White males dominate the blogger A-list, but do they dominate the blogosphere? Glenn Reynolds, a white male, opines on the topic. He also links to others who discuss the lack of skin color and “gender” diversity, although Glenn focuses on the latter.
Are women political bloggers more sensitive to the “hate” in the blogosphere? Glenn writes:
[I]f you look at the kind of hate that Zephyr Teachout got from her fellow Deaniacs (see the comments to this post), and if you believe, as Ann Althouse seems to, that women are more sensitive to that sort of attack than men are, then more politeness might help.I know that a lot of women feel that men are clamoring to get ahead of them, but on the other hand, I know that a lot of men are afraid that women will pile all over them — and play the double-standard “you’re hitting a girl” gender card — if they say the wrong thing. (And there’s evidence for this — ask Larry Summers.) That’s gender dynamics.
More interesting is a link to a Newsweek article by Steven Levy, who asks, “[W]hy is the blogosphere dominated by white males?”
Does the blogosphere have a diversity problem?Viewed one way, the issue seems a bit absurd. These self-generated personal Web sites are supposed to be the ultimate grass-roots phenomenon. The perks of alpha bloggers—voluminous traffic, links from other bigfeet, conference invitations, White House press passes — are, in theory, bequeathed by a market-driven merit system. The idea is that the smartest, the wittiest and the most industrious in finding good stuff will simply rise to the top, by virtue of a self-organizing selection process.
So why, when millions of blogs are written by all sorts of people, does the top rung look so homogeneous? It appears that some clubbiness is involved. Suitt puts it more bluntly: “It’s white people linking to other white people!” (A link from a popular blog is this medium’s equivalent to a Super Bowl ad.) Suitt attributes her own high status in the blogging world to her conscious decision to “promote myself among those on the A list.”
While I have noticed that the top bloggers tend to link to each other, and most of them happen to be white males, I know for a fact the “old boys’ club” of bloggers isn’t impenetrable. I’ve managed to break through several times, but that usually comes with e-mailing links, which is something I used to avoid. The drawback of such an admission is that if/when I’m linked by a high-profile blogger, the assumption is that I’ve e-mailed them. Not the case every time.
I don’t think the top bloggers have much time to read a lot blogs, and I suspect mine isn’t on their agenda most days. Consequently, I made the same decision as Halley Suitt. I decided that I wanted to promote myself among those on the A-list. I have high aspirations for my career as a writer and blogger, and getting the attention of high-profile bloggers is a necessary step.
For example, I wasn’t booked on MSNBC because my blog is so fabulous. I got a guest spot because I’ve been linked to by top bloggers, and the right people took notice. Other black or female bloggers may be doing something similar or nothing like it at all, but to get where I want to go (in the time frame I want to get there), I must.
Whites are still the majority in America, and the Internet tends to be dominated by whites. It follows that the majority of bloggers will be white. I have no grand theories, at least none I’d care to discuss today, why white men in particular dominate the top bloggers.
At the risk of sounding like a liberal, I do wish more blacks and women were invited to these blogger conferences and called for TV spots and radio interviews. I won’t complain too much, though. I’ll just continue blogging about what interests me and hope you find something on the blog that interests you.
I remain hopeful that “affirmative action” will keep its ugly hands out of the pot. We will rise or fall on pure blogging. And some high-profile linkage. 
Update: Liberal blogger Chris Nolan explains why men dominate the blogosphere.
Update II: Go visit the blog of a white male who asked me to guest-blog while he’s away. His rules: “Boost your traffic, have some fun.”
By the way, I don’t mind bloggers e-mailing me links to interesting posts or stories, so this is not an indictment against you. But as Glenn wrote: “Don’t be a pest (there’s one guy who emails me every time he updates his blog, which as a consequence I’ve never visited)…”
Update III: Check out Steve Sailer’s latest column, The White Guy Gap. Last year I blogged about his column on the white baby gap.
Update IV (3/14): Captain Ed responds to Steve Levy’s piece.
