (Drew, 2019).

Faith Drew’s editing only the good parts into her videos shows how those good moments

outweigh the bad ones. However, she is human, and she wants her viewers to know that things

aren’t always as they appear on her vlog and other mommy vloggers’ channels. Exposing the

perfection of mommy vlogging as shielding the harder parts of being a mom is very interesting to

the transformation of motherhood through online platforms, because it is not presented as

necessarily inauthentic. This only represents that since motherhood is made so public, the messy

parts may remain hidden behind the scenes more often than not in videos. The other mommy

bloggers mentioned also have a YouTube channel, as well as other platforms, to communicate

with their audience.

Instagram

Instagram has become a quite popular platform as well in which moms can post pictures

and videos about them, their children, or even social causes that they are passionate about. Many
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of these moms also use their Instagram account to promote their own businesses. One account in

particular, @modamobofficial on Instagram, is an account featuring two moms named Nora

Mansour and Ani Yemenidjian, who have their own business called Norani Baby. They sell

swaddles for babies, but also provide tips on being a mom, their experiences, and have a

YouTube channel with over 350,000 subscribers (Mansour & Yemenidjian, n.d.). They use

Instagram as a platform to not only share their lives, but to promote their business while doing it.

Their business Instagram, @noranibaby, is very pleasing to the eye and has over 17,000

followers. Their personal lifestyle Instagram has 113,000 followers and is also filled with bright

aesthetically pleasing photos of their families and themselves (Mansour & Yemenidjian, n.d.).

This is only one example of how Instagram is impacting the representation of contemporary

motherhood, as these moms are showing that they an insight to their real lives behind their

business, giving their audience an appealing view of their lives.

Another way moms are using their Instagram platforms is to advocate for social causes.

Tiffany Jenkins, for example, uses her Instagram to not only advertise her book, merchandise,

podcast, and YouTube channel, but she also talks about her journey as a recovering addict and

advocating for others who may be going through the same thing (Jenkins, n.d.). She is very real

with her audience, opposing with Nora and Ani by posting an array of photos that don’t always

follow a specific color scheme or theme. However, she has 1 million followers on Instagram

(Jenkins, n.d.). This shows that by advocating for a bigger cause than only the role of being a

mother, she draws in a wider audience and a larger number of people. Jenkins uses the live

feature on Instagram to interact with and engage her audience, in which she gets a lot of positive

feedback. In her videos, she is usually wearing a t-shirt and no makeup, and answers comments

and questions from her audience (Jenkins, n.d.). This gives her audience the authenticity they are
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looking for, and she is very successful in influencing others. Overall, Instagram can be used in

different ways as a mother but promoting a mother’s work and bigger causes beyond motherhood

has attracted a bigger audience, and people are drawn to authentic views of motherhood. In this

sense, the mothers are free to share their personal experiences and things that may not have ever

been shared online before through Instagram.

TikTok
TikTok gained its popularity in 2019 and became especially popular in 2020 when people

were under quarantine for the COVID-19 pandemic. TikTok is extremely interesting in the fact

that it has an algorithm attached in which it shows the consumer videos they might be interested

in watching. The hashtag #momsoftiktok has over 28 billion views across the app, and mothers

from all over are posting under this hashtag to appeal to more viewers (TikTok, n.d.). One user,

Jessica Woo, @sulheejessica on TikTok, is extremely successful on this platform, as she has 4.1

million followers (Woo, n.d.). She mostly posts videos of the gourmet lunches she makes for her

children, but she also posts other videos of DIYs, her children, and her life experiences. Woo has

become so successful on TikTok that she has just released her own merchandise as well. What

once was just a hobby of making appealing lunches for her children because it was fun has

turned into a source of income for her and her family.

Another TikToker under #momsoftiktok is @courteink. Courtney Inkpen has 31,500

followers on TikTok, and in her bio, she calls herself “The Millenial Mom” (Inkpen, n.d.). She

posted a video in March 2020 that got almost 300,000 likes, in which she shows the realities of

being a mom. She shows herself doing the dishes, talking to her baby, cleaning her house, and

doing other things all in her pajamas to the song “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion. The caption

says, “To all the moms out there- the real savages!” (Inkpen, 2020). In this way, she is showing

that motherhood is trendy and ‘in-style,’ even when it isn’t always perfect. The way that she
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appeals to her audience is by making the role of being a mom trendy. She receives a lot of

positive feedback, and people follow her mostly for content around being a mother. Courtney

Inkpen also has her own website in which she posts her favorite brands of clothing for women

called The Dainty Darling, an Instagram to promote her lifestyle and fashion choices, and other

platforms to appeal to her audience. Courtney labels herself as a fashion and travel blogger, all

while being a mom.

The growing effect of social media on the mamasphere has created multiple outlets for

them to create a meaningful audience of mothers and non-mothers alike. However, these outlets

have also allowed for them to professionalize their roles as a mother. It is no longer just about

how they are raising their children. It has also become about the social causes they support, the

clothing they wear, and about their work outside of being a mom as well.

MONETIZATION OF THE MAMASPHERE

Motherhood has become a professional outlet on many different levels. The most popular

ways, however, are sponsorships and merchandise. For an example of this type of commission

on a smaller scale, Faith Drew uses discount codes to websites such as Glossier, Gerard

Cosmetics, Loving Tan, and more. The codes are located at the bottom of her videos, and she

provides a small paragraph at the end of her video description saying that she does make some

commission if her audience uses her codes or links (Drew, n.d.). This is how most mommy

influencers make their money, some on a wider scale than others. Drew has about 33,800

subscribers on YouTube, so she most likely makes a profitable income off of her audience using

her links and codes. In each video she posts, she also links all of her and her daughter’s outfits,

the products they use, and more so that her audience has ideas of quality things to buy for
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themselves and their children. This has materialized motherhood, as moms are not only posting

content to share experiences, but viewers have access to have the same products as them and

allow them to make a profit off of it.

Since the Moda Mob moms, Nora and Ani, own their own business selling swaddles, this

works interchangeably as a way to promote their work and share their own lifestyles. They have

a personal Instagram account and Youtube channel, but they also have a business website and

Instagram. On their Instagram and Youtube, they are more open about personal journeys, one

specific one being their struggles getting pregnant. However, on the business website, they have

a blog section where they post tips and tricks of being a mom, and they also sell their swaddles

and headpieces (Mansour & Yemenidjian, 2020). This style works for them because they can

separate their personal lives as mothers from their business, but also make enough money to

create a career out of motherhood.

Tiffany Jenkins, another influential mother who has turned her blog into a professional

career, uses her platform to promote her work on many levels. Jenkins wrote a book titled High

Achiever (2019), in which she takes her audiences through her journey as a recovering addict.

This is not only a way to create a successful income, but also to share her violent realities aside

from being a mother. She does not define herself as only a mommy influencer, but as a

recovering addict, writer, and many other things while just happening to be a mother. On the link

from her Instagram bio, https://linktr.ee/jugglingthejenkins, there is an option to look at her

book, buy her merchandise, become a patreon, listen to her podcast, watch her YouTube channel,

and look at her Facebook, Instagram, or website. Through all of these things, especially through

her book, merchandise, and patreon system, Tiffany Jenkins makes enough money to create a

professional atmosphere for herself.

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Jessica Woo, also known as Sulhee Jessica, also has her own blogging website aside from

her TikTok profile. In her “About me” (2020) section on her website, she talks about her TikTok

fame, her lifestyle content that she has been able to successfully create through her degree in

Journalism and Media Studies, her two small businesses, and of course, her children. Her small

businesses are located in Las Vegas, one in which she creates digital portraits of her customers,

and the other being a girls’ accessory shop (Woo, 2020). Woo has created a platform to unleash

her creativity online to an audience while promoting her own role as mother and business owner.

Courtney Inkpen also uses ways of promoting her role as mother, but her strategy is

through her fashion and sense of style, Similar to Faith Drew. On her website, The Dainty

Darling, there are options listed: “Shop my Instagram,” “Beauty,” “Home Décor,” “Try-On

Session,” and “Shop My Closet” (Inkpen, 2020). This gives her audience an inside look to her

own wardrobe and the kinds of clothes that she finds fashionable and trendy as a mother.

Through this way, not only is Inkpen monetizing her lifestyle, she is influencing others to be like

her in order to be a successful mom.

Overall, these women are seen to have taken their role as mother and made it into a

professional career. Being a mother is only one role they take on, as mommy bloggers are

becoming more influential than ever. Not only are they posting tips and tricks on how to raise a

child, they are expanding on their platforms to allow audiences to immerse themselves into their

lifestyle by ‘buying’ into it. Some more authentic than others, they still present themselves as

influencers in a way that takes a lot of the attention away from the children and how they are

raising them, and more onto their own lifestyles and their passions and work besides being a

mom.
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AUTHENTICITY

The question of authenticity in the mama-sphere is one that raises concern, especially in

recent years of mommy blogs. It is clear that the mommy blogs analyzed above have a level of

authenticity, but a lot of this can be clouded by the commercialization of their role as mother. In

the New York Times, there is an article by Kathryn Jezer-Morton (2020) titled “Did Moms Exist

Before Social Media?”. She discusses how motherhood is totally changed now that the details of

it are disclosed in public online spaces. She asserts that “New mothers in 2020 might not realize

that the conversations around motherhood that they may take for granted — about topics like

breastfeeding, or postpartum depression, or sex after childbirth — very rarely took place in

public before 2005” (Jezer-Morton, 2019). Jezer-Merton links the shift in representation to the

expansion of the online community and change of the times. She also writes that most mommy

blogs are filtered in the public eye due to the second wave of mommy bloggers, who are more

centered around the ‘perfect’ portrayal of motherhood, but there are still portrayals of messy

motherhood- they are just seen on “more private spaces” (Jezer-Morton, 2019). This shift has

been visible by many, as some mommy bloggers aren’t even as trusted today, because they

present their lives as filtered moments of perfection that do not actually always exist. There are a

few sites, however, that stick to the authentic contemporary representation of messy motherhood.

One blogging site that keeps it real is Scary Mommy. On this site, women are allowed to

let their guard down and say what they feel. There are many different mothers who write for this

site, and they write about all topics surrounding motherhood including marriage, pregnancy,

health and beauty, and more. There is even a tab called “Spotted,” where women can find

products and brands that have a current sale or enhances their version of motherhood (Scary

Mommy, n.d.). The most interesting section of this website is the “Confess” tab in which mothers
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are able to anonymously post about the troubles they are facing. For example, one of the

confessions reads: “Bribed my kids this morning with a special treat. The only drive thru option

was McDonald's so DD4 and DS2.5 got ice cream cones at 9:55am haha. 4 years ago, I would be

shaking my head at myself” (Confessional #25802352, 2020). This is a safe space for mothers to

be completely authentic while remaining anonymous. There is also an option for other moms to

‘like’, ‘hug’, or respond ‘me too’ anonymously to show their support for the mother. This creates

an authentic community, but everyone is anonymously connecting. The anonymity of this part of

the website is not present throughout the other aspects of the site, where writers are able to

express their authentic stories, post opinion articles and products they like, and there is even a

section to watch episodes of Scary Mommy Original Series, which are all produced by the

website (Scary Mommy, 2018). This is a prime example where contemporary motherhood is still

allowed to be messy, and not always picture perfect.

CONCLUSION

Motherhood online, as proven by my research, has become more and more complex

throughout the years. Much of the once private experiences mothers face with their children and

families are now made public through the use of different platforms. Unlike traditional blogging,

mothers are now able to give viewers an inside look at their lives through video. In this way,

motherhood has become about appearances, fashion, and more of an overall lifestyle outside of

being just a mother. It is no longer a question to viewers whether mommy bloggers/influencers

are good moms, but now it is a question of how they live their lives. Where do they travel? What

are they feeding their children? What clothing brands do they wear and what clothing brands are

they buying for their children? These are all things that viewers are asking when it comes to

mommy bloggers today. Audiences are more intrigued about how they can improve their own
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lifestyles now more than how they can efficiently teach their children the alphabet. Of course,

there are still tips and tricks involved, but most audiences go to mommy bloggers today for

inspiration on how to improve their own lifestyle.

This leads into monetization because motherhood is becoming a professional sphere

online as well. Some may start out by gaining a following through sharing aesthetic photos or

videos about their familial experiences, but in many cases, this turns into a professional career

for mothers. They are no longer just sharing experiences; they are making money off of them.

Being sponsored by brands and creating their own merchandise allows them to materialize the

idea of motherhood, in a way. The representation of contemporary motherhood online has

become about the best products and brands to own as a mom, and how these influence the

happiness and well-being of their children, all while creating a professional atmosphere for

moms to make a living.

Lastly, are these representations online truly authentic? Not always. However, this is not

with bad intentions, as mothers want to show the good parts of their lives with their children.

They do not want to show everything, because most people do not post pictures and videos of

their children screaming and crying and expect people to like it. They want to be aesthetically

pleasing through the eyes of the audience, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t genuinely happy in

those happy moments that they post or lying about the brands they love. Most of the time,

mommy bloggers and influencers have a true passion for whatever they may be promoting,

whether that be baby brands, fashion, or social causes. The only parts that may be inauthentic are

the parts that we as an audience do not get to experience—the messy parts.

Overall, the representation of motherhood online has created an extremely public place

for mothers everywhere to connect, be inspired, and even start their own blog. Through sharing
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their experiences, motherhood has become very materialistic, but all while the recognition of

authenticity is still present. Audiences are drawn to authentic representations of being a mom,

but the focus has shifted from being a good mom, to being an influential mom online. Everyone

knows that if a mother has a big following on social media, they are most likely a good mom.

They look up to these mothers now, and rely on them for tips, but also for product ideas.

Motherhood in the 21st century is very complex, but nonetheless an important role in society.
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