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Thankfully, Google has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

by dqybh 7y ago

TeMPOraL 7y ago
I knew the term, but holy hell, I didn't realize it was created and used as a positive description. I've always thought of the term and the image it conveyed as being strictly derogatory / insulting.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  Given how much hostility homemakers get in the US, it may not have been as positive as you imagine. I didn't find the article as shockingly positive as your remark led me to expect it to be. I think of soccer mom in relatively neutral terms, but my feeling tends to be that it means "she's merely someone with no life for well-meaning but misguided ideas and not because she's outright depraved." Like it's an attempt to say "full time moms: not as bad as we usually think they are."
- erikpukinskis 7y ago
  Anti-women groups use it in a derogatory way, so if you're in those communities that's how you'd see it used. Similar to how many people use feminism as an epithet.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    I'm not in any anti-women groups, though I've known or read some people with anti-suburban bent (or rather, against American-style suburbia and suburban life), which is where I guess I must've picked up these connotations. As for feminism, yes, I know a lot of people who use "feminism" as epithet and justifiably so, though one usually tries to attach some word to distinguish the crazies from those actually helping women; people I know in meatspace usually call it "belligerent feminism". A lot of those people are women! They prefer someone advocating for their rights instead of the people who use it as a pretext to destroy others or win spotlight for themselves; since the latter kind essentially appropriated the word "feminism" in public consciousness, these women decided to disassociate themselves from the movement.
    - erikpukinskis 7y ago
      If they have a category for "belligerent feminism" it sounds like they're still feminists and therefore they're not just "associating" with the movement, they ARE the movement! Personally I don't let cranks define words for me. That includes feminist cranks and conservative cranks alike. "Public consciousness" is worth paying attention to, but I'm not rewriting my dictionary based on it.
erikpukinskis 7y ago
Do you have a better link? That one doesn't mention soccer mom puritanism.

Thankfully, Google has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

by dqybh 7y ago

Thankfully, Google has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom

I knew the term, but holy hell, I didn't realize it was created and used as a positive description. I've always thought of the term and the image it conveyed as being strictly derogatory / insulting.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
Given how much hostility homemakers get in the US, it may not have been as positive as you imagine. I didn't find the article as shockingly positive as your remark led me to expect it to be. I think of soccer mom in relatively neutral terms, but my feeling tends to be that it means "she's merely someone with no life for well-meaning but misguided ideas and not because she's outright depraved." Like it's an attempt to say "full time moms: not as bad as we usually think they are."
erikpukinskis 7y ago
Anti-women groups use it in a derogatory way, so if you're in those communities that's how you'd see it used. Similar to how many people use feminism as an epithet.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  I'm not in any anti-women groups, though I've known or read some people with anti-suburban bent (or rather, against American-style suburbia and suburban life), which is where I guess I must've picked up these connotations. As for feminism, yes, I know a lot of people who use "feminism" as epithet and justifiably so, though one usually tries to attach some word to distinguish the crazies from those actually helping women; people I know in meatspace usually call it "belligerent feminism". A lot of those people are women! They prefer someone advocating for their rights instead of the people who use it as a pretext to destroy others or win spotlight for themselves; since the latter kind essentially appropriated the word "feminism" in public consciousness, these women decided to disassociate themselves from the movement.
  - erikpukinskis 7y ago
    If they have a category for "belligerent feminism" it sounds like they're still feminists and therefore they're not just "associating" with the movement, they ARE the movement! Personally I don't let cranks define words for me. That includes feminist cranks and conservative cranks alike. "Public consciousness" is worth paying attention to, but I'm not rewriting my dictionary based on it.

erikpukinskis 7y ago

Do you have a better link? That one doesn't mention soccer mom puritanism.