Apparently, Mom Bloggers Care About Baby Slings, Not Child Rapists

I don't have the time to track down what exactly Motrin did or said following its ill-fated effort to be part of the social media "in" crowd Sunday night, but from Twitter and FriendFeed, I got the gist.

For those of you who may not hear about it, the popular pain reliever created a viral video ad talking about how baby slings can make backs sore. It was punchy and intended to be fun and light, you could tell. Instead, the opposite happened.

The ad set off an online riot of angry moms who took offense. Dozens of blogs and Twitter posts raged about Motrin "hating moms." Social media experts raced to share their thoughts and perspective. It's said to have crashed Motrin's server and prompt the company's PR to go on disaster recovery blast.

Tonight, I visited the blogs of many of those who wrote in protest about the ad. Not one that I could find had a single mention of the Protect Our Children Act, which provides law enforcement the resources to catch the more than 300,000 people in this country raping kids, video taping or photographing it, and sharing it with others on the web. I tried a Google blog search for coverage of the bill and didn't find anything there. I've never seen a single social media or internet expert or tech blog write a word about it. However, the same search on the word "Motrin" brought up dozens of angry posts and protests.

I blogged and Twittered about the bill many times until it passed, and I'm not even a parent.

Hundreds of thousands of American children are being raped and exploited online as we speak, most by parents or somebody they know and trust. It's happening in every race, demographic, city and income class. No child is safe or truly protected. A new technology that brings police to the door of those committing the crime couldn't help because the funding wasn't there. Of the 300,000 cases, just 2% were being prosecuted. This is happening in America, right around the corner from your Facebook.

Somehow, this wasn't outrageous enough to merit mom blogger attention. However, a Motrin ad that might suggest something derogatory about moms launched an epic web protest. I don't get it.

I don't want to offend anybody, but knowing how hard it was to pass that bill, it just made me very sad. To all the mommy bloggers out there raging about the Motrin ad: I blogged to help protect your kids when you didn't.

You're welcome.

Comments

[bobcollier]

Research by Dr. James Prescott and others into the origins of violence points to a failure in mother/carer-child bonding as a dominant factor in generating the kind of behaviour you are deploring.

So it may be that the issue of whether or not it's okay for a drug company to take the p*ss out of baby wearing is of far greater importance than you realise.

[Patricia Handschiegel - Huffpost Blogger]

Understood, but most child sex offenders are male.

[AuroMedina]

I was so touch by this blog that I will be speaking about it in my radio show today.
I tried to find experts who speak Spanish to be interviewed but it was hard to find someone.

I command you for your courage to talk to moms in this way.
Many times mothers neglect their children, in this case, using their time writing blogs.

[Patricia Handschiegel - Huffpost Blogger]

I think blogging is great for mothers. I think it can be great for anybody! I don't think it's necessarily something that takes away from caring for their children in most cases.

I just watched the explosion of anger and reaction for the Motrin ad and felt very sad to see that it hadn't been the same for a cause as important as stopping child rape in America. I remember feeling bummed out to see it when the bill was in the process of passing. It could have used that kind of rallying.

Thank you so much for mentioning the post!

[lauriemann]

I think one of the problem with the "Protect our Children" mentality is that majority of children who are molested are assaulted by family members, clergy, and other people known to the child. Stranger assault is less common; it happens, of course, but it's not as common as those "to catch a predator" shows would indicate.

In many cases when child sexual abuse has happened, the parents are in horrific denial about the event. And, sometimes when they acknowledge that it happened, parents are often reluctant to prosecute family members and friends.

[Patricia Handschiegel - Huffpost Blogger]

Actually that's not accurate.... people behind passing these laws are mostly parents - if you google, "Surviving Parents Coalition" they're among the groups behind pushing to get this passed. All live this problem and are really aware of the reality of the problem and stats. My article above mentions that most cases are parents or someone the child and his/her parents trust.

The challenge has been to expand the public's understanding and awareness. If you're interested, check out www.darknesstolight.org, which has high level awareness campaigns to to arm and educate parents. The Joyful Child (www.joyfulchild.org) creates programs for both parents and kids, and then Surviving Parents Coalition, etc. fight it at the legislative level.

I think the goal is prevention across the board (the kids, parents, strangers, trade, etc.), stopping those who are guilty, and creating stronger laws for when people are prosecuted. Denial or not, everybody can at least stop the abuse if they learn of it, and help to prevent it happening to their kids by being cautious and aware. That's kind of more of the mentality of the effort to put a stop to it.

[mredder4]

Not to dip too deeply into the Women Just Don't Think Rationally well, but this isn't news to any man. It's too easy to imagine the following situation:


-Random Person: "OMG, someone just said something really offensive about women/mothers."
-Random Woman/Mother: "What the?! OUTRAGE! SLANDER! EVIL! String 'em up! I swear, those people don't know what it's like, they have no idea, the struggles I go through, every day, never ending, with NO support from my husband, GOD FORBID he should help me sometime, if I ever get my hands on...(etc, etc, ad infinitum)"
-Rational Person Who Overheard This Exchange "Well, what exactly was said that was so offensive?"
-Same Random Woman/Mother: "OUTRA.... What? Huh?"
-Same Rational Person: "I said, what is so offensive about what they said?"
-Same Random Woman/Mother: "I... I have no idea. I didn't actually read it. Someone just told me it was offensive."

This is that situation in a nutshell.

I love women, I really do, and I try my best to be the kind of guy that doesn't disparage them for their gender, but still, it's hard not to look at the priorities explained in this article (faux outrage vs silent acceptance of real evil) and not wonder what some of these mothers are thinking.

[Pupadup4oBama]

I understand where you are coming from, but think of it this way....perhaps they feel they don't get taken seriously (of course this case is kind of representative of why) but...when a woman is a housewife/mother it's not really recognized as work.
I dunno....I'm not a mother, so I don't know where they are coming from on this, but just trying to see it from another perspective.

BTW - you could replace "woman" with "republica­n/neocon/r­eligious nut" and it might be the same thing...:) ha ha

[vlz]

Patricia, thanks for raising this issue - that the mom blogger constituency and its demographic can be a powerful one, but that some of its power seems to be misdirected at times. I'd like to be proven wrong that this active and plugged-in audience can't be mobilized on the issues you describe. I do work for the Kids' Internet Safety Alliance (KINSA), which is a strong and proactive organization responding on many levels to the negative aspects of the Internet that harm young people. While addressing this grave social problem, KINSA also acknowledges and celebrates the positive, creative and inspiring ways children and youth are using the Internet. The organization has lots of valuable information and resources on its Web site at:

http://www.kinsa.net

The organization has also recently kicked off its Mothers Online Movement (MOM) campaign, an organic community of mothers who take action against child exploitation through advocating for the rights of victims and raising funds to provide support for victims and their families. The campaign is described in more detail here:

http://www.mothersonlinemovement.ca

and on the campaign's Facebook causes page, at:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/124291

I hope your readers might want to link over and check it out. The Mothers Online Movement video (shown on the opening page at mothersonl­inemovemen­t.ca) is especially moving.

[Patricia Handschiegel - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for sharing this!

[YSL]

Think you are collapsing issues here -- I commend your valiant work on such an important issue. Protect Our Children Act is extremely important. Not for a second should you think that each and everyone of these people/mothers is not deeply indebted to the work for you have done. I personally thank you and acknowledge you for the work you have done. I think these women/mothers right to freedom of speech and seeing the impact this has had will raise the bar for future issues. I commend you expressing your anger just as these women have done. Until one is a mom of a child I don't think one can stand in the shoes of what fires 'em up. What I hear here is, I want to acknowledge myself and be heard for the work I have done, and wish all these women were there for me -- how can I connect better to get these powerhouses behind me. Personally, I love seeing anyone stand up to advertising and take it down!! Just as the advertisers stop at little to take down consumers wallets. Look at the lovely mess the economy is in, the non-integrity is biting the worlds arses. In a world where it has become harder to express yourself on important issues, i think this is all a Great step in the right direction.