dads
STFU Parents: Bridging The Overshare Gender Gap: Daddyjacking Is A Thing
One of the few qualms I have about running STFU, Parents is that mothers of young children tend to “overshare” (and use Facebook) much more than fathers do. This isn’t a problem, per se, but many of the words I use to describe different “types” of oversharers are a play on the word “mom,” which makes the words appear hyper-feminine and applicable only to mothers. Mommyjacking, sanctimommy, mompetition, momedy,momarazzi, and documom are just a sampling of these words — and when they’re lined up in a row, it can kind of make the blog seem anti-mom. That’s not the goal, of course; the absolute last thing I want to do is “shame” women more than men for sharing their parenting experiences on social media. And in fact, there are thousands of dads who are inclined to share similar “woe is mom” tales or become enraged over a parent-and-child parking space, but because those examples represent such a small percentage of the overall submissions I get, I don’t tend to dedicate specific vocabulary to all of the TMI dads out there. And frankly, I think that’s pretty dumb. I’m working on a way to even the score, so to speak, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about parental overshare, it’s that everyone is capable of writing exhaustive stories about their barfing baby (and postingpictures of said barf, too) on Facebook.
Why only give moms goofy nicknames when dads can be equally as offensive? And I’m not just talking about baby vomit, either. Dads are also prone to being sanctimonious (“santidads”), as well as competing in absurd “dadpetitions,” and I think it’s high time to start showcasing their obnoxious social media habits, too. To kick off the first dads-only installment, let’s focus on one of the most obvious categories in which men are guilty:daddyjacking. Yes, dads hijack their friends’ status updates, and yes, they come off just as self-involved as their female counterparts. If ‘daddyjacking’ isn’t already a word you use, you can start “changing the ratio” by using it today!
(Seriously, sometimes I post daddyjacking submissions that feature names like “Bill” and “Mark” and the comments are still like, “This annoying bitch is a mommyjacker!” or “Whoa, sanctimommy alert! What a cunt.” It’s times like those that I have to wonder why people automatically assume that every single person on STFU, Parents is a woman. Is it my own fault for featuring mostly moms, or do people just need better reading comprehension skills? Has society taught us to assume that women/mothers are the irritation behind everything parenting-related? Let’s stop thinking that way.)
