You’re doing it wrong: the governance of motherhood through mommy blogs.

Mommy blog communities have been established by mothers who publish their stories online with the stated purpose to empower themselves and their peers by offering a seemingly unfiltered representation of motherhood. While this benefit has been felt by many readers, there are invisible governing discourses that have prevented such blogs from becoming authentic spaces of resistance to the hegemonic ideals of motherhood. To understand the governing forces placed upon mothers through “mommy blogs,” we explored the question: How is motherhood shaped through narratives (re)presented in mommy blogs? Critical discourse analysis, informed by a governmentality perspective, was used to analyze mommy blog entries to illuminate representations of power and knowledge within the blog entries. The findings suggest that a governmentality perspective is useful in understanding how mommy blogs enact power over mothers using mechanisms of governance through 1) sameness and imperfection, 2) perceived self-compassion, 3) advice and support, and 4) the scientification of motherhood. As more people turn to online communities for support with the experience of mothering, it is important to garner a critical understanding of how mommy blogs continue to influence contemporary experiences of motherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]