In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

2008 Weblog Awards

Cara

Note: This post has been moved up so that you don’t forget to vote (every 24 hours).  Some new blogs have been listed, and most of the ones we’ve highlighted here are lagging behind in the vote — and I know that if the Feministe community pulls together with a few minutes of their time, we can give them a huge boost!

The 2008 Weblog Awards are upon us, and are the biggest blog competition currently in existence.

A lot of excellent feminist blogs have made the cut this year.  Below is a list of the feminist/feminist-minded bloggers who are finalists.  As Lauredhel (writer for nominated blog Hoyden About Town) said in an email to me, it makes sense to make a concentrated effort to ensure that feminist blogs are represented among this year’s winners — particularly considering that there are several misogynistic/MRA blogs on the finalist list.

Voting opened today.  Click here to vote. (Or click on each category header below.) You can vote in each category once very 24 hours — and can therefore vote for more than one blog in each category, if you so choose.  Voting closes at Polls close Monday January 13, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).  All of the other rules are here.

The feminist blog nominees are below.* The header links take you to the voting pages for each category; the blog links take you to the blogs themselves.

Best Individual Blogger

Lindsay Beyerstein – Majikthise

Best Humor Blog

Jon Swift

Best Comic Strip

xkcd

Best Liberal Blog

Shakesville

Best LGBT Blog

Transgriot
Pam’s House Blend
The Bilerico Project

Best Parenting Blog

Looky, Daddy!

Best Medical/Health Issues Blog

Stirrup Queens
Autism Vox

Best Religious Blog

Dervish

Best Literature Blog

Diary of a Heretic

Best Diarist

Dooce
Blue Girl in a Red State (Blue State)

Best Middle East or Africa Blog

Muslimah Media Watch

Best Australia or New Zealand Blog

The Dawn Chorus
Zoe Brain

Best Very Large Blog (Authority Between 501 and 1,000)

BitchPHD
Pandagon

Best Large Blog (Authority Between 301 and 500)

Mombian

Best Midsize Blog (Authority Between 201 and 300)

Hoyden About Town
The Sideshow

Best Small Blog (Authority Between 101 and 200)

Black Women, Blow the Trumpet!

Best Hidden Gem (Authority Between 50 and 0)

Zuky

As I do not read every blog under the face of the sun (in fact, some of the list is taken from suggestions by Lauredhel), I assure you that I have not deliberately snubbed anyone.  If an applicable finalist is left off of this list, my sincere apologies — please let me know in the comments, and I’ll happily add it!

Again, click here to vote!

—

*In addition to using a somewhat flexible definiton of “feminist blog” to include those that are not necessarily and entirely about feminism but also those that are written by feminists and/or espouse many feminist ideas, I hope it goes without saying that in making this list, it does not mean an endorsement of every word ever written on each of these blogs either by myself or Feministe.

31 thoughts on 2008 Weblog Awards

  1. What about “Best Sports Blog”? This is a community that needs to grow in order to get attention toward women’s sports and Title IX-related issues!

  2. I retract my previous comment. I didn’t realize the nominations were closed. As you can see, in the “sports” category, there are no women. This is a problem.

  3. I didn’t realize the nominations were closed.

    Well of course, or I’d be begging you to go vote for us in some such category! 🙂

    As you can see, in the “sports” category, there are no women. This is a problem.

    Agreed.

  4. This isn’t what you meant, but my baseball blog, Metsgrrl.com, is a nominee.

    The ‘grrl’ part isn’t an accident.

    Also, Feministe, the awards are recommending that you edit the link so it goes directly to the voting page for your category….

  5. Caryn; I want to keep the links going for the blogs for those unfamiliar with them and wanting to check them out. So instead I’ve added the voting page for each category to the category headers themselves. Not quite as aesthetically pleasing as before (with everything being red now), but hopefully easier to navigate. (I personally think it should all be one big ballot where you only fill in those categories you want to fill out, because this going in and out of pages system is really annoying, but I’m not in charge!)

  6. Pingback: The 2008 Weblog Awards « satisfiction

  7. The Bilerico Project should definitely have a spot here. (BEST LGBT BLOG)

    Jess Hoffman and many brilliant folks set up home over there.

  9. L-girl writes We Move To Canada, which has been nominated under Best Canadian blog. She’s a feminist (although it is not the focus of her blogging, it informs her opinions and writings) and an activist, but today she threw her support for the award behind Attack of the Redneck Mommy, which I only started reading today but already like very much.

  10. It’s funny – to the Mets fans, I’m this bra-burning feminazi hoyden.

    But over here, not a feminist.

    I mean, it’s really, really funny.

  13. Also, Autism Vox and Stirrup Queen for Best Medical/Health Issues Blog; Dooce for Best Diarist (not commenting on the content – although I happen to enjoy her writing, I know some people don’t, but regardless, she’s a feminist).

  15. can someone explain to me that “Authority” means in this case? it has all these categories of size based on whatever “authority” means…
    look, i know i’m kinda untutored when it comes to online stuff – i tried to set up RSS feeds, and was totally lost and confused (Auguste over at Pandagon was abolutely wonderful and took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to email me through the process, otherwise it STILL wouldn’t working correctly. i don’t speak this language lol)

    also – xkcd is, in my opinion, one of the BEST comics ever and is reallyreallyreallyREALLY useful when trying to explain feminism and feminist concepts to guys who are cool but don’t understand something. i use it all the time. and i will vote for it as soon as i figure out how lol.

  17. Cara:
    thank you. i read it, i just didn’t totally understand it. i should have been clearer in what i was asking.
    i THINK that it says that “authority” is the number of other blogs that link to you in the past six months. not the number of times, the number of discrete blogs. is that correct?
    thank you again, i appreciate you taking the time and the effort 😎

  19. i voted for a few of your favorites, especially bitchphd and lindsay b. at risk of alienating god knows who, i posted all of my votes at getangrywithme.com today. only voted when there was a blog in that category that i read fairly regularly, so maybe half the categories are represented.

  20. Caryn, I assume you’re referring to the fact that you haven’t been added to the list? I took a look at your blog, and from what I could see, it’s a blog about the Mets. Which is of course great, but as you yourself said, not exactly what we’re looking for. If you do blog about feminist-related topics — say, the place of women in Mets/baseball/sporting culture? — then let me know and I’ll happily add you.

    Renee, I agree. Some of the topics get pretty specific, and it would be nice if they had at least included, say, a “social justice” topic. At the very least.

    Denelian, yes, it’s basically the number of other blogs that have linked to that blog within the past 180 days. For example Feministe has an authority of 1,062 (which really shocked me, because it means we have a higher authority than Pandagon, and I thought it was the other way around!), which means that 1,062 other blogs have linked to us in the past 6 months.

    I went and added the other recommended blogs. Did I miss any?

  22. Thanks, blue milk, for the endorsement, and thanks, feministe, for the inclusion. I’m really quite taken aback, and more than a little honored. Honestly.

  23. Thank you, Cara!

    Yeah I agree with Renee that the categories are very constricted. A single flat list with weird continental groupings and the two progressive-oriented categories “liberal” and “LGBT” isn’t exactly a rich snapshot of the diversity of blogland.

    Eventually perhaps there will be more precise groupings and subgroupings, with people nominating and voting only in subject areas relevant to their lives and/or interests. A “social justice” category including subcategories such as “feminist”, “anti-racist”, “LGBT”, “differently abled”, “union”, etc, would certainly interest me and make more sense than lumping together blogs about, say, graphic design, banking, policing, reactionary punditry, and popular struggle, just because all those bloggers live in Asia. The challenge would be to develop a comprehensive taxonomy based on expertise in each domain.

    As for Technorati Authority, Denelian is right that it’s confusing, and indeed quite innaccurate. I don’t track Technorati stats at all because I view their software as being flawed beyond redemption. Sooner or later, bloggers and ad execs will wise up to better ways of tracking links, clicks, and eyeballs, not to mention socio-cultural and discursive influence.

    Anyway, thanks again for the good word. Zuky extends its respect. 😉

  24. Thanks for the links! I haven’t heard of some of these blogs and plan to check them out.

    To be honest I am really irritated that there is no feminist category and there is no anti-racist category. There are so many blogs dedicated to writing about this and doing such great work I think that it is an embarrassment that these categories were excluded. Blogs like Racialicious, Stuff White People Do, Professor What if and Tanglad deserve to be recognized.

    Amen to this.

    It’s funny – to the Mets fans, I’m this bra-burning feminazi hoyden.

    But over here, not a feminist.

    I mean, it’s really, really funny.

    I know the feeling of being considered one or the other when you’re really in between having been called a “braw burning feminist” on a couple of occasions and then as a blogger on police issues having them often being challenged as feminist in some circles. Because it often seemed that if you spoke out or wrote out about men impacted by police abuse including Sean Bell, the speaking out was almost seen as anti-feminist or nonfeminist. That’s why I thought it was really good when bloggers on Feministe and other places wrote postings about the men as well and labeled it as a feminist issue. Because among other things, the women were very much involved in the issues and indirectly impacted by what happened to men.

    Because the definition of feminist is left up to people in various places but that’s how it is with a lot of labels.

    Sometimes a woman just blogging about a male-dominated issue can be a feminist act knowing how difficult it’s been for women to get to cover most sports with male athletes. Because baseball is seen as a male-dominated sport and a female writing about it can be viewed as an aberration. Sports is a really hard glass house to break through.

  27. Hi!

    I’m up for best LGBT blog this year and feminism is definitely one of my top ten feelings, and one of the few themes I feel completely confident echoes through my work. It may not seem apparent from first glance, but um, I feel really sad not being included as a feminist-minded blog. It’s like if a Cupcake Blog was left out of a list of “blogs with the most sugar.” I feel also the grammar and sentence structure in this paragraph won’t convince anyone but um, it’s early.

    Anyhow have a look:

    http://marielynbernard.blogspot.com = This Girl Called Automatic Win.
    http://theroadbeststraddled.blogspot.com = Autostraddle.

  28. I’m no expert on feminism but I must disagree with your support of Dooce in the category of Best Diarist over the lovely and talented Blue Girl in a Red State (Blue State). I also should point out Avedon Carol’s The Sideshow is nominated for Best Midsize Blog and Kathleen Maher, who writes wonderful fiction, is nominated for Best Literature Blog. And while my modest blog, which is nominated for Best Humor Blog, certainly doesn’t fit your criteria, I was called a “feminist racist” by Ramesh Ponnuru and that should count for something:
    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZGNiYWQ1NzA0M2Q2Mjk4OTAzODcxMmYyYzMxOGFiM2I=

  29. Jon, I don’t know how we missed ya. Cara sent this post to all of us, and yet somehow there were still oversights. Sorry about that! Thanks for the heads up.

  30. Updated, Jon. And just FTR, we’re not supporting anyone over anyone else. As said above, no one was purposely snubbed, so applicable candidates who were left off the list are a result of ignorance, not bias. (As evidenced by my adding The Sideshow the list, even though I’m personally heavily pulling for Hoyden About Town in the same category.)

    And while my modest blog, which is nominated for Best Humor Blog, certainly doesn’t fit your criteria, I was called a “feminist racist” by Ramesh Ponnuru and that should count for something

    I don’t know, does it? If I don’t get called something along those lines at least once a week, I just take it as evidence that I haven’t written anything good 🙂

  31. Hey, thanks for endorsing Diary of a Heretic! I am 100% feminist but I wouldn’t have guessed anyone could tell from my blog’s serial episodes. Fiction means I gotta follow the story whatever it is and wherever it came from. And I’m honest about the characters, who are never me, although I usually do love them.

    I’m losing for real, not like the clever, modest, reasonable Jon Swift, who says he’s losing when we all know he’ll win. (Thanks for the all mentions, Jon. You promote me better than I do.)

    Point is, loser or not, I’m thrilled to think that maybe my strongest beliefs bleed through. A vast, deep, and continual global adjustment that’s pro-woman and anti-racist is long overdue–since forever.

Comments are currently closed.