Penelope Trunk: Oversharing on Twitter?
The career-advice columnist's tweet on her miscarriage has social networkers saying, OMG, TMI!
Penelope Trunk has taken oversharing on Twitter to a new level, said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. Trunk—the 42-year-old CEO of a career-advice blog called Brazen Careerist—happily tweeted last month that she was having a miscarriage and would be spared the trouble of an abortion. "Is there anything much more grotesque or freakish than a woman essentially celebrating her miscarriage in a public venue?"
Divulging such private information in public wouldn't be a good career move for most women, said Lindsay Robertson in Jezebel. But it was "refreshing" to hear Trunk explain herself to CNN's Rick Sanchez, even if her "matter-of-fact way of talking about abortion is so unheard of that it's jarring even to the ears of a die-hard pro-choicer." If Trunk "had to lose some people's respect to get us talking openly about abortion access on national news, then more power to her." (Watch Penelope Trunk talk Twitter and abortion on CNN.)
It's not just moral scolds who were shocked by Penelope Trunk's oversharing, said J. Maureen Henderson in True/Slant. Trunk is supposed to be a career expert, but tweeting about your abortion plans "doesn't seem like savvy workplace behavior," any more than discussing your gambling problem or your gastric bypass would be. If Trunk did any good, it was by demonstrating that the Twitter TMI epidemic doesn't only afflict "people who aren't old enough to know better."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The Week Junior partners with Barnes Children's Literature Festival
The UK's largest children's literature festival returns for its tenth year - and The Week Junior are on board
By The Week Published
-
How to do Disney World with an invisible disability
The Explainer Accessible travel at Florida's famous theme park is about more than wheelchair access
By Marc Shoffman, The Week UK Published
-
The best films and documentaries about space exploration
The Week Recommends The cosmos infiltrates Planet Earth's cinemas
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published