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

Right I have taken time off from watching celebrity masterchef and trying to work out who the slebs are Saving The World to post this:

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, for example, is a twat.

Y'know, I still don't really see how she managed to segue from dropping her daughter at university, to a shit-sounding film (the book was ok but annoyed me), to how crap everyone on MN is. It's just like a brain dump of random vaguely connected thoughts that someone would have after half a pint of G&T down the pub on a boring afternoon!

"an' another thing, that Clarkson, he's.. he's.. wassat word again? yeah, he's mizzoj.. mijjozzz - doesn't like women, innit" type of thing.

I agree with what fruitybread said, and to be honest I'm not sure I would have fired off a letter. It was a paragraph in a mis mash of an article, I think leaving it up to individual members of MN to comment on it, if they wanted would have been better.

I don't particularly think the problem is shallowness. The problem is more certain foul-mouthed, uncouth, uncaring females who seem to love giving some posters a hard time. I seem to have witnessed it a lot lately.

LOVE 'not every woman has an Indie column... one reason why Mumsnet has grown in popularity.'

[Leaving aside for the moment the fact that she has missed all the serious political discussion on MN (AFAICS every single issue she mentions gets a lot more space than skiing with babies -- I'm sure if I search the archives I'll find threads on skiing with babies, but I don't remember ever reading one, whereas I can think of multiple threads on DV and coalition policies just in the last week and several examples of the others in the last few weeks)...]

very efficient guilt cleaning for working ladies and buckets of advice for SAHMs

is she really criticising a parenting website for offering advice about well, parenting to parents ? I assume that next week we'll see a blistering expose of how TropicalFishKeeperNet is obsessed with the minutiae of tanks and filtration systems.

Also look forward to thread in Feminism on the delightful phrase "efficient guilt cleaning for working ladies", almost every word of which is objectionable. In fact, I may start one...

I don't know many institutions that do more to offer support with DV as it is. Good sensible advice on everything from recognising the warning signs to how to get an injunction.

Have read two threads on the subject this morning, also a couple of threads discussing benefits fraud v. disability discrimination, a couple on getting statements for children with SEN, one thread about a severely disabled child having all his care package withdrawn, another one reassuring a mother who fears she may have caused her ds' learning disabilities.

Oh the shallow and self absorbed lives these people lead- so completely out of touch with Real Life! If only they spent more time thinking about Jeremy Clarkson!

Yeh, I skipped most of the film bit - most films these days are a pile of crap and this one sounded like no exception.
She should have stuck to talking about dropping her daughter off at Uni, with maybe a quick mention about Yorkshire pudding week !
Give me a column instead ?

I reckon she should have mentioned it is International Pirate Day today. That would have been more useful than the rest of what she wrote.

What has Mumsnet got to do with that crap film anyway? I can only speak for myself but I don't really think that it is going to get rave reviews on here, or that many of us can relate to SJPs so-called "character". I watched the trailer just to see exactly how crap it looked, and it seemed diabolical.

Lets face it:
a) she had nothing better to write about today so mishmashed bits and bobs together and came up with bitch about mn
b) she has not been on this site has she, she hasn't read some of the harrowing threads that I have about death penalties, dv, bereavement but I am just a silly middle class mother aren't I.

c) you know that all this mn bashing is because the jealous little pygmies didn't think of it themselves and are now fuming that someone else has set something so popular up.

I "heart" mn, not every day granted but a great deal, its fun, it makes me think and I get great advice from it. When I am alone it makes me feel like I am in a room with friends, some of the posts are wonderfully enlightening (AIBU by my 3 yo Toddler), unlike some parenting classes quite frankly I don't feel like I am doing it wrong the whole time. I actually feel like I am getting it right. Anything that boosts the confidence of a SAHM or a Working Mum can't be a bad thing, it can only hopefully encourage better parenting and therefore perhaps a future generation that can be proud of itself rather than rely on Jeremy Kyle to sort it through a DNA test.

Do you think she is Envious of the fact that there wasn't anything like that around for her?

This woman doesnt know what the hell she is talking about. MN is great because it covers such vast areas and tastes. I came on here for advice about miscarriage and fertility and fully credit MN for saving my fertility and long term health (I suffered a molar pregnancy and then Ashermans) I stayed on MN because I formed such close bonds with women who had been through similar things and found the support and information amazing. I have also been helped enormously in the relationships section and have successfully got out of an abusive relationship with help and support from people on there. How has this woman failed to see all the very serious discussion/information/support that is on MN?

Yes, there are recipes, and style tips as well as serious issues being discussed, but isnt that what makes a site good, that it covers everything you might want it to? Saying that MN is frivolous is a bit like saying the internet is frivolous, just because it has some light hearted as well as serious topics on it.

What has Mumsnet got to do with that crap film anyway?

This quote from The Lazy Journo's Guide to Filling Column Inches explains:

When experiencing difficulty in reaching your required word count you should first look to your own life. Maybe an amusing occurrance or frustrating episode could give colour and life to the piece? Or failing that an ordinary family event that could be eeked out while illiciting sympathy from others in a similar situation?

If you find you are unable to stretch your forgettable anecdote far enough you have two options. Either look to The Zeitgeist or draw upon a popular figure of derision.

Where The Zeitgeist relates to a particular population or group you can eat up several column inches by making tenuous links to other similar groups for the purpose of a "rant paragraph". Google is a good tool for doing this.

If you still find you don't have enough copy simply link your lambasting of popular culture to your figure of derision and away you go! Word count achieved.

I am a relatively new MNer (3 weeks ish) and I find it both extremely helpful and utterly terrifying in equal measures. It is also totally addictive :)
There are times when it has the feeling of an 'in club' and some of the banter goes way over my head but all in all I think that it is very well balanced in views, discussions and topics.
As many other posters have said this reporter has not done her homework, however I can, just about, see where she is coming from.

Has she got us confused with Nethuns?

I wonder if Y A-B will respond?

I am disappointed by her column, frankly. Bitterly disappointed. The lazy stereotype of MN as a place for latte-drinking, Bugaboo-pushing, over privileged 'yummies' to sit about discussing private school is bollocks, and it's insulting bollocks. It's a shame that this bollocks is peddled so frequently, and a double shame that so many influential women choose to perpetuate the bollocks without taking the time to explore the site properly and without proper attention to just how well used and well loved this site is .

Mumsnet is such a huge source of information, support and comfort to me, as I am sure it is to many other women. It is somewhere I come to discuss, debate and (dare I say it?) have a laugh. There are so many brilliant, well-informed, witty women here. I can honestly say I learn something new here most days, and I certainly laugh out loud on an hourly basis (and am often driven to shouting at my screen, too ).

'Shallow' it is not.

Yeah cause i've never campaigned for anything in my life have I?

I think my usual name Peachy has come to mean moans on and on and on about issues so frankly bah humbug.

Short of wearing a CND t shirt and tattoing myself with the issues I follow there's sod all else I can do. Or want to do.

(what's woronmg with advice for SAHMs btw? Do you have to work to qualify for support now?)

But if you want to know about skiing with babies, its all there

Where is it then??? I can't find the Baby Ski section?

I am picturing a baby walker but with skis instead of wheels?

Apparently the only help anyone needs is having her guilt cleaned and SAHMs are entirely devoid of guilt so can't need any advice.

Surely if you're going to tattoo yourself with the issues you need to do away with the CND (or indeed any) T-shirt for maximum impact? And then post the photos on FB

I have found a couple (literally a couple) of threads from early March (so, over six months ago) about babies and skiing. Clearly there has been no mention of East Africa, domestic violence, or the Coalition government since then .

Generally speaking no one discusses Times articles any more since they went behind a paywall. And many of us choose not to put any more cash the way of News International than we can avoid. Perhaps in her zeal that all the thousands of Mumsnetters should hand over cash to the Murdochs for online or paper access to the Times (presumably just so that we can pay to be properly outraged by JC) YAB forgets the phone hacking scandal of a few months back. It was discussed quite extensively on Mumsnet, as I recall, in among all the lengthy talk of skiing babies.

Crikey. only yesterday loads of mnetters signed the petition i posted from Amnesty about Troy Davis.

a couple of weeks ago, many mumsnetters joined in the discussion about cluster bombs and how the RBS was investing in companies that manufacture them ( another Amnesty campaign) many changed their banks and loads sought more information and signed the petition.

I am always having political discussions with mn die hard tories - i post lots of political threads.

MN can be every very shallow, totally and absurdley navel gazing at times - especially with regards to trollery and tamponery However it can equally be inspiring, useful, supportive and give pause for thought.

in a matter of 10 minutes, i can be vigorously discussion Tory policy, asking for people to sign a petition against the death penalty, to support on a low carb thread, to giving teenage advice or just having a moan myself, to debating with feminists, to signposting posters with housing difficulties, to organising or attending a jolly good piss up and discussing what to wear in a fashion thread.

it is what you maake of it - i don't know who this woman is, but Justine didn;t send her a Xmas card last year that's for sure

What tosh? Mumsnet covers everything and yes that means the small stuff too. That's why I like it sometimes we all need a little light relief. Clearly they cannot have first hand experience.... poor them

Justine sends Christmas cards?
I never got one! Huh!

hahahaha does she really think we are all Starbucks mummies?