This is fact not fiction

Naomi Davis, author of the blog Rockstar Diaries, shows off her 27 week baby bump while her daughter Eleanor waves for the camera.

Last week my friend sent me a link to an article on Salon.com titled: Why I can’t stop reading Mormon housewife blogs. The article is actually more than a year old, but it made both my friend and I laugh when we read it. If you’re familiar with any of the blogs listed under my “Blog Crushes” you know that The Rockstar Diaries is one of these so-called “Mormon housewife blogs.” I read the blog regularly. In fact, I’m a bit enamored with it. Although I don’t read any other blogs by Mormon women, I do know they exist. I just had no idea there were other women like me who can’t stop reading them.

If I was still a college student working toward a women studies minor, I would have written a 12-page paper about the Mormon mommy blog phenomenon and what it says about feminism, religion, marriage & family, and why Mormons seem to love hot chocolate more than most people.

However, I served my collegiate time and have traded term papers for blog posts, so I’ll keep this short. The reason young, single, educated, liberal women who work full-time and never go to church read these blogs is simple. It’s not real life, at least not for us. It’s a fantasy filled with sparkles and giggles and swing sets. We don’t dream of a life where we become stay-at-home moms by age 26. We don’t want that, but we’re enamored by it because as Emily Matchar, the author of the Salon article pointed out, “Their lives seem adorable and old-fashioned and comforting.” They seem so…simple. And wouldn’t we all like that for just a day?

It’s the dirty little Internet secret shared by thousands of women who were reared on the struggles of the second wave of feminism and who grew up with working moms who told them they could be whatever they wanted.  We’re drawn in by cute puppies, cute babies and even cuter husbands. We read because we can’t look away. We read because we all need an escape.

I don’t plan to stop reading. Although my views and life goals are pretty different from Naomi’s, and even though her blog can make me roll my eyes, more often than not, The Rockstar Diaries makes me smile. Simple? Sure. But sometimes that’s all you need.