Now, first of all, of course nobody should be evaluated only by their looks. If you are talking about good female bloggers who are treated with contempt or get obviously less respect than they deserve, when less good female bloggers get a lot of attention just because of having added pretty pictures of themselves to their blog posts, then you have my total support. I don't like stupidity, even when it's paired with a 'hot' look.

However, I'm afraid that, despite your observation that "neither the wish for ladies to wear bikinis nor the admiration of attractive women is inherently demeaning", it seems you're assuming beauty -- and pride in the appreciation of one's beauty -- is a minus. Should a blogger receive less respect from, e.g., feminist readers, simply because she is hot and likes to show off? Aren't you showing some anti-aesthetic bias here?

Here is my opinion: it is OK to judge people by various criteria for different purposes. Bloggers can -- and should -- be judged by their posts: how good and relevant they are, how informative, how deep... let's say, by how much they accomplish what they set out to accomplish by posting their posts. And it is OK to judge them by other standards -- for purposes other than evaluating them as bloggers. If some of them happen to be musicians, would it be bad to have a web page with a list of their names asking for reader input about 'which of these bloggers you'd like to see play New York, New York?' If some of them are good at telling jokes, would it be bad to have a web page with a list of their names asking for reader input about 'which of these bloggers you think would win a Last Comedian Standing contest'? If some of them like mountain biking, would it be bad to have a web page with a list of their names asking for reader input about a possible mountain biking race between them and who might win?

It seems to me that, perhaps because women were so often -- and sometimes still are -- judged only by their beauty, feminism may be actually condemning beauty as 'the mark of Cain' -- meaning that its possessor, even if she suceeds, did not 'really earn' her success. And that is a pity.

Wouldn't it be better -- since you claim that "women bloggers are afforded less respect than is deserved by their journalism/tech peers who should know better" -- to actually give examples of 'less respect' being afforded? Or statistics? Or deeper analysis? After all, this is the injustice -- not the fact that some people -- including some bloggers -- also happen to be beautiful, are appreciated as beautiful people by others, and enjoy that; right?

Or, to attack gender stereotypes from another perspective: why not start a web page asking female blog readers to vote on which male bloggers they'd like to see in a swimsuit? Give them some of the same medicine to see how they like it!...

I don't think that physical beauty is a minus; it's a good thing. Those who have it, male or female, do have something good. And those who appreciate the beauty and sexiness of the opposite (or same) sex are doing nothing demeaning and nothing wrong. 'She/He's hot' is not a demeaning comment. It only is bad if it happens to be the reason why someone gets praise on other aspects of his/her personality -- e.g. blogging skills.

Playboy is a magazine that concerns itself with sexy women; of course the sexiness of the blogger plays a role for them. It would be strange if they didn't. Just as it would be strange if "Salon" weren't concerned with the intelligence and capacity for thinking of their bloggers.

Note also that looks are important in ways other than simply physical beauty. Think of your favorite news anchorman or -woman: chances are s/he also 'looks trustworthy' (probably older than the average person, with a face transpiring conviction, strength, and deeply held beliefs by every pore). Now, someone who looks shy and insecure, say a dissheveled young person apparently without any experience, would probably not get as much respect as your favorite anchorman or -woman, even if his/her opinions and analyses were good, deep, and well-informed. What do you think? Is this, in your opinion, just as bad a show of 'prejudice' and 'stereotyping' and (not gender but still) 'roles' as the bloggers who don't get the respect they deserve because they're not 'hot'?

I think it's an OK change. I'll support it. But frankly, as a linguist I feel surprised at the fetish value people ascribe to words. I'm a bit surprised that one should think "it is impossible that men and women's professional lives will ever be really equal" should follow from "Men at work" signs. It's as if someone were saying that the metonymic use of the word "ass" meaning "person" (as in 'get your ass over here!') will lead to a future in which we'll have forgotten that people actually do have other body parts besides asses.

actually, I would strip, yes... but looking at myself in the mirror, I must admit there's very little chance this would have a big impact on my income. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm the stuff most women's wet dreams are made of...