What is a butchmama anyway?
I came up with the term butchmama when trying to think of a Twitter ID. I'm not sure I coined the term, but the lawyer in me says it's mine until some cease and desist letter says otherwise. Twitter likes to list a website/blog, and the one I linked to was my parenting blog, so I wanted a name that described me and the blog that also set me apart from "mommy bloggers" because the things they blog about really aren't the things that I experience as a parent. So, after a few duds, I came up with @butchmama and started Tweeting.
The more I used the name and told people about it, I realized that butchmama wasn't just my Twitter handle, it was the closest description of my newly-acquired identity I could find. And the more I came to love the name, the more I realized that I needed a community of others who identified as such, and so the website was born.
I have two friends here in Minneapolis who are also "butchmamas" of one form or another (in that each of them identify somewhat as butch and are "non-birth mothers" to their children. Though don't define us by what we are not, we all agreed we hate that). We've decided to meet at least once a month to hang out, have some drinks and discuss the things butchmamas deal with. Regular mommy things like diapers and teething, and some not so usual things like how to avoid lesbian bed death after a baby and when your partner's periods might come back. It's a great time, and we're hoping to find more butchmamas to join our group. That's where the idea for the website came from.
So here it is, a place for butchmamas. I'll likely blog here more than my other site, because that one has turned into a place where I think big thoughts, so it's harder to do on a regular basis. But this site, I'm not sure what it will become, but I'm hoping it will be like those butchmama meetings. Lots of fun, a little learning, and a place for mamas like me.