Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the Independent thinks Mumsnet is shallow and self-interested... what do you think?

[JustineMumsnet]

From today's Independent:

Look at the immensely powerful Mumsnet website and some other copycat ones and there is barely any mention of (or fundraising for) the famines in East Africa where mothers push dry breasts into the limp mouths of babies as they die. Jeremy Clarkson wrote an abominable column last week on these starving children. Where is the famous Mumsnet battalion to slap him down? Not much about domestic violence either, or any serious take on the policies of the Coalition government which are leading to unprecedented numbers of female redundancies. They are low-paid and therefore, I suppose, not part of the cosy circle, a Starbucks for the right kind of mummies. But if you want to know about skiing with babies, its all there, plus very efficient guilt cleaning for working ladies and buckets of advice for SAHMs (stay-at-home mums).

You can see the whole article here

Another convert to JC fandom (damn YAB for that ).

Agree, Jeremy C column was good last week. I do like him usually though. Have been trying to boycott Times/Sunday Times but find it very hard . Can't live without Sunday Times style section (shallow SAHM ).

YAB is a frequent guest on The Wright Stuff.

'Nuff said?

ragged & MrsFogi, I can see your POV; there is a whiff of 'ooh, good opportunity for a spot of manufactured outrage' from MNHQ. And I'm still cross about the middle-classery. That said, I still think it's right to call out YAB for adopting the old 'look at you, you silly women, why aren't you perfect in every way?' attitude. It's so Daily Mail. And the Clarkson piece, while it's not quite A Modest Proposal is certainly sharp & sarcastic. I'd like to know more about why she thinks it's abominable & less about why she disapproves of 2-year-old baby skiing threads.

Having been up most of last night worried about an OP in a domestic violence situation (together with many other MNers), MN shallow?

Actually, now I have read the Clarkson piece (thx to whoever it was who managed to circumvent Murdoch's paywall way upthread), i feel more sorry for YAB than anything else. She completely misses the irony and sarcasm, the brutal retelling for shock value of Clarkson's piece.

She really shoukd stick to personal "empty nest" sob stories, chick flick movie reviews and cheap, misogynistic jokes. She is not mentally equipped to write about famine, war or anything else serious.

Surely she's looking for a job at the Daily Fail with that pile of wank.

As SGM says she's a "fucknut".

Oh FFS. Right I'm a yummy mummy (apparently) - well that is to say I fit her description pretty well.

However, I give privately to charities which work to resolve DV, famines etc. But I don't talk about it much here because that's not what Mumsnet is for.

Similarly I don't go onto the BBC gardening website and discuss rape (other than the yellow crop obv.).

Blah de blah blah, let's bash the big websites because ooh they haven't invited me on for a webchat etc.

Big f*ck off

Oh pfffffthrt. Nonsense, absolute nonsense. It's a lazy piece if journalism that is hoping to feed off the social stereotype that if women are taking about it, it can't be serious.

yes,thats the more insidious message.women's discussion must be bibble babble and inconsequential rubbish

Still waiting for MNHQ to apologise for misuse of myriad in that letter.

I joined MN in June, when I found out I was having a mc. It was a true lifeline, just being able to express my feelings and tell someone about the really quite frightening physical experiences I was having, when I felt there was no-one in RL I could burden. I am so touched that there are strangers out there who actually cared enough to ask how I was doing, or who shared their own harrowing experiences to help me. I have tried to support others too, as time has gone on.

MN is full of women from different backgrounds helping each other through the sadness of "everyday" tragedies and difficulties (alongside all the other stuff that goes on here). I realise (thank goodness) that I can't compare anything in my life to the horrors experienced by a starving woman in East Africa, but that does not lessen the contribution of time and empathy these women made to my life at a time when I was in a lot of physical and emotional pain. I find it outrageous that to YAB it seems anyone who is not experiencing extreme hardship is living in some sort of paradise.

FWIW, I do go to Starbucks-esque cafes a lot with my mum friends (and with DH), but we are certainly not just talking fluffy nonsense to each other while we are there. We often discuss politics, world events and a wide range of "serious" stuff, as well as talking about our daily lives - a bit like MN really. And only one of my friends goes skiing.

If YAB can't see the benefit in something that provides so much support for parents (or thinks topics like mc are "cosy") then she is really very unimaginative.

I can't decide which riposte to give to say YAB YABU. Lazy lazy pollyfiller journalism. (We're seeing a lot of it around this sodding SJP film. I guess that's to be expected).

One is to say, FGS, I went to the Palace of Westminster with Mumsnet and the White Ribbon Alliance to campaign on maternal mortality. There is tons here on domestic violence, politics, feminism, mental health issues, miscarriage campaigns, the lot. She must have barely glanced at the site to miss all of that. Oh, and we've discussed Jeremy Clarkson and decided he's not worth bothering with.

The other is to say, FGS, are women only allowed to talk about serious subjects nowadays? Will Yasmin come and police the MN Xmas party to check that we are all talking politics? Cos if so, she's going to be roundly disappointed. There's a bit of dancing on chairs but that's your lot.

I can't decide which is better, to say, no we are a serious site, or no, why shouldn't we talk about our MILs and bumsex and potty training and pombears etc. if we want to.

Like many. she didn't get beyond AIBU

I agree she's misogynistic

Three thoughts:

How could anyone read that Clarkson article and not see what he was trying to say? I can't stand the man, but might look at him a little more kindly from now on as I think that was a very powerful piece of journalism. And he is right, Africa is fucked. Totally and completely fucked, and that's about the most depressing thing I can possibly imagine, and I can't begin to get my head round it

Y A-B is not stupid, but when I read her article this morning I thought "she's obviously been so busy getting her little darling off to Uni she forgot all about her column so had to randomly vomit some disconnected thoughts onto her computer screen to meet her deadline. Because that's what it was - "isn't the new SJP film rubbish, doesn't it say some bad things about women and what they are like, ooh - I know, women go onto Mumsnet, that will get a few people interested, what can I say about Mumsnet, I think I read a thread there about baby ski clothes once...ooh look, 500 words filed, I wonder how my PFB is getting on during freshers' week".

I assume that Ms A-B will be coming on fairly soon to reassure us all that she never engages in any form of social interaction that isn't directly related to saving the world. No asking your neighbour how her child is settling in at school, no asking your co-worker whether she would recommend the hotel she has just stayed in, no asking your friend whether she thinks your husband might be having an affair. Just world peace, politics and saving the planet. Because that's what she seems to suggest social discourse should consist of. I spend my whole working day trying (and failing) to save the world in one form or another

• sometimes I just want to chat randomly about high heels and oven cleaner. Whether online or with my friends.

YAB, really annoys me tbh. She always claims to speak on behalf of the less privileged, but basically spouts a load of rubbish.
At least her daughter will be able to enjoy the benefits of a university education. Some of the middle class, starbuck drinking mumsnetters, will be unable to send their children to university.
YAB, you have exhibited the type of dicrimination and ignorance that you claim to abhor.

'discrimination'

There's something missing. I can't put my finger on it.... Ah yes, I've got it, it's the 'U' that needs to follow the initials of Ms Y A-B. Must be silent.

Well done, Ms A-B, - your child has left home, your mothering is complete. Sounds like you have done a good job. But now you are trying to embrace your new role in life by rejecting the old.

And what you say is not correct. There is plenty of serious stuff going on here.

And some of us have another 17 years to go, so if it's OK with you we'll just carry on about the mundane, all-consuming, day to day business of being a Mum and chatting with other Mums.

I'm a middle class mum, really?? when did that happen, I'm on benefits ffs. All I can say is someone didn't do there homework, I bet she isn't even a mumsnet member and only bothered to read a few titles in chat, if she had have gone into the feminist thread she would have seen all the DV stuff, and if she'd have typed politics in the search thread I'm sure shed have found a few over the last day at least. I'm starting to wonder how many more papers are going to start being like the daily mail. Talking of newspapers, I was round my nan's earlier and the daily mirror is stating that 1.3 mil of parents are having to choose between feeding there kids and heating!!!. I think I'm more inclined to believe this that the crap this woman wrote.

im deffo middle class and this is how i prove it

i went on the potato counsellor competition thread and on filling in the application i asked for waitrose vouchers

Oh, Custardo, only a select few of us Northerners have the opportunity to be so middle class. I had to ask for Sainsbos vouchers. The shame of it.

Just the other day I was thinking about how thoughtful and intelligent Alibhai-Brown is. How ironic. Is she doing the same here as other overworked journos; slapping out a quick bit of copy with more concern for her looming deadline than the quality of her work? Such a pity. I shall give her the benefit of the doubt, but oooh, Yasmin, you have rather embarassed yourself, love.

Don't knock it ouryve - we only have Tesco here, and actually went for a day out to our nearest Sainsbos yesterday!!!

Re: the Clarkson article; as I recall, Y A-B's family were among those expelled from Uganda in the 70's, so maybe she is taking personally any inaccuracies, exaggeration or generalisation in his writing. Or maybe she just objects to his general twattishness