BlogHer

Interesting conversation over at Neville Hobson’s blog about gender. Neville started by stating that gender of a blog author doesn’t matter to him — what matters to him is the content.

Of course, content is what matters. Good writing, interesting ideas and original thought are what make you want to read, and continue reading past the first post. But gender does impact how likely it is that you will find a blog. As I commented on his blog, in a specific search, the odds may be a bit more even, but:

"Where it gets sticky is when you search a blog directory on a broad term like “public relations.” I just did it on technorati (http://www.technorati.com/blogs/public relations) and the first 9 results are written by men. And the 10th is Marketing Profs.

Same with the memetrackers, especially in the tech space – there does seem to be a male bias (see Chris Carfi’s post http://www.socialcustomer.com/2006/08/mr_rivera_tear_.html)

And then there are the lists. Sure there are blogs written by women on the various top-whatever lists, but they are predominantly (still) written by men. And when you look at who they link to, you should not be surprised if their chums are also lots of guys."

And the conversation continued from there, with a great deal of back and forth between Neville and me, along with comments by Kami Huyse, Yvonne DiVita, Sherrilynne Starkie and Carmen Van Kerckhove as well as a previous comment by Amy Gahran.

I’m not suggesting anyone should read a blog or link to a blog simply because it is by a woman.

Here’s the thing, though. We tend to "hang out" in an online community of like-minded people. I forget which one of my respected PR and marketing colleagues pointed this out (identify yourself and get the recognition you deserve) but our virtual communities, not unlike our real ones, are about 50-100 people. We read many of the same blogs, we comment, we make an effort to meet up at conferences, and so on. You may belong to one or more overlapping communities, and even some very dis-similar ones if you have wide-ranging interests. But it is quite likely that you’ll gravitate toward one. For  me, it is the collective group of PR/marketing blogs (big surprise there!). I read lots of other things too, but not as deeply. For example, I like the shows created by Joss Whedon, but I only read Whedonesque regularly.

In other words, in most subjects, I skim the surface, whereas in my chosen area, I take a pretty deep dive.

When we take that "deep dive" into a subject, in some subjects, like PR, we are likely to be finding blogs by men and women, and choosing them based on the content we find there, not the gender of the author. In other subjects, like technology, you will find women, but you have to look hard. The men have a far bigger profile. And there are not many women at the top.

When we skim, odds are  that our list will have more male authors than female, simply because the men are easier to find. I’ll use politics as an example: I scan about half a dozen political blogs. Four are "owned" or written by men, while only two are driven by women, Ariana Huffington, Huffington Post  and Chris Nolan, Spot-on.

Gender doesn’t make you a better writer or thinker. Gender shouldn’t matter in the blogosphere, or anywhere else for that matter, unless you are picking a mate, and perhaps not even then, unless reproduction is one of your goals.

But no matter how often or loudly we say that gender doesn’t matter,

it does.

And that’s why BlogHer (and other efforts to even the playing field) are so important. We aren’t proposing some sort of "blog affirmative action" where you must have so many women or minorities in your feed reader. That’s simply absurd.

What I, and many other women, suggest is that you examine your biases — conscious and sub-conscious — and make a choice. Stay in your comfort zone, where you know everybody and they know you. Or take a step out, a virtual "walk on the wild side," and look for new voices. Perhaps even ones that disagree with you. We could all use a bit more diversity and a little less "group think."

Gender doesn’t  matter when it comes to smart thinking. But it is an issue. So please, folks, open your eyes. I know it’s unpleasant to remember that we still don’t have equality of the sexes, but we don’t. Ignoring it does NOT make it go away.

You may think you’re being gender blind, but I’d tell you, you are simply blind about the issue of gender.

A final example. Some have wondered why we need a women’s blogging conference. We don’t have men’s blogging conferences, they say…. After I get through banging my head on the wall at that, I remind them, that’s because most conferences ARE men’s conferences. They just aren’t advertised that way. Bringing these issues to light, and creating a space where women (and like-minded men) could work on them together, is why BlogHer was founded and why so many women of different backgrounds embrace it. As Mary Hunt points out, we are part of a long tradition of women getting together to build strength in numbers. Susan B. Anthony anyone???

Be truly gender-neutral. Seek out the different voices. Not because they are women or minorities but because you understand that the system favors a dominant group (in tech, it’s white guys, sorry), and you want to push past that to meet some new folks with some new ideas.

Who maybe aren’t just like you.

Tags: blogher, blogher 06, gender, sexism, blogging, blogs

There has been quite a bit of criticism of BlogHer from women who did not attend the conference (Shelley Powers, Tara Hunt, Kathy Sierra), as well as some who did (Melinda Casino and others). Hugh Macleod did a cartoon, which as Elisa Camahort points out, didn’t link to women who had been at the conference and wrote positive posts, only to men and posts of varying negativity.

Now we are all entitled to an opinion, and in this country, we have the right to express it.  But, personally, I dislike criticism that doesn’t offer an alternative. Don’t like it, don’t go. Or don’t go again. There are things that concerned me during the conference — I wrote a bit about them in yesterday’s post, and I have some more thoughts here. But, offer the criticism with suggestions for improvement. Don’t just complain. Or if you think the situation is beyond repair for you, do something else, go somewhere else. No conference can satisfy everyone. To be fair, some of the women mentioned above have already said that is their intention.

The conference wasn’t perfect — no conference is. Some of the sessions were great, some were not. Some of the sponsors did a great job. Some less so. The hotel has really gone downhill, but I didn’t personally see any bugs, and the room was clean, so hey.  Internet access was problematic, but it was also free. And besides, it was a good excuse to get out in the sun and talk to people.

Of course  there was laughter and frivolous conversation. Pictures of  and anecdotes about children and partners were shared. There was also a lot of serious conversation and networking. Just like any other conference. Maybe a bit less discussion of golf handicaps…..

My biggest concern? Tech and business folks were definitely in the minority. While I do not begrudge the mommy/personal bloggers any of their hard-won success and recognition, I do not wish all women who blog to be characterized as personal bloggers.  We aren’t, and some of us for very specific personal and professional reasons. After hearing about the coverage in the San Jose Mercury News  and on c|net, I wondered if maybe the public impression of women bloggers was shifting too far to the personal, ignoring those of us who do not blog about our families, personal lives or food. Many of the very things I value in the BlogHer spirit — community, participation, dare I say equality of opportunity — were somehow transforming into something soft and girly, and therefore less serious. Apparently we don’t laugh, we giggle. And so on. Yet there is absolutely no a priori reason why these values are "girly." It is a filter applied because the conference is driven by and for women.

And of course, why we needed BlogHer in the first place. I know it will come as a surprise to some but sexism does exist. Not as overt as it was before Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, among many others, burned the figurative (and sometimes literal) bra, and told the world that "a woman without a man was like a fish without a bicycle," but it is there. And women face it every day, whether it is the disdain given to a stay-at-home mom for her choice, or the roadblocks faced by a young career woman who wants to get ahead without becoming "one of the guys."

The older I get, the more I realize that we need spaces that are women-centered because no matter how you slice it, our culture is still predominantly masculine. And why I applaud  BlogHer, and everyone — women and men — who participates in it.

The main BlogHer conference seems to be evolving into a place for the mom, the personal blogger, the solo entrepreneur. With BlogHer Business in New York in March 2007, we have the same opportunity to together build a vibrant community for women bloggers in the corporate space. Who aren’t worried about monetizing  their blog as much as they are about building the business case for social media in the enterprise. Who want to talk with others about how to do it, not be lectured at by someone corporate, white and probably male.

So count me in. It’s going on the calendar today.

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I met blogger/podcaster Nicole Simon at BlogHer. She had the best button: "Bubble 2.0." She also took a picture of me checking my email on my Blackberry during the Saturday reception as part of her ongoing research to prove that women have just as many tech gadgets as men. Yup, I’m a "crackberry" addict — even to the point sending an email to a client from Diamond Head in Hawaii last November. Here’s the evidence:

And finally, in the category of "you have got to be kidding me," just before the Saturday am session (you remember the Janes) a young woman went around to all the tables handing out little business cards for A NEW SHOW FOR WOMEN PREMIERING THIS FALL ABOUT LOVE, LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS STARRING GREG BEHRENDT THE GUY WHO WROTE "HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU." Yeah, just what we need, another guy telling women how to fix their lives. Yuck. Well, at least we know he’ll be trying to be funny unlike the other guys who think they know what’s best. Calling Dr. Phil.

BTW, I don’t believe this was an official sponsor, just the energetic spirit of the show’s producers, so no fair tagging BlogHer on this one. Anyway, maybe it was something in the water Saturday morning……

Tags: blogging, blogher, blogher06, sexism, business blogging, blogher business

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