NY Times Columnist Writes About Motherhood For Mother’s Day and Twitter Melts Down
New York Times columnist Elizabeth Bruenig wrote last week about her experience becoming a mother at the age of 25. Shortly after the article was published, and well into Monday morning, the reaction on Twitter was fierce, as were defenses of the column.
If it seems strange that an essay on motherhood would require fierce defending, it’s possible you haven’t spent much time on Twitter.
The biggest swarm of negative reactions were from a feminist standpoint, treating the column as an affront, and consisting in the main of unverified accounts with few followers to many tens of thousands. But the debacle really blew up when Salon’s Amanda Marcotte and feminist author Jude Ellison Sady Doyle weighed in.
I would like to thank this headline/byline combo for helping me set a record for the quickest “gross, pass” I’ve ever uttered in my life. The funniest part is framing 25 like it’s some daringly young age. The average age of first childbirth is 26. pic.twitter.com/w4hrBK1HHz
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) May 9, 2021
If you want a take on this issue that is smart and isn’t naked pandering to the fantasies of pathetic men, I recommend @JillFilipovic‘s newsletter. Unlike anything Bruenig writes, Jill actually respects women. https://t.co/dL0vhP1644
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) May 9, 2021
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing this woman it was a tremendous personal achievement to be repeatedly knocked up by an Internet troll she met in high school pic.twitter.com/eU30fZfUDB
— Jude Ellison S. Doyle (@sadydoyle) May 9, 2021
“That’s right, I’m an affluent, white, married, straight Christian, AND a mother… TRIGGERED YET LIBS???” was always going to have shortcomings as a grift, but Christ, you could have chosen a less obviously off-putting dude to build the brand around
— Jude Ellison S. Doyle (@sadydoyle) May 9, 2021
Happy Mother’s Day to Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig, the only person ever to have given birth
— Jude Ellison S. Doyle (@sadydoyle) May 9, 2021
They weren’t the only verified accounts to unleash hell. This interpretation of the article as somehow being an attack was thematically consistent among those spewing vitriol.
That title literally does not make me want to read it as a female who lived the majority of my life in s society that tried to convince me being an obeying wife and mother at 25 is all I should aim for in life. That’s also a hilarious thread. (Dont worry Bruenig has blocked me).
— Rasha Al Aqeedi (@RashaAlAqeedi) May 10, 2021
Former Trump advisor A.J. Delgado got into it over the article as well. I’m not embedding those tweets though.
Bruenig’s motherhood mediation also had a lot of positive interaction, and many people, blue checks included, came to her defense against the mob. Even former presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson spoke up.
When misogynistic vitriol is turned against a woman at a certain point it has nothing to do with her. You’re not even a person to them. You’re just a symbol of some unowned part of themselves that they hate. In a very real way this has nothing to do with you. Raise it up??
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) May 10, 2021
this site has broken people’s brains to the extent that “it’s mother’s day and i love being a mother” is now seen as a provocation
— Amanda Kolson Hurley (@amandakhurley) May 10, 2021
Twitter dot com is where you can go to find people outraged by an innocuous @ebruenig Mother’s Day column about having a child at a roughly average age for an American woman.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 9, 2021
Of all the things I find weird on this site—and I find plenty weird—the ability of Liz Bruenig to break the minds of so many people is definitely among the weirdest.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) May 9, 2021
It is very weird how many professional feminists have no problem saying extremely sexist shit to you/about you
— Child free sober wine mom (@katewillett) May 9, 2021
Naturally, the defenses pulled additional attacks.
Oof, I see a lot of men are angry about these tweets! Just more confirmation that the audience for this crap is dudes so shitty they worry they won’t get a wife until they trap someone who’s too young to know better.
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) May 10, 2021
whew, all these men stepping forward to defend liz bruenig from other people’s opinions she’ll never have to entertain
— jacqui shine (@DearSplenda) May 10, 2021
Jill Filipovic, who was mentioned by Marcotte, had her own tweet on the subject of motherhood, taken by many as a response to Bruenig’s article.
I would really love to read more essays and op/eds from women (and men, too) who regret having children as early as they did, regret having as many as they did, or regret having children at all. There’s not much about motherhood that remains publicly unexplored, but that does.
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) May 8, 2021
Filipovic’s tweet spawned its own furious and vitriolic pushback, even netting a Twitchy post.
Bruenig’s editorial on motherhood is worth your time to read, way more so than any tweet wars, if you’re looking around.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.
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