I am a Twitter ambassador, roaming the earth to cheerfully explain to non-believers that Twitter
does have merit, that it
can be an asset to a business' marketing, and that it is about much, much more than sharing what I had for breakfast.
Then I learned about Penelope Trunk.
The story goes that Ms. Trunk was in a board meeting last month and sent the following tweet:
I'm
in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because
there's a f----- -up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.
Yeppers.
TMI (too much information) in all its glory. Lost in the stunning lack
of modesty and dare I say, self-respect, is a valid lament about how
doctors who perform abortions are scarce in many parts of the country.
Also valid is her resentment of the bureaucratic red tape designed to
help avert the process all together.
This is no blushing teen. Ms. Trunk is 42 years old.
ABC News
said she's made a career coaching people how to build and maintain a
professional online identity. And yet, she chose to share her
miscarriage with the world. She followed up her tweet with several
posts at her blog
Brazen Careerist.
It wasn't until I saw Ms. Trunk on
CNN that my gaping mouth began to close and I questioned what I really felt about this story.
In
keeping with her persona of a workplace adviser, Ms. Trunk says that in
times of personal emergency or crisis, it's best to be honest with your
employer about the situation. Further, she argues, because miscarriage
is not uncommon at work, and because it is a multi-week process and not
a one-action event, she is modeling the at-work behavior she promotes.
(25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and
75% of all women of childbearing age work)
And
it's not that Ms. Trunk doesn't understand that for many women a
miscarriage is a sad, terrible thing. But for her, right now? Nope.
What
I thought was an "oversharing on Twitter" story has blossomed into a
pro-choice/anti-abortion story. Conservative writers like
Kathleen Parker are
fanning the flames, indignant that one would celebrate the death of a fetus, even amidst planning for an abortion.
A reminder: at least twice this year we've also seen what you could call the "anti-Trunk tweet": women using
Twitter while giving birth.
Upon hearing that news, reactions seemed to be more muted than with the
miscarriage. More like, well, if that's how you really want to spend
that time, OK.
Where's the line? Is poor taste like pornography -- something you'll know when you see it? 'Cause right now, we're seeing everything.
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