Is a blog feminine or masculine?
I know that many terms have become unisex these days. For example, actor and server or flight attendant and postal agent.
Today, while joking about what to write in my blog, and saying that it feels like it has become a "demanding master," it occurred to me that I had made the blog masculine.
Is it like the borg or matrix with power over us? When I read the political blogs it feels dominant and competitive, many of the authors stating facts as dogma or wagging a knowing finger saying, "I told you so." Everyone seems to be racing and struggling to get the news up first. There are sites that tell you how low on the popularity ladder you are. One site even gives names like slimy molluscs, wiggly worms or insignificant microbes describing those lowly, unpopular weblogs. At the higher end the more popular sites are called higher beings, playful primates or large mammals. This type of terminology or status seeking hierarchy tells me that the blog must be masculine - surely!
Or is the blog gentle and nurturing? Does its many links bind and connect us in ways that are supportive? Lately I feel part of a group that encourages and cheers each other on. It is not a "touchy-feely" deal with everyone sugar-coating the pain. Rather, it is a group of people who share stories at every level, at times with analysis and critique, at others with a listening ear/eye. There are those who write fiction or poems and some even share their art. Would this make the blog feminine?
I do totally associate the types of blog with writing, poetry, and descriptions of life, as feminine. Very interesting observation and right in line with the bit of controversy I read about here: http://althouse.blogspot.com/2005/02/women-and-blogging.html
Posted by: Adriana Bliss | February 27, 2005 at 06:15 PM
Yes, I have also been following that discussion and it was interesting. I even got involved with making a comment to Kevin Drum - oh dear! A drop in the bucket of all the anger that was raised there.
Posted by: Tamar | February 28, 2005 at 06:33 AM
It's hard to say what kind of content makes a blog feminine or masculine. A blog about legal analysis? Is that masculine? Hardly. A blog about poetry, prose, descriptions of life--feminine? I don't think so.
I think subconsciously or perhaps consciously, we need to figure out who is who and what is what. We rely on stereotypes when we can't answer that. Some people see blogging as an important tool to keep journalists honest and we're conditioned to view "important" things as masculine. Once blogging becomes "women's work" it will fall out of favor. That guy from WashTimes may have an agenda when he slams female bloggers.
Posted by: nappy40 | February 28, 2005 at 09:54 AM
I meant WashMonthly, not Times.
Posted by: nappy40 | February 28, 2005 at 12:24 PM
Since I have a few times been mistaken about the biological gender of the writer, I find that (the sex of the writer) more interesting to surmise on than whether the blog itself has a discernable gender in its topic, manner of writing, outlook. We are constantly shifting our sense of self, our perspectives, perhaps disguising ourselves, even if we don't mean to, that there aren't clear distinctions between the dicotomies of masculine and feminine anymore. Or at least is that ideally so?
Posted by: Brenda | March 01, 2005 at 11:32 AM
In reading the comments here, I realize I wasn't clear enough - I think of "feminine" and "masculine" not in terms of biological sex, but rather in terms of energy, as in yin and yang. All people embrace both types of energies, neither type of energy is more or less important, but rather serves different purposes. I think it's a traditional view (using a Jungian approach) not necessarily stereotypical.
Posted by: Adriana Bliss | March 01, 2005 at 12:17 PM
Actually, Adriana, I think your comments were clear. The posting was deliberate in being unclear, in a way, because a) I am unclear about how I think about it, b) I love to hear everyone's different interpretations, and c) a little bit for fun!
And that has happened quite nicely, don't you all think?
Posted by: Tamar | March 03, 2005 at 09:57 AM