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Liveblogging the PDF: Where Are the Women Bloggers?

Jill

(This post was written this afternoon, but not posted until tonight. That should explain the weird tenses).

My laptop died, and so the liveblogging was slightly interrupted. But it’s been re-charged, and now I’m back.

The biggest update is that the panels on blogging have been fantastic sausage-fests.

About an hour ago, there was a panel titled “How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Blogosphere.” It featured Jason Calacanis, Peter Daou, Mike Krempasky, Ari Rabin-Havt (Office of Harry Reid), Roger Simon, and Joe Trippi, and was moderated by Chris Rabb. Notice anything interesting about those names? Right. All men. And mostly white men.

So when the comments opened up, I said: “The title of this panel seems to infer that you all are the people who have won friends and influenced people in the blogosphere. But where are the women? Where are the people of color? What does it mean when the people who are perceived to have influence are overwhelmingly white, and all male?”

This did not go over well. Apparently this was taken as an attack on the panelists, and they certainly got defensive. “Well, I didn’t put this panel together,” said Roger Simon. Jason Calacanis (who is a douchebag extraordinaire) said something to the effect of, “I don’t think it really matters” and followed that up with, “Anyone can start a blog.” Right. Because it’s not like the row I was sitting in — which was me, Shankar, Jessica, Gwynn and Liza — wasn’t chock-full of female (and feminist) bloggers or anything. It’s not a question of supply; it’s a question of who is considered authoritative, and how that reflects existing stereotypes.

It’s interesting to see how people respond when you bring up these issues. Peter Daou pointed out that he’s ethnically mixed, and that he makes an effort on his blog to include diverse voices. He’s right, and he’s one of the better bloggers when it comes to representing a lot of different perspectives from a lot of different people. Ari Rabin-Havt, who works for Sen. Harry Reid, simply responded, “You’re absolutely right. And we have to do better about that.” Joe Trippi didn’t really comment, and the rest of them seemed generally offended that someone would have pointed out the lack of estrogen on the panel without first kissing their asses. I think perhaps it would have gone over better if I had prefaced my comment with, “I think y’all are SO awesome, and I totally love what you do and you’re all so talented and fantastic and I’m totally not trying to insult anyone where, but don’t you think it’s a little strange that there aren’t any women on this panel? But I mean you all are good representatives so really, don’t worry about it, it’s cool, I’m just saying…”

And I’m not so good at prefacing my comments that way.

The moderator, Chris Rabb, stepped out of his moderator role a bit to point out that this is a common occurance on panels like this, and that he usually refuses to be the “token Negro” and demands a diverse panel. Which was nice to hear.

And now onto another panel: Plenary: How Online Politics Will Affect Who Will Win in 2006, and Beyond, with Matt Bai (moderator, New York Times Magazine), Jonathan Garthwaite, Markos Moulitsas, Joe Rospars (DNC) and Patrick Ruffini (RNC). Anything notable about those names? Right.

The panel, obviously, is all about how to win elections. Which makes it appropriate to put Kos on it, since his blog is 99% about licking democratic ass and figuring out a way to get Dems elected — as opposed to, say, getting Dems to actually work for us and get elected because they actually represent our ideals.

There seems to be a divide, especially among the progressive blogs, between those who are interested in discussing ideas and policy (most of the feminist blogs) and those who are interested in strategizing and figuring out ways to get “our guys” in office (DKos). You all obviously know which side I fall on.

And some big love to Joe Rospars at the DNC, who in his final comment announced that, despite the make-up of the panel, women outnumber men at the DNC. Way to go, friend.

16 thoughts on Liveblogging the PDF: Where Are the Women Bloggers?

  1. One of my single biggest f*ing pet peeves is that I share a blog with a bunch of boys who went silent when I start to talk about “girl” stuff. It’s also the reason why I stopped volunteering for the democratic party (I kept getting function decorating duties).

    Arghhhhh- just venting

  2. So when the comments opened up, I said: “The title of this panel seems to infer that you all are the people who have won friends and influenced people in the blogosphere. But where are the women? Where are the people of color? What does it mean when the people who are perceived to have influence are overwhelmingly white, and all male?”

    Comment policy: Adopted as the official Feministe comments policy. Our blog, our discretion.

    Right,ok, got it.
    Ae we all on the same page now?

  3. The funny thing is that Chris Rabb said exactly the same thing on the panel he was on last year at PDF. I don’t remember if he was moderating or just on the panel, but the comment was the same.

  6. Right,ok, got it.
    Ae we all on the same page now?

    …I don’t get it. So because we have a policy of moderating ridiculous comments, there shouldn’t be women or people of color on a panel dedicated to winning friends and influencing people in the blogosphere? Care to explain?

  7. I thought that was kind of a silly question/statement on your part… and you asked it in a very accusatory fashion. You were clearly upset (or faking it–who knows).

    It was absurd on so many levels…

    1. the conference was filled with women and people of color.
    2. the panel was being moderated by a person of color and you asked where the people of color were! hello!?!?!?
    3. We don’t put the panel together, we speak on it.
    4. My point–which the moderator wouldn’t let me make–was that the whole point of blogging is that you are judged on your words not who you are. most folks don’t even know your race or gender when they read your posts. So, blogging is a meritocracy if there ever was one. There is no glass ceiling in blogging beyond the one that you install yourself. if you’re upset you’re not on the panel go make a name for yourself on your blog!
    5. Chris Nolan was speaking at the event, and Cox at Wonkette is the most famous political blogger ever.

    so… the bottom line was it was a question that you either asked to be provocative or you were being silly. i can’t believe that you were serious because it was so illogical.

  8. While there are a few prominent women in the upper tiers of the progressive blogosphere (Firedog Lake, Pandagaon, and now a bunch of the top people at DailyKos) you’re definitely correct that women’s voices, particularly overtly-feminist voices, are pretty marginalized.

    I did a bunch of research on the structure of the political blogosphere during grad school (think you may have linked to some of my stuff before, actually – stuff on responses to female participants in comment threads at DailyKos). During that work I noticed that top-tier progressive blogs tended to bridge the gap with the feminist blogosphere only rarely, and tended to spawn isolated sub-graphs when they did, with only one or two links going in to a more tightly-bound cluster of interacting sites… check this image out for an example of what I mean.

    While it’s true that anyone can start a blog, and while it’s true that one can start a blog that is very popular among a specific community of interest/practice, only a very small number of sites attain the kind of access to and influence over the higher end of political or social discourse… and the folks who do have that access tend to be political or media professionals in my experience. This isn’t really all that shocking, but it would be nice if people were a little more honest about it.

  9. Jason,

    Wonkette is a persona, not a woman. I’m sorry but Ana Marie Cox may well very be an interesting woman with a lot to say in her own right but she never wrote about feminist issues because she was writing for a product called “Wonkette” that is now written by two guys.

    Wonkette did nothing to advance women’s voices in the blogosphere. It only advanced Nick Denton’s coffers, her book deals and … oh yeah … the high end prostitute called Washgtonienne.

    Give me a break.

  10. Jason, I think Jill’s point still stands. One person of color does not a diverse panel make. Likewise, an all-male panel on winning friends and influencing people carries a heavy implication that men are the ones who have the most influence. In a purported meritocracy of blogging, that’s still striking. And even if it wasn’t the panelists’ choice to organize it that way, somebody made that decision. Did any of the panelists ask why there were no women when the panel was being assembled?

    Also, if you think there’s no implication beyond one’s writing on the internet, that’s a somewhat disingenuous position to take. Go a few threads back and look at the post on differing levels of harassment for “male” and “female” screen names. Unless you (general here rather than specific) try really hard to pick a gender-neutral handle and cut out all references to your race or gender in your writing, people are going to harass you and devalue your words if you present yourself as a woman or a minority on the internet.

  11. I think it’s pretty funny that boys get their undies in a wad when we question our place at a table. Good going, Jill! No kissing ass, just get right to the point.

  12. I doubt I should even show my face around here – as the white male republican on the panel – but two things: fully half of the panel claims a diverse heritage. Certainly doesn’t address the gender question – but at least be accurate in the critique. Secondly, the critique, whatever its merits, is rightly directed elsewhere. Those of us on the stage simply agreed to speak, nothing more.

  13. I thought that was kind of a silly question/statement on your part… and you asked it in a very accusatory fashion. You were clearly upset (or faking it–who knows).

    Actually, no, I didn’t ask it in an accusatory fashion. Maybe I can find a recording of the panel, because I really don’t think that I sounded “clearly upset.” I wasn’t yelling, I didn’t raise my voice, I wasn’t crying, my voice wasn’t wavering… I just asked a question that you didn’t like. And just because I didn’t apologize or stroke your ego before asking it doesn’t make it an accusation.

    It was absurd on so many levels…

    1. the conference was filled with women and people of color.

    Sure. And how many were on the panel?

    2. the panel was being moderated by a person of color and you asked where the people of color were! hello!?!?!?

    Right, it was being moderated by a person of color, and I pointed out that almost everyone on the panel appears to be white. A single person of color does not make a panel “diverse.”

    3. We don’t put the panel together, we speak on it.

    I realize that, and I wasn’t asking “Why are you here?” I was asking why you all think that there aren’t any women on the panel. It’s part of a bigger issue of whose voices we find authoritative. It’s not a criticism of any of you personally. I thought that should have been obvious enough.

    4. My point–which the moderator wouldn’t let me make–was that the whole point of blogging is that you are judged on your words not who you are. most folks don’t even know your race or gender when they read your posts. So, blogging is a meritocracy if there ever was one. There is no glass ceiling in blogging beyond the one that you install yourself. if you’re upset you’re not on the panel go make a name for yourself on your blog!

    That’s actually not entirely true. I can tell you the gender of almost all the big bloggers. And multiple studies have been done which show that when readers believe something is written by a man, they believe it to have more authority than something written by a woman. Names do matter, and there are things that male bloggers never have to deal with that female bloggers do (like derailing entire threads to discuss your physical appearance). A lot of women bloggers have gone anonymous or picked male psuedonames for that exact reason.

    And even if we are judged on how good we are and gender has nothing to do with it, that still doesn’t explain the make-up of the panel. Are you arguing that there just aren’t any influential women bloggers to choose from?

    5. Chris Nolan was speaking at the event, and Cox at Wonkette is the most famous political blogger ever.

    Good, you named one prominent female blogger who was speaking at the event, to counter the dozens of men. Sorry, that isn’t parity.

    And Wonkette’s blog is currently run by two men.

    so… the bottom line was it was a question that you either asked to be provocative or you were being silly. i can’t believe that you were serious because it was so illogical.

    When all else fails, call her “illogical.” I’m sorry, but what’s illogical about looking at a panel of six of the supposedly most “influential” bloggers out there, and pointing out that they’re all male?

  14. I doubt I should even show my face around here – as the white male republican on the panel – but two things: fully half of the panel claims a diverse heritage. Certainly doesn’t address the gender question – but at least be accurate in the critique. Secondly, the critique, whatever its merits, is rightly directed elsewhere. Those of us on the stage simply agreed to speak, nothing more.

    Krempasky-

    You do make a good point about the diverse hertigate. Ari and I talked about that for a while afterward, though, and he pointed out that although he isn’t white, he appears to be, and therefore enjoys a good deal of white privilege. But that said, your point is well-taken.

    As for where it should have been critiqued, again, the question wasn’t a personal insult toward any of you. I was asking what you all think it means that there aren’t any women on the panel, and what that means for bloggers trying to win friends and influence people. Why are only men apparently influential?

  15. Jill,

    I don’t know why the panel all uses the same restroom – that’s a better question for the PDF folks, though. Certainly women are influential.

  16. Krempasky, you are so right. Why are we asking the panelists? That would be like asking the employees of a company why all the chief execs are men? Or asking the members of an engineering dept on a college campus why they are all men? It wouldn’t have anything to do with bringing a much needed topic out in the open, raising one’s conscience about the issue, or heck even getting that stars to pressure the organizers to actually do something about it.

    or would it?

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