Asymmetrical Information

"That makes me so darn mad I'm going to sit right down here and sob hysterically into my gallon of Haagen-Dazs until they say they're sorry."

Ummm. Hagen-Dazs!

James

Actually, Jane, I think that the Columbia Journalism Review is just saying that you're not successful. After all, you're only 37th on the top 100 blogs.

What I find really curious about that article, though, is that somehow the blogosphere isn't a meritocracy if some portion of the population was raised not to participate. If women are raised not to be political (and I have no idea; half of my family is greek and the other half is irish — the women have always shouted just as loud during political discussions), then the worse for them (or the better for them, depending on who is right). But how can that possibly change whether links are handed out in the blogosphere based on merit?

Why does everyone spell it wrong? It's Häagen-Daz. The initial phoney umlaut is very important!

Yes, but isn't the whole reason that there is an article in the Daily News about female bloggers is because it is less common then male bloggers. As far as I can see from glancing the Columbia Journalism Review that's all they're saying too. It's less common. These two articles don't seem mutually exclusive, they actually seem to me to be saying the same thing.

Congrats on the notice.

The story lines are as hackneyed and repetitive as can be achieved.

Your blog is interesting. This 3 billionth repetition of the standard "Women can do it" article is repugnant. But, then, it's hardly a journalist's job to think. The job is to can the story in the obvious cliche.

Hope that one day somebody in the media has the sense to notice your blog for its intelligence and originality, instead of the pro forma crap.

Kate,

The CJR article (1)has the flavor that there are no women at the top and (2)adds that it may be because men keep women down. Or maybe just because women don't tend to try. Definitely one of those two.

They're on a similar topic, but take a very different approach with a very different tone.

How do we know Brian Montopoli found out about the blogosphere twenty minutes ago? He thinks Wonkette is "venerable." Loads of fun, yes; but hardly "venerable." Wonkette has been around for, what, three months?

Now, Jane Galt, that's who's venerable.

Still, she only rates near-success in the blogosphere, and even that is only because she gets credit for all the traffic that comes to AI solely because Mindles is said to be male.

"Nonetheless, says Rosen, cultural expectations inevitably play a role in defining who gets attention. "The definition of a 'political blog' itself is the product of a male dominated culture," he says."

Well, yes, obviously.

Because, uh... because it is, damn it.

Either he means "blogs came from a culture dominated by males" (ie, ours), in which case he's not really saying anything other than that he defines cultures by "which gender supposedly dominates them", or he means "the idea of a blog about politics is somehow the product of male domination", in which case I'd like to see the reasoning behind such an assertion.

Are people at CJR required to use gender paradigms I'd hoped were discarded after Sociology 101, or is it just Rosen?

Feh. FEH.

Agreed. The Mars/Venus thing is very, very tired in the same way that standup comics who rely on the wife/husband or boyfriend/girlfriend schtick are just plain unfunny.

Oh, and how'd you like the part about leading to her current boyfriend (and job). Nice human interest touch.

I suppose it is good that they skipped over the usual guideline of not mentioning a woman's age. But, then, they are all under 40.

There is discrimination. It's true. Whenever I write about something political, I get emails from Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan. "If you know what's best for you, go back to writing about sex and clothing. No one wants to hear what a girl thinks about important things."

You can get Häagen-Daz by the gallon? Where?

I stopped reading the CJR article when it got to the second paragraph - "Even though everyone's invited to join, you could be forgiven for thinking that someone posted a "No Girls Allowed" sign on the classroom door."

Actually, no, you couldn't, because there IS no such sign, either for the chess club or political blogs. People who see signs that aren't there need medication and perhaps some therapy.

The whininess in this article is not to be believed. What, I haven't done my part for gender equity because my blog is about psychometrics (once a male-dominated field) instead of politics? They really expect us to believe that there's an omniscient, omnipotent patriarchy in the blogosphere as well as in real life?

The women who want to blog about politics are doing so. And the women who are blogging about education, homeschooling, religion, family, cats, body image, the workplace, academics, living the single life, living the married life, whatever, are doing so because that's what's important to them, not because (a) the blogosphere refuses to let them blog about "more important" topics or (b) they missed the memo demanding that blogs be balanced across gender lines.

What nonsense.

That CJR article wins the "stupidest thing I've read today" prize.

Hmmm . . . maybe 40% of the blogs I read daily are by women (this one, Andrea Harris, Big Arm Woman, Erin O'Connor, Susanna Cornett, Joanne Jacobs . . . ). And I do believe I found every one of them because some male blogger or other linked to them. Funny, that.

*I* would like to know where you get gallon-sized Haagen-whichamacallit?

*I* would like to know where you get gallon-sized Haagen-whichamacallit?

*I* would like to know where you get gallon-sized Haagen-whichamacallit?

What's the next article, an investigation - no, sorry, announcement, no invesigation - of "there are more male long-haul truck drivers than female" maybe? Or a stunning reversal, more females blog about crocheting than males despite the example of Rosie Greer? Is there an unannounced wall against males being accepted there?

Heck, for months I thought Ilyka was Ilkya, and a male of Russian background. Or something.

Why's everybody piling on Brian Montopoli? Other than his embarrassing mischaracterizaion of the spanking new Wonkette! as "venerable," he did a pretty good job.

It IS a Mars/Venus thing -- not in any p.c. culturally-imposed sense, but in a Darwinian sense: Women and men, just like regular people, blog about what they're interested in, and they read blogs that interest them.

The catblog is out of the bag

The problem with sobbing into a gallon of Häagen-Daz is that first, it gets salty, and second, it just gets too expensive. "Sobbing into a gallon of Breyers" may not have the same ring, but it is still sugar and cream, and the Häagen-Daz can then be reserved for very special occasions.

Hrrrmm... Jane Galt, Electric Venom, A Small Victory, LisaS at RightVoices, Linda of Civilization Calls, Serenity, Rachel Lucas, JenLars, Moxie, Meryl Yourish, Rosemary Esmay, Denita, Connie du Toit, Baldilocks... and that's just off the top of my head without looking in my bookmarks. Nope. No prominent female political bloggers in THAT list. Newp. Nossir. Damned glad we cleared THAT up. Move along. Nuthin' to see here. *snicker*

Wonkette is venerable? Says who? (00)

Campaign Desk and CJR started out to be an analysis site on a par with PressThink, once. Then they got lazy, and evidentally decided to coast. I give them very little credulence in the areas of either political analysis *or* blogosphere analysis these days.

Don't sweat it Jane - I'm going to ask Denita and Hisiminki to go beat 'em up for yas. ;]

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