Apparently I can push political agendas, but I’ll always be seen as an Oprah-watching, bon-bon eating, Katie Couric-esq, shoe-shopping, GIRL.
Even the New York Times will write about how powerful I am, and how I’m not getting my props-yet they will publish the article in the ‘Fashion and Style‘ section.
Sure they will write about about heart attacks and blogging and place it in “Technology.” But WOMEN bloggers? Oh, they belong next to “It’s Botox for You, Dear Bridesmaids” and “The BreakUps That Got Under My Skin.”
Perhaps, with all the talk of us being “…a corporate-sponsored Oprah-inflected version of a ’60s consciousness-raising group” they missed the part about 36 million of us taking over as power-users of the web while raising our children and supporting our families.
Perhaps, I need to remind or at the very least provide some additional information that may or may not affect the future placement of a piece on women bloggers.
Women are outnumbering men on the web.
Women control .83cents of every household dollar spent. That means from buying a lawnmower to buying laundry detergent, women hold the purse strings.
Women have been turning off DayTime television and canceling their subscriptions to ‘female’ based magazines in favor of going online.
Yet when we get together yearly to learn from one another on the business and practices of blogging, the NYT sees fit to discuss us in the same breath as “what women are wearing on their feet this summer.”
Maybe they missed the part where we discussed open source with 2008 Google-O’Reilly Open Source Award Winner Angela Byron? Or where we met to create a position paper to be submitted to the Democratic National Committee for inclusion in the party platform? Or what about the BlogHer/NBC Universal deal worth 5 million?
I am thrilled the New York Times sees fit to cover a women’s blogging conference. I look at it as a step in the right direction.
But you surely don’t see stories about men bloggers in the Sports section or an article on the latest strategic partnership laced with phrases like “And though women and men are creating blogs in roughly equal numbers, many women at the conference were becoming very Katie Couric about their belief that they are not taken as seriously as their male counterparts…”
Is Michael Arrington of TechCrunch very Rupert Murdoch? Is Jason Calacanis of Mahalo very Matt Lauer?
Are the men in tech and blogging consistently being compared to their male, traditional media counterparts?
Not so much.
For every article on women and tech and blogging, you will see the words “Oprah” and “Couric” and “Fashion.”
New York Times…thanks for coming out to BlogHer ’08. Thanks for taking some photos. Thanks for raising awareness.
Next time I’m hoping you’re over our lactation station and daycare and “nurturing messages,” because if that is all you see…you’re missing out on a tour de force, online and off.
Crossposted at the Huffington Post
Erin Kotecki Vest is the Political Director at BlogHer.com and writes a !gasp! MommyBlog at Queen of Spain blog.
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