Friday, December 18, 2009

BitchBuzz: Blogging by Gender

My latest BitchBuzz column is up. It was sparked by the revelation this week that the uber-macho blogger James Chartrand is really a woman and the reasons she gave for that mask:

Blogger James Chartrand revealed this week that "he" is actually a she and deliberately took up the name after finding it impossible to make a living as a female blogger and facing ridicule and dismissal. It's hard to tell whether female bloggers were more disgusted that pretending to be a misogynist jerk actually worked or depressed that nothing has changed about the contempt for "ladies" who write.

Feministing put the revelation into the context of the "pale/stale/male-ness of the media" as a whole and pointed to a study by the University of Maryland demonstrating the disproportionate threats women face online when identified by gender...


As always, you can read the rest at BBHQ. One thing I forgot to include was trying out the Gender Analyzer to see what its opinion was and got the following: "We guess http://menwithpens.ca/ is written by a woman (55%), however it's quite gender neutral." So the AI was not fooled by the macho graphics of the page.

This here blog of mine? "We guess http://katewombat.blogspot.com is written by a man (56%), however it's quite gender neutral."

I find it fascinating, the variety of ways we read gender into things. How gendered is your writing?

8 comments:

C. Margery Kempe said...

Oh and for the serial:

"We think http://kalaity.blogspot.com is written by a woman (65%)"

and the podcasts:

"We guess http://www.kalaity.com/blog/blog.html is written by a man (56%), however it's quite gender neutral"

and the bibliography:

"We think http://www.kalaity.com/bib.htm is written by a man (64%)"

CL said...

Guess what!!!

The New England Anomaly Blog is written by a man!

"We think http://neanomaly.blogspot.com/ is written by a man (66%)."

HAHAHAHA!!!

C. Margery Kempe said...

Macho, macho man; Cranky's gottta be a macho man!

Todd Mason said...

We think FIASCO was written by a fop, but a potential enemy of the National Security State fop, or a 61% chance of Pimpernel.

Happy several hours after your natal anniversary!

C. Margery Kempe said...

Who knew there was a fop analyzer -- does it look for powdered wigs and snuffboxes?

Thanks for the natal day wishes and a big smile.

Todd Mason said...

Snuffboxes, wristkerchiefs and Pimpernel-trigger fencing experience.

I treated myself on Kate Day to several Kate products.

C. Margery Kempe said...

Everyone should celebrate in like manner! So it is written, so it shall be done...

Anonymous said...

Dear Author katewombat.blogspot.com !
Fine, I and thought.