I haven’t followed the mini blog swarm surrounding feminist writer Susan Estrich and her whining about the paucity of women opinion writers on op-ed pages. Today I was more or less forced to read about it as “research” for this post. The Anchoress blogged it last week, so read her post (and here). James Joyner also weighs in.
What I want to say has less to do with Estrich and more to do with Kevin Drum of Political Animal. He writes:
Not to get too obsessed by the whole Estrich-Kinsley thing, but so far no one has attempted any kind of real answer to Estrich’s question: why are op-ed pages so completely dominated by men?
….For starters, it doesn’t appear to be primarily the fault of journalistic gatekeepers, as it is in some other professions. The New York Times has a female editorial page editor, and so did the LA Times until Kinsely took over. That didn’t stop their op-ed pages from being heavily male dominated. What’s more, the news pages of major newspapers have plenty of female reporters.
The political blogosphere provides another clue. Although its geeky Usenet roots were (and are) testosterone laden affairs, there are still no formal barriers to entry here, no old boys club in the usual meaning of the word. Yet if you take a look at the Blogosphere Ecosystem, which for all its faults is probably the closest thing we have to a consensus measure of popularity for political blogs, you will find exactly two women in the top 30: Michelle Malkin and La Shawn Barber. (There are a few group blogs in the top 30, but those are very heavily male dominated too.)
So what’s up? There aren’t any institutional barriers in the traditional sense of the word, which means either (a) there are fewer female political bloggers and thus fewer in the top 30, or (b) there are plenty of women who blog about politics but they don’t get a lot of traffic or links….My guess is that it’s a bit of both…
So what is ironic about Kevin Drum?
That he guesses visitor traffic (or the lack of it) could be a factor in why women bloggers don’t get a lot of attention when it comes to political blogging, yet he, running a high-traffic blog, doesn’t link to mine, the blog of a relatively low-traffic political woman blogger!
I thought you might find that interesting.
Update: Betsy Newmark notes the “bad blogetiquette,” but adds, “It’s the content that matters, not the chromosomes.”
I agree.
Update II: Kevin Drum, good sport that he is, updated his post and linked to the blog.
Jimmie Bise: “I suspect that women are less inclined than men to grab a megaphone and shout their opinions to the rest of the world. That may be because of nature, it may be because of nurture, or it may be, as I suspect, a combination of both.”
Update III (2/21): A conservative and a liberal blogger, both men, will talk about political blogging this morning on C-SPAN. I wonder if they asked any women to come on the show? Perhaps they did but the woman/women couldn’t make it, so they went to the next two bloggers on the list. You think so? I don’t, either. Nobody even thinks of asking women bloggers to come on TV or radio to talk about political blogging, at least not this woman.
I’m going to see what I can do to change that.
Could we rephrase that 1st quoted sentence in the 2nd paragrah to say,
“For starters, it doesn’t appear to be primarily the fault of political blog-istic gatekeepers“?
Comment by Andy — 02.20.05 @ 6:44 pm
Sorry, I don’t usually bother with links when I’m just listing names, as I was doing in that post.
But are you a low traffic site? I didn’t know. You’re in the top 30 in the Ecosystem, so I assumed your traffic was pretty good too.
Comment by Kevin Drum — 02.20.05 @ 7:41 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Kevin Drum.
I average around 5,000 daily visitors, but I’m widely linked, which is why I’m ranked at #17. There is also a separate traffic ranking list on TTLB.
Comment by La Shawn — 02.20.05 @ 7:47 pm
I dunnooo La Shawn,
Regarding that Estrich meltdown thing that Anchoress was blogging about, maybe we all need to revist that discussion we had a few months ago about getting PBS to give you your own 1/2 show on Saturdays. Ought to be more sucessful than Tavis ever had it.
Reckon that’ll pacify Estrich?
After all, you’re female, you’re conservative (more rare than that other type), and gosh darn it, it’s our tax dollars too!
Comment by Andy — 02.20.05 @ 8:22 pm
Why So Few Female Pundits?
The Susan Estrich-Mike Kinsley kerfuffle has brought the dearth of females on the op-ed pages to the forefront. Kevin Drum weighs in with a thoughtful response, observing that the trend seems to have replicated itself in the blogosphere.
Yet if you…
Trackback by Outside The Beltway — 02.20.05 @ 9:45 pm
I’d have to agree with Jimmie Bise. As the Libertarian Chick and Hot Abercrombie Chick stories indicate, the rest of the blog world would quickly link to women bloggers.
Or attractive ones, anyway.
Comment by Brian J. — 02.20.05 @ 10:00 pm
People are always amazed that I’m a young female who writes on terrorism matters; to this date I’ve only met in-person one woman with the same interests…and that was at CPAC. And I’ve never seen another female terrorism blogger.
But a large amount of women work in counterterrorism, so I think it’s the simple fact that women are not as interested in these issues combined with less desire to “grab a megaphone” as Bise indicates.
Comment by Athena — 02.21.05 @ 12:25 am
Thanks for the links, LaShawn! Looks like you had an enviable time at CPAC!
Comment by The Anchoress — 02.21.05 @ 1:07 am
Women Bloggers
La Shawn links to a Kevin Drum post about the relatively small number of successful female political bloggers. I just want to take this opportunity to point out that I am a woman. I know that Polipundit is a group blog and that I am the only female h…
Trackback by PoliPundit.com — 02.21.05 @ 1:10 am
I think that it comes down to basic personality differences. The MBTI personality test (idea by Jung, but expanded and popularized by a mother-daughter team) shows that 60% of males are T’s (thinking, logical) and 60% of females are F’s (feeling, more emotional). I would suspect that most of the women bloggers are T’s. T’s enjoy debating. Some T’s, especially male T’s, also seem to enjoy arguing for sport.
I would suspect that more women than men are drawn to supportive web sites like chat rooms and supportive forums, while more men than women are drawn to the debate type forum of blogs.
That being said, there are 40% of women who are T’s–I’m one, and while I don’t have a blog, I do enjoy the debating nature of blogs, and seeing interesting new opinions.
Comment by Elizabeth B — 02.21.05 @ 1:13 am
Two things. One: Is Michele of A Small Victory toast? She’s been in the top 30 forever and happens to be #24 today. She blogged the other day that many readers take her for a guy, but isn’t Kevin Drum supposed to be savvy?
Second, they DO have female bloggers — A single female blogger — on TV all the time: Wonkette.
Comment by Sissy Willis — 02.21.05 @ 7:53 am
Holiday Brunch: Gonzo, Greta and more
For your holiday dining pleasure, we offer you to choose from one of these specialties: ScrappleFace looks at one of the impacts of Hunter Thompson’s death. WuzzaDem goes On The Record. Barking Moonbat Early Warning System couldn’t wait until White
Trackback by basil's blog — 02.21.05 @ 8:41 am
re: “Nobody even thinks of asking women bloggers to come on TV or radio to talk about political blogging, at least not this woman.”
Wonkette seems to be on all the time… she’s a female political blogger.
Comment by Myopic Zeal — 02.21.05 @ 8:59 am
Well meaning but totally out of touch
Trackback by sisu — 02.21.05 @ 10:20 am
Do As I Say, Not As I Link
La Shawn Barber might have unlocked the mystery behind the dearth of female bloggers……
Trackback by VodkaPundit — 02.21.05 @ 12:21 pm
The nature/nurture argument is boring. If your blog is interesting, informative, entertaining and amusing, you’ll get hits.
Comment by erp — 02.21.05 @ 12:42 pm
Perhaps Larry Summers could answer Susan’s question…just a thought.
Comment by Peter — 02.21.05 @ 12:42 pm
If you want a higher profile, I would suggest working harder to create original content instead of commenting on stories being talked about on other blogs or in the news. While doing the latter might get you links and bring in traffic, it’s more of the one-night-stand type.
Malkin’s been on TV, but her first in was the book. I’m not saying you need to write a book, but recommend you take some more risks in what you write about.
Comment by Jonathan — 02.21.05 @ 12:49 pm
You mean like the stunningly “original” and “risky” Wonkette?
Thanks for the advice.
And Michelle’s “in” wasn’t her current book. She was appearing on TV before her first book, Invasion. Her “in” was her wildly popular and engaging column. Before that, she was an editorial writer at the Seattle Times.
Comment by La Shawn — 02.21.05 @ 12:58 pm
On LGF, unlike many other blogs, the lizardoid commenters are nearly as much a part of the blog as Charles Johnson. Among the more important women commenting are Zulababy (tht hat tip record-holder), Zorkmidden, Swampwoman, and NYNana. The incredibly important Zombie is of unknown sex. (not to skip eevil, skippy, bubbles, ylreveb, and hundreds of others) . A mistaken poster quickly finds that the claws of the female lizardoid are as sharp as those of the male.
Comment by levi from queens — 02.21.05 @ 1:35 pm
Dearth of female bloggers? I’m not sure I buy the premise. They aren’t exactly bloggers, but many of the writers whose columns appear on Townhall.com have a lot in common with bloggers, in that they mostly publish electronically and seldom see the light of day in the MSM.
Since we’re nose-counting, I went over there and counted up the number of articles currently posted there by male and female writers. The tally:
Articles written by males: 44
Articles written by females: 14
Okay, it isn’t a 50-50 split, but I would hardly say that females are unrepresented either. As for why it isn’t split down the middle, well, I might suggest that there are some activities that are not equally attractive to males and females, and as long as the ones who want to are getting a fair shot, why worry about it?
Comment by Cousin Dave — 02.21.05 @ 1:56 pm
It is a shame, as Michelle Malkin has pointed out numerous times, that the only female blogger seen on any tv panel is Wonkette. I mean, come on, can’t they pick up the phone and call someone who isn’t giggling through half the interview and writes about something other than sex and gossip?
Comment by Duane — 02.21.05 @ 2:01 pm
Sarcasm: since I always interpreted the “women make 72% of what men make” as indicating that women are not working hard enough, the female blogger dearth does not surprise me.
I’m adding you to my “favorites”, if the thing will let me. Right now it won’t.
Anecdotally, I’ve always found it very difficult to get women interested in issues even directly affecting them. But this is a useless generalization, I admit.
“It’s the thought that counts.”
Any interest in the Violence Against Women Act? Two women, Trudy Schuett and Wendy McElroy, are trying to effect its just sunset as the sexist act it is.
Comment by J. Peden — 02.21.05 @ 2:19 pm
Wonkette is lame. I want my LaShawn TV!
Comment by Ian S. — 02.21.05 @ 2:51 pm
Anybody know who made the decision to give Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot their slot on PBS? Whoever it is ought to consider giving La Shawn a slot of her own as well.
Comment by Andy — 02.21.05 @ 2:54 pm
On the one hand, Russert’s talking heads yesterday were all female.
On the other hand, have you ever listened to the female dingbats on CNN on Saturday morning? Definitely not primetime material.
Comment by patrick — 02.21.05 @ 3:47 pm
There you go again with the PBS show idea, Andy.
Comment by La Shawn — 02.21.05 @ 3:49 pm
Lessee, you’re female, you’re conservative, and gosh darn it, to know you is to like you! How can PBS lose?
Comment by Andy — 02.21.05 @ 4:18 pm
I hope Elizabeth B is still reading, because I posted almost exactly the same comment about the sex difference of Ts and Fs over at PoliPundit, following Lorie Byrd’s comment. When I read your post here, my jaw almost hit the floor! What about it, for those of you who have taken the Myers-Briggs Personality type test, and know your type, how many are Ts or Fs? I’m an INTP.
Comment by estherdelia — 02.21.05 @ 4:33 pm
I personally would love to see you LaShawn change this and be called upon to speak up for not only women bloggers but ALL bloggers…Your post and many of the comments have struck so many notes with me everytime I check back that I hope to link and blog about it later when I take a break from blogging about Terri and have dealt with the flooding in my garage…Which is partially my comment. Although I blog about issues of political and social relevance I also blog about issues of personal relevance. I doubt any big time Higher being is ever going to want to link to a Security Mom who writes about the ongoing medical nightmare of her son not pooping without a laxative!
Comment by Crystal Clear — 02.21.05 @ 5:03 pm
I’m an ESTJ — whatever that means. On women bloggers: Part of the problem may be that men seem to have started early in the history of blogging and it may have become an “old boys club.” I love listening to talk radio but I can’t help but notice that some male hosts seem uncomfortable talking to women–especially women who may disagree, however slightly, with them. All the discussion in the business and political world about “yes men” overlooks that in those worlds it was often assumed that all women were to be “yes women.” Some of the same dynamics still may be present in the blogosphere. Hopefully, we’re growing out of all that.
Comment by Evon Bachaus — 02.21.05 @ 6:07 pm
It’s silly to look at just one blog topic, politics, and analyze the female/male ratio. Do they think I just read political blogs? On my favorites menu, there are MORE female bloggers than male bloggers. I like the political, medical, and educational blogs too. I wonder if anybody will complain that there are too many female educational bloggers?
Comment by mollo — 02.21.05 @ 6:18 pm
“Although its geeky Usenet roots were (and are) testosterone laden affairs”
Testosterone? Geeky? How can you use those two words in a sentence like that?
Comment by Drive by poster — 02.21.05 @ 7:06 pm
Around The ‘Sphere
Our occasional collection of links from all over Blogtopia. Links reprent varying points of view and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Moder…
Trackback by The Moderate Voice — 02.22.05 @ 12:04 am
Esterdelia- I’m an INTP, too. No wonder we had the same sort of thought! I’ll have to go read your comments.
I talk a little bit about MBTI type on my phonics page (linked below), mostly how it relates to learning.
Comment by Elizabeth B — 02.22.05 @ 12:17 am
Why There’s A Dearth Of A-List Female Bloggers
The whole “feminism in the blogosphere” meme is cropping up again as it does every few months. After gaining experience…
Trackback by Right Wing News — 02.22.05 @ 12:19 am
Estherdelia-
Sorry for misspelling your name. I was typing too quickly, too late.
Comment by Elizabeth B — 02.22.05 @ 12:19 am
I would MUCH rather see you on than that Wonkette tramp with her Kitty Kelly gossip. If it wasn’t for her looks they wouldn’t give her a second glance.
As for the disparity, its a combination of many things, but mostly environment - I think men are more inclined to be adversarial and challenging, and drawn to the political realm.
Hat tip to Malkin for luring me to your site. Its now part of my daily AM read
Comment by Fen — 02.22.05 @ 1:47 am
Dear La Shawn,
I enjoy reading your blog very much. You are doing conservative women a great deed. I have a fairly new blog up and running. I write essays on politics, culture, and society. Please take a moment and check me out. I am looking, of course, for link exchanges.
Best wishes, Dana Lotzgesell
Comment by Dana Lotzgesell — 02.22.05 @ 3:53 am
Where the girls aren’t
La Shawn Barber puts in her two bits about the absence of women from the Op Ed pages and the blogosphere–no links. Well, I’m doing my part today. It seems a lot of the commentary on the Kinsley-Estrich brouhaha has…
Trackback by UNCoRRELATED — 02.22.05 @ 10:02 am
Whither The Female Bloggers?
In the course of reading blogs, it becomes readily apparent that blogging is perhaps the most male-dominated “industry” in America right now. Is there a gender gap in blogging? The Pew Research Center recently studied the demographics of blogging, fi…
Trackback by WILLisms.com — 02.22.05 @ 3:07 pm
Obviously, more men have more free time than women, given the statistics on women (generally) pulling more than their fair share of the load in home and family responsibilities.
As for interest in politics, some of the most engaged people I know are my women friends; we talk about political issues all of the time… but as I said, they don’t have time to blog.
Comment by Karen M. — 02.23.05 @ 3:37 pm
It is a mistake to treat the term “blog” as meaning “political blog.” Yes, this second type gets lot of attention, but perhaps the most revolutionary element of blogging is that we are getting informed commentary on virtually every topic in the world, these blogs fit into hundreds of niches, then thousands of sub niches, but they remain the revolutionary aspect most consistent with early visions of networks.
Beyond this you have millions of essentially social blogs, these create tiny “communities” and offer people connections once previously impossible with linking to others of similar types. They multiply by significant (not necessarilly huge) numbers the people participants have access to, this means in the strange patterns of word to mouth things can ripple around much, much faster.
The effect of these things is not obviously dramatic, yet it can be nore fundamental than today’s teapot tempests, an idea dropped in a venture capital blog or discussion group and read by a few hundred may be more important than things read by millions because this is the precise audience that matters in development of technology. Similarly thousands of third world doctors may get access to things not availible or in the less tangible tens of thousands of teenage girls may through loosely interconnected networks be more able to define their “culture” with less influence from mass influences and the ability to find sympathetic companions all over the world, reducing the power of traditional peer pressure.
Comment by julie — 02.23.05 @ 3:43 pm
Julie, that’s the beauty of blogs. Especially for non-mainstream “journalism” and newsletters.
Before Xerox commoditized copiers, if one couldn’t afford print shops, one would have to transcribe articles to a mimeograph, with graphics consisting of simple line drawings, and in my experience, hand crank them out page by page. And if you had a mailing list, crank out a set of envelopes. Just to target an audience of 100, it could easily consume a day or two to publish.
Xerox made pictures and schematics possible & less messier, not to mention getting high off the mimeograph ink.
Blogging is truly revolutionary and an equalizer in allowing anyone do 1 to many publishing plus enabling the speed of light feedback loop.
Comment by Andy — 02.23.05 @ 4:07 pm
I miss the purple haze from a freshly run test or hand out back in my school days.
You could also spot the people that really liked it… a telltale bluish-purple smudge on the tip of the nose.
Comment by SCSIwuzzy — 02.23.05 @ 4:32 pm
I’m a woman writing an op-ed/political/satirical blog, but I doubt very much Ms. Estrich really wants to read it: we don’t see the world in quite the same way. There may be an ole’ boy network of bloggers, but there’s room for everyone. Blogging is very democratic: it’s the quality of the writing that counts. I believe talent always finds its admirers.
Comment by Moge — 02.25.05 @ 11:17 pm