Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Where are the men?

A friend - not currently a bride2B - who knows of the existence of my blog, asked last week:

Where are all the groom blogs?

Damn good question, when you think about it, since the internet tends to be dominated by men.

Often prescient, my friend was ahead of the curve again.

On Sunday, the NYT revealed the existence of a few groom blogs. It's funny, really, when there's a huge diverse blogosphere of wedding blogs written by women, that the Times chooses to focus on the few blogs written by men. An example, I think, of how an activity gets greater social-cultural recognition once men start doing it (see: grocery shopping, cooking, gardening).

My prediction: once male bloggers and marketers realize how much of the wedding planning industry has moved online, and how much more guys are getting involved in planning their weddings, there will be a gold rush. Stake out your territory now, ladies.

6 comments:

LPC said...

I think east side bride is doing a pretty good job of pinch hitting for the guys around what to wear:).

the un-bride said...

He doesn't post very often, but my guy has mrun-bride.blogspot.com. He's also addicted to the "define the non-word" game now.

(taibingr: a very potent shot served at tiki bars in tropical locales)

elizabeth said...

Yay for blogging grooms! I just checked out Mr. UB - he's almost as funny as you are, UB. You guys are hilarious!

And, yeah, LPC, I've gotta direct my guy to ESB so he can figure out what to wear.

elizabeth said...

ps - I'm thinking maybe a blog dedicated to defining the 'non words.' Such a good game!

Anonymous said...

Amen to this! It really bugs me that mostly women are blogging about weddings; my dude is super supportive of my blog and In Real Life we do all wedding stuff together (it's not "my day") but still, he is not particularly keen on blogging about it. He has his own blog, which is mostly about politics and metal. It kind of kills me that I have a "private sphere" blog and he has a "public sphere" one. Ack.

Although we both realise tht I have a lot more "junk" to sort through when it comes to weddings, in terms of the pressure put on women, blah blah blah. He knows he has it easy, which is maybe why he feels less of a need to write about it.

elizabeth said...

Great points, A&L! There's definitely a lot more for women to sort out if they don't want to follow the well-worn path (in weddings or in life). But, if women are going to change from the traditional norm, it would seem that men have to, also, so it's curious to me that they don't have more to sort out. Even if they do have things to sort out, men aren't socialized to do so publicly, in the way that women often share supportive and encouraging 'troubles talk.'

And, for many people, weddings are still seen as all about the bride. It's nice to see guys getting into it - my guy definitely has strong opinions about much of it, but not much desire to share those thoughts with the world at large.