१८ मार्च, २००८

"Do you think women are the subject of more vitriol in the blogosphere than men?"

John Hawkins has his second edition of "Blogging While Female"here's the first — and this one has an interview with me. The first edition was actually called "Blogging While Female: 5 Conservative Women Bloggers Talk About Gender Issues And The Blogosphere." I note the dropping of the word "conservative." And John does say this about me:
Even though law professor Ann Althouse tends to get lumped in with all of us right-wing death beasts, she's very much a moderate who would probably be just as happy with a Democrat or a Republican in the White House.
His big question for the women bloggers is: "Do you think women are the subject of more vitriol in the blogosphere than men?" He also wants to know why there are so few women bloggers and if women bloggers use their looks to get attention. So go over there and read the whole thing.

२० टिप्पण्या:

john म्हणाले...

I find John Hawkins to have a reasonable and measured opinion, and I believe he is correct. As he is with all of his writings.

If you think otherwise, then you are a miserable POS.

The Drill SGT म्हणाले...

no blogging of the Obama "Checkers" speach?

AllenS म्हणाले...

SGT--

I'm listening to it right now, and I gotta say, it's pretty good. Hillary?! must be cringing, and trying to think how she can get equal time. Her response is going to be a hoot.

The Drill SGT म्हणाले...

I prefer to read them, that way I'm not dazzled by delivery.

I really like it when he gets to the part where he ID's the real criminals: Not wright but rather right wing bloggers and Rush.

Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

ElisaC म्हणाले...

I find the question "Why do you think there are less successful women bloggers than male bloggers?" the most interesting, because it's so presumptive. Does he mean political bloggers or all bloggers? how does he define success?

The mose recent studies show there are as many women as men bloggers now, and those Mommy, Food and other kinds of personal bloggers are the kind that companies really seek from an advertising point of view, so many of them are absolutely raking it in traffic and money-wise.

I can only assume he's focused on his own narrow slice of the blogosphere, but I think a lot of people have that view of the entire blogosphere.

Oh, and shouldn't it be "fewer"? That kind of drives me crazy.

AllenS म्हणाले...

Obama's speed is going on way too long. Obamamarathon.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

I am watching and listening to the speech. I agree that Hillary Clinton is trying to figure out not only how to get equal time, but a whole day of media devoted soley to her, the anointed one, the inevitable one, the only one... Ha ha ha ha.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

“Do you feel like it's an advantage or disadvantage to be female in the blogosphere?”

That could be changed to is it an advantage or disadvantage to be a female writer or a female law professor.

“My experience in life generally is that people on the Left think you are evil if you don't agree with them, that you're actually a bad person...”

This is my biggest disagreement with the Left. It is no longer their ideas, it is their hatred and attack mentality. They demonize those who do not agree or criticize their positions. It is also their hypocrisy- hate is not a family value, unless you do not agree with them. Too many are so consumed with identity politics and personal politics they cannot just agree to disagree. Their politics is their identity. To some it defines their persona. They lowered the bar for political discourse. It has gotten to the point that I refuse to discuss politics with some of my acquaintances so as not to offend and be offended.

What has been lost in all of this is intelligent thinking and decision making. People no longer look at all sides of the issue and make an intelligent decision. They take sides, right or wrong. It is not a question of providing a solution. It is who can make the most noise.

The next blogger interviewed, Kathy Shaidle, demonstrates this:

Of course, male conservatives are usually accused to being secretly gay. I know Mark Steyn gets that a lot. David Warren, the Canadian columnist gets that a lot. ...Male conservative bloggers get that a lot. I find that even more confusing. I didn't know being gay was supposed to be bad to a liberal, but when they've got a few drinks in them, I think their true nature comes out...

AllenS म्हणाले...

speech not speed. Damn green beer.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

From Kathy Shaidle at Five Feet of Fury:
"A racist is anyone winning an argument with a leftist."

Balfegor म्हणाले...

He also wants to know why there are so few women bloggers

I wonder, actually, why there aren't more "women" bloggers, who are actually men pretending to be women. Don't surprisingly large numbers of male geeks use female avatars on those massively multiplayer online role-playing games?

अनामित म्हणाले...

"Do you think women are the subject of more vitriol in the blogosphere than men?"

One cannot possibly know, unless one reads every blog and every comment, verifies the sex of each blogger and commenter, and runs the text through some kind of algorithm that impartially quantifies the existence, amount and type of vitriol. Otherwise, it's all just speculation. The question is answered by data, not anechdotes.

Is today grievance day? BHO's speech sure seems to list a hell of a lot of grievances. Blacks are mad at whites, whites are mad at the upper classes and business owners. Blah blah. Where's the soaring rhetoric that calls on everyone to work to be better Americans?

Sin and redemption, love and compassion, those are the big theme that unite us. Didn't hear much of that in this morning's sermon.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

Michael_H said...
Sin and redemption, love and compassion, those are the big theme that unite us.


Ah yes, the plot and theme of great selling epic novels.

dick म्हणाले...

Personally I think women are the source of more vitriol on the web than men.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Ann,

You aren't a slav or eastern european descent. Are any of those women bloggers independent without ads on their sites? You don't have to worry about floggings.

just ONCE I wish somebody would remember the word slav besides in the color black.

http://www.ecstagony.com/eng/info/artinst/festivals01.htm



It was believed that flogging a woman after winter, at the beginning of the spring, would bring good luck and a good harvest for the community and, as the freshness and strength of the twigs passed to the women, they would become more healthy and fertile.

After several days of preparations, men and boys braiding the whips, women baking cakes and decorating eggs (which should be fresh and complete, for fertility symbolism), the day finally comes.



Groups of boys and young men, many with traditional clothing, walk the streets looking for girls to flog. They also enter the houses, where the elders are waiting them with a table prepared with all the Easter goodies. Even when walking outside will get a girl wet and whipped, she can’t avoid it by staying at home. But, of course, most girls want to be whipped. Teenagers being as they are, any girl that is not flogged will feel inadequate, neglected and even offended. In Poland, she could even be considered "beznadziejna", hopeless (for marriage).

When they catch a girl, they first douse her (for “cleansing” them for the next year), if at a house, by forcing her under the shower, if outdoors, by throwing her in a stream or using a hose or buckets. Then they flog them with the pomlazka. After thoroughly wet and flogged, the girls give the floggers decorated eggs (“kraslice”), saving the most beautiful for her preferred boy (who, if the interest is mutual, is the one that flogged her harder). They also tie a ribbon to the whip. The more ribbons on their whips, the prouder the boys are.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Ann,

PLEASE DELETE THAT LAST COMMENT>

I failed to read that they don't want the info copied onto a blog -- Even in response.

Again Please delete.

I failed to read the disclaimer and the request before command c and v ing.. I apologize to the site. It was an honest mistake and one I usually make in haste. Sincerest apologies.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Gosh,

I am so embarrassed. I HATE it when people take and copy MY indie ideas without linking .

At least i provided a link. They do say that it bothers them when they find the same article on several sites, and they don’t want that to happen to their visitors .

The last think I need is to have to wear my size 11.5 pumps out of the closet and wear them to another lawyers office, only that s/he earns more money.

Synova म्हणाले...

"Don't surprisingly large numbers of male geeks use female avatars on those massively multiplayer online role-playing games?"

I have male friends who play male and female characters. I have one good friend who has two computers, two accounts, so he can "dual box". His characters "talk" to each other in chat. He'll log in a crafting character to make something and that character will complain about his other characters.

It's role playing and fiction... like writing a story or play acting. The story for at least two of his characters are that they're a couple.

Many who don't go to that extent play opposite gender characters though I know only a few females who play male... it's true that more men play female characters... but have you ever seen the models? Why did every red blooded game nerd love to play the character Lara Croft? Because they wanted to pretend to be female? Or because they liked looking at her?

I don't think that there are WoW or EQ nerds who *blog* as female... no visuals. What's the fun of pretending to be a girl when gravity defying boobs aren't involved?

Synova म्हणाले...

The *thing* about who is subject to more vitriol is that you can't know what other people get. Michelle Malkin publishes some of the garbage she receives... does Glenn Reynolds just delete it from his e-mail?

I know that on my stealth blog I had one drive-by who posted about 10 comments of sexual harassment that was pretty vile. Maybe that never happens to men?

In *comments*... and I'm probably one of those people who are a natural commentator rather than a natural blog author... I really haven't noticed any particular difference in the way I'm treated compared to any apparent male is treated.

The difference is between various blog cultures... people respond differently here than they do at, say, Ace of Spades. And there are other blogs I've wandered on to that I didn't care to stay and I might be inclined to say that I was treated badly because women weren't welcome but I think it highly likely that I was treated exactly the same as all the other people there... it just wasn't what I liked.

The thing is, really, that I'm only an expert on me. I could interpret things as directed at me personally and figure it's because I'm female (and even gender specific words don't mean anything but that the rudeness is individually customized) but how do I know that everyone isn't treated just as badly?

I don't.

I think it's often the case with perceptions of racism as well. Sometimes people treat you rude because they're jerks... to *everyone*.

Elliott A म्हणाले...

One of the nice features of the blogosphere is that most people are anonymous and their thoughts can be read without the bias producing knowledge of the source. How old are they? What sex? What profession? (You can tell the lawyers by the way they write and the topics that elicit long comments). Once people stray from topic enough to include the identity of the blogger, they have defeated the purpose of the blog in the first place.