Today I came across an article on Salon.com called Why I can’t stop reading Mormon housewife blogs.  The author says she is a single, childless, atheistic feminist who can’t bake a cupcake, but is addicted to reading the wholesome, baby-filled blogs of cute Mormon mommies.  I though it was fascinating, for several reasons.  One is that I’m surprised people spend so much time actually looking at other people’s personal blogs.  Doing the so-called “blog stalking.”  Unless I know the person, personal blogs have never been able to hold my attention.  Second, I can’t believe how slick these blogs are.  The photography looks professional, and the Salon.com author is right- their houses look like something from an Anthropologie catalog and their kids look like Baby Gap models.  I am in awe that after putting together a home and family that look so lovely anyone would have the spare time to then photograph and blog about them.

The comments were as interesting as the article.  Some people thought the blogs were fake - put together by the corporate Church as a way to get people interested in Mormonism - like people can’t actually be as happy as these moms appear to be.  I’m sure that’s not true.  Others said there must be a dark side to these families, like no one is that perfect.  Of course they’re not, I don’t post pictures of my moldy grout or admit to how much TV I let my preschooler watch on this blog.  Everyone knows blogs are selective representations of real life.  Some said Mormon mommies blog so well because they don’t have paid employment and need an outlet.  One (correctly) asserted that the reason they’re so young and cute is because they can’t have sex until they get married, so they marry young. 

Well, I married young, I’m a Mormon, and a mom of young children, but other than those things I don’t think I have much in common with these bloggers other than the fact that I’m also addicted to Diet Coke.  Anyway, the thing the author said keeps her coming back to these blogs is that they seem to show that one can actually be happily married, and happily parenting.  It gives her hope that “marriage and motherhood could potentially be something other than a miserable, soul-destroying trap.”  How ‘bout that?