this is what "feminism" has devolved to?

tedious and ridiculous broadsides at the coverage of BLOGGING conference? really?

more and more I'm glad the next president won't be a woman, yikes

I only read Glenn Greenwald and Eileen Smith (inthepinktexas.com), so I'm probably not even qualified to comment here, but I'm thinking that scheduling BlogHer directly after Netroots probably didn't help get it any recognition or publicity.

Also, I don't see anything wrong with women giving feminine, cute names to their blogs. Although it has shifted focus quite a bit, inthepinktexas has provided good coverage of Texas government and I think it has a lot of readers. (And there is sort of a double entendre going on with the name: all of the state government buildings in Austin are built with pink granite facades, so there you go.)

As a gratuitous aside, I want to add that people like bernbart give feminism a bad name, and although people are free to say what they want, I believe her in your face brand of feminism is a lot of fighting the last war, and I'm sick of listening to it after 30 years. Give me third wave feminists any day.

You make an interesting point that I've encountered in a particular segment of feminist writing (Cixous and Irrigaray, for example), but I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree. The idea that the personal and emotional aspects of life are devalued because they are culturally associated with women (rather than vice versa) may be provocative, but is neither believable nor helps us break free of the cycle, since it doesn't explain why those aspects would be associated with women in the first place. Furthermore, it reeks of gender essentialism, since it seems to argue that these are essentially "feminine" traits that need to be taken seriously. At some point you really have to just face the reality that politics, economics, and science affect the masses in the same way, while everyone's personal and emotional lives are unique and not necessarily generalizable. And from a practical standpoint, I think it's much easier for women to keep trying to break certain glass ceilings than to try to change the entire focus of Western civilization, especially since now we apparently know that they are equally good at math and science after all.

As for the post itself, this is the first well-balanced and insightful Broadsheet piece I've seen in a while. I think it strikes at the heart of the internal conflict within feminism that I noted above: are women abetting their own second-class status by focusing on "feminine" topics and gender-specific activities rather than attempting to speak to universal issues, or is attempting to compete with men on equal terms simply letting the patriarchy determine the rules of the game? You can't have it both ways, as Hilary Clinton found out.

Also, it looks like we have a new troll in the neighborhood. Welcome, King Leonidas, I'm sure you'll find plenty of like-minded people here who only read the headline and proceed to fire off a stream of 4th grade-level sarcasm. Maybe you and James T. Kirk can hang out.

I am so glad to be on break! I've got alot of reading ahead of me.

Wow. We're still arguing about whether personal and emotional issues; health & illness; religion & spirituality; parenting and poetry are matters of 'universal' (that is, including male) concern?

Really?

is not the the name of blogs. That's a stupid idea. The real problem is that we still have sexism in the world. It pretty much doesn't matter what something is named. Even "Pink Fluffy Bunnies" if run by a man (and it is KNOWN to be run by a man) would be treated with more respect than if run by a woman.

Then, we have this idea of 'women's issues' which is ridiculous because the issues of home and family and balancing that with work and life in general should be important to everyone, not just women.

Next, we have those who believe if a woman is blogging it must be about family and home and balancing work and other things and yet, many blogs written by women aren't really about those things at all. AND some men blog about child rearing and home life!! No!!!! It can't be!!!

The outrage over the coverage of BlogHer was justified. And I think it's telling that Ms. Traister thought someone outraged over the issue was a woman when it was a man. Men did go to this conference, I'm pretty sure.

Women aren't taken as seriously as men anywhere, never mind the web. It's a patriarchy. That's what happens in those.

Or, should women get together and name their blogs things like "Enormous Throbbing Member?" Would that help? Would we move out of a patriarchy then?

Obviously, no.

On the positive side, if what I read earlier in these letters is true, the other conference moved its time to compete with BlogHer. Which means they feel threatened and competitive. I find that a much more interesting point to consider. It means the conference has a lot of power, even if it was ostentatiously ignored by those prominent, (and mostly sexist) set of politicians.

And you know, yuck, who wants that "compromiser" Pelosi anywhere near their conference?

but what about starting from a place of self-regard and personal authority

The irony of that phrase published on a blog called Broadsheet is stupefying.

You know, Heather Armstrong does write about being a mother sometimes, but really, for me, her most important posts are about dealing with depression. Depression is not a gendered issue.

She doesn't really write a 'mommy' blog. It's pretty much just a blog about life. Of course, maybe she identifies with that title of 'mommy' blog. I honestly don't know if she does or not. Nothing wrong with it. It's just she writes about a lot of other things, too.

I actually really don't know very many bloggers who write a 'mommy' blog, meaning they exclusively write about raising children. I think that phrase "mommy blog" was just a good sound bite created by television networks and the tv news, who are justly worried about how blogs and the Internet are affecting their revenue. It is sort of a way to relegate that type of writing to this 'feminine' world and thus, tried to make it an unimportant issue.

Sadly, using the words "mommy" (a diminutive of mother) and blog together actually take away from the importance of what's happening there.

Which is pretty depressing on its own. After all, if you're a parent, mom or dad, nothing is more important. Why would it be relegated to mean nothing? And yet, here we are. Patriarchy. Let's all say it together now!

It should be that a blog about motherhood or fatherhood is the most important thing out there. Maybe we should embrace these names and make them the strong, important ideas that they are. Maybe everyone who is a parent and even mentions his or her child in passing should say they write a 'mommy or daddy blog.'