Classless, Profane, and Cheap

When I started blogging, I had no idea how prevalent blogging had become. What I knew of blogging came from my sister who started her blog, Family Times, in 2007. Her blog was the only one I read. I thought blogs were like the Geocity pages of the 90s, all hobbies that didn't do much. My sister encouraged me to blog, at the time, but I couldn't imagine what I would write about. I figured my life was far from interesting. I was a single 1st grade teacher with no prospects in the dating world. Boring.

My mind was changed a mere 3 years later. I started reading some blogs and discovered the richness of the prose in some cases and just plain fun stories. It was nice reading about others going through the same things. I also had come to discover that I was pregnant for a third time after suffering two losses. I hoped to document the pregnancy, more for myself than anyone else. Unfortunately, I lost that baby too, but I continued to blog. I had tapped back into my love of writing and didn't want to stop.

Two years after I started by ramblings, I got on Twitter and discovered a whole word of bloggers I didn't know existed. These bloggers, like The Blogess Jenny Lawson, took blogging seriously. They wrote in their blogs frequently and had developed huge followings. Not only that, but these fabulous bloggers were earning money from their blog. While I can never hope to have a following like Scary Mommy, I found inspiration to do more.

During this journey of discovery, I found out that even popular mommy bloggers have heaps of critics. Some over some pretty inane things, like judging their skills as a parent. So, criticism over a post I make is expected. I have had a couple of challenges to posts I have made based on the content; all of it polite and respectful.

Recently, though, I faced something I didn't expect. Something I hadn't seen other bloggers face, although it wouldn't surprise me if they had. A person was critical of the title of my blog post, Mouthgasm! I have to admit to being floored. What was wrong with the word? I had posted the link of this blog post in a Catholic group I participate with on Facebook. A woman started a thread saying that we should refrain from posting made up words with sexual connotations and to keep things classy. I never have associated the word "mouthgasm" with sex since it has nothing to do with sex, and she was implying that I lacked class. Not cool.

My daughters reenacting my recent battle over my blog title.

I defended myself and my blog. To make matters worse, she later went on to tell me that the title "cheapened" my post and implied that I was trying to gain readership by using a racy headline (mouthgasm is racy??). She then said I had "reduce[d] [my]self to the profane." I was furious when I saw these words written. Cheap? Profane? If I decide to do a post on something cheap and profane, that is my right and I would have stood by that and said "thanks for noticing."  But, in fact, I hadn't done either of those things. I defended the title of my post and it seems I had several defenders backing me.

The funny thing is that all her ranting and claiming I would likely lose readership over a "racy" (again really?) title only increased traffic to the blog in question. Maybe I need to stir up controversy more often. Then I might be able to earn enough money from Google Ad Sense for them to cut me a check ($10 FYI).

The moral of the story? No real moral. However, this is my blog. I do write my opinions whether you like them or not. I will title things to help gain interest but never just to be racy. I want the title to be descriptive of the content inside. If you don't like what I write or my titles, then don't read my blog. I'm sure you can find a blog meant for you. Well, maybe. And if you do decide to still complain in a disrespectful manner, be prepared for me to rant about it on my Facebook page and later blog about it. I need material after all. ;)