Yoniknittomommylesbocentrist Blogging?

[This post was written in January.  I'll explain more about why I didn't post it initially at the end.  Bear with me through a few untimely references, if you would.]

Hmm.

I don't know how many people who read here read a lot of blogs outside the knitblog world, but from time to time there are these little flashes in the pan about men and women and blogging and power.  There was one a while ago, about "where are all the women bloggers," and I sort of skimmed the debate from the sidelines but it was all about political blogs and I figured they had a point, but that I didn't really want to play because it was all so cranky and would take even more time than knitblogging, which is saying something.

But in trying to follow up on Scott Eric Kaufman's chain letter blog meme experiment, I stumbled upon a similar complaint about women and academic blogging.  While I usually let these sorts of debates lie, for some reason this one kind of sparked my interest, I guess because I'm trying to figure out how blogging fits into my life at the current moment, and the value or importance of this enterprise is an important question for me right now. 

So thinking about this, once again it strikes me: sure there are social networks that replicate power structures in the offline world and sure there are powerful male bloggers connecting to other powerful male bloggers, and sure that's a problem for women trying to establish those kinds of blogs, but the thing is that many women aren't trying to establish those kinds of blogs.  Instead, many of us are blogging about other things.  And maybe, just maybe, the point is that we don't care about their stinkin' blogosphere.  Maybe the absence (really underrepresentation) of women in that sort of blog is not because we can't crash through some glass ceiling but because we're building our own house with different building materials (dudes, ceilings work better with wood and drywall, just saying).  And it sort of makes me wonder--should we care?  And if not, do we need to point out to the guys that maybe the problem isn't with our relative absence in the realms they consider important, but instead with their very definition of importance.

Or maybe that would just be rude.  (There's also the distinct possibility that they're right, though, or maybe that's just me being a girl.)  But more on that later.

So, if you didn't have time to read that very long Inside Higher Ed article, I'll summarize.  The point is that Bitch, PhD was the only female blogger featured on the MLA panel with Scott (at which he did not appear to mention anything related to the chain letter meme, unless my sloppy skimming of his blog has missed something, which is altogether possible).  And that the "online parlor," (defined in detail in the article, but you'll have to go read it if you want that much detail, sorry folks) in which, arguably, things of substance are discussed, is once again dominated by men.  So yeah, in blogs that are political, and/or strictly academic, male discourse seems to be the norm.  That translates, apparently, to certain readers, as serious discourse.  And therefore, women are not participating.

But wait.  There is a boatload of knitting blogs.  I would guess that more than 95% of knitting blogs are authored by women.  Broadening the diminutively-named "mommyblogging" to parenting blogs, and again, there is an alarming and well-documented proliferation of same, we're still probably upwards of 9 out of 10 authored by women.  I know next to nothing of these blog solar systems, but I suspect that hollywood blogs and fashion/what was she wearing blogs are equally dependent on the nimble fingers of female authors.  So it's not like we're not online.  And it's not like we're not blogging.

We're just blogging about different stuff.

So?

Knitting, parenting, fashion, stars.  Sounds like fluff to me.  Literally in the case of us fiber bloggers.  I think it might be fluff.  And if it is, are we wasting our time, shirking our responsibilities, and squandering our power?  Or are we building an alternative construction of the "parlor," one to which we can bring our whole selves, as mothers, as artists, as students, as well as being political partisans and teachers and thinkers?  Are we responding to this new open media by creating a world in which we move with fluidity from positions of authority to positions of questioning and unknowing to reflective moments and, importantly, humor?  I'd say, yes, we are, but I'm not entirely sure that doing that is getting us anywhere.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that we as bloggers, are concerned with social change.  I'll allow as how that's an arguable statement, and how it's pretty clear that your average muggle stumbling upon your average knitblogger (or for that matter, mommyblogger) post, would not perceive that this is the case.  But I actually think it is.  Most of us weave our political and social agendas into our blogging.  Some of us raise staggering amounts of money for worthy causes, exhorting us to think about the nature of consumerism and the extremes of wealth and poverty in our world and our responsibility as members of the wealthy side of that imbalance.  Many others encourage us to address issues of poverty through charity knitting.  Some of us provide a window into the private lives of people under the scrutiny (and criticism) of our society (for example, gay parents, or parents of multiples via fertility treatment, or, you know, both).  Perhaps we're telling the truth about our lives.  Has the world split open yet? 

I guess my question is, is that enough?  We're a privileged bunch here in blogland, generally highly educated, by definition facile with the written word, possessing of disposible income, and, if we're honest with ourselves, time to have hobbies and write about them.  Should we be doing something more profound with these gifts, or would that mean accepting a paradigm that disadvantages us and shortchanges who we are?  Once again, Stephanie's fundraiser has proven the force of us.  Mommybloggers united are likely to have equal potential for power, and have a more obvious agenda for change (family-friendly government policy in the areas of child poverty, health care, and parental leave come to mind).  I wonder if we should be doing something more with this power.

And all that said, I don't really want to.  And I have Daily Kos and Atrios and TPM on my bloglines and I rarely read them because a) depressing, b) not really funny, c) being a news/politics junkie makes me cranky.

...And this is where I stopped.  It's the point at which I was supposed to insert a pithy and thoughtful summation, where I was meant to come to a conclusion, and bring the reader to a resolution of the issue.  The easy thing would have been to have returned to all the reasons knitblogging is powerful, and they do exist.  They're right up there in the paragraphs above; I'm sure there are others.  But I'm not sure I believe it.  And despite that, I am NOT going to start blogging about Serious Stuff(tm) because, you know, I write serious crap all day at work and don't really have a desire to do it recreationally.  But maybe that's where I should leave it.  Maybe the power of this medium is that it is inherently interactive, and maybe if I just put this out there, six months too late but better (hopefully) than never, maybe I'll learn something.  And maybe that's what I was waiting for all along.

Comments

[Meghan]

Very thought provoking. I don't have any great insight as to how/if we should use our blogging power differently but I think it's a good way to start a conversation that should be examined. Thanks!

[Cara]

I think the greatest thing I contribute with my blog is personal honesty. I've received lots of emails from people who have connected to something I've written that didn't have anything to do with knitting or fiber and through the honesty of my own experiences - good and bad - they've found something to help themselves.

Sure my blog has the pretense of knitting - but it's really about connections. Maybe that's the big difference between "us" and "them".

[Lee Ann]

Dude, if I can't bring my fleece, I don't want to play in their f*cking fields.

Cara's right that in the end, it is about making connections with people, be they small connections or large ones. And when I make connections, I bring my whole self. I can't help it. It isn't the way a lot of men communicate, however, with their whole selves. But I don't think that makes our use of our open mikes any less of a contribution to communication. To be blunt, the strictly political bloggers are doing a lot of talking about what's wrong with society, but they're not exactly using their public faces for much else. Knitbloggers are doing a lot of putting our money and our needles where our mouths are. Both contribute in some way, but from my side of the fence, I prefer the direct, whole-self route to creating lasting change.

[Rebecca]

(We met several years ago at a knitting group at the public library across from MH--I was knitting a long navy blue thing. I've been reading your blog ever since, but somehow have kept quiet till now. Hi.)

Anwyay, I was thinking about a similar thing over the weekend, sort of. I like to imagine that contact with people who are different than themselves, believe different things, etc. causes them to re-examine what one believes, and shows them that people they disagree with are human too and shouldn't be dismissed without any attempt at understanding. By seeing that the different person is human, they're encouraged to see the other side of the things they disagree about--or at least treat people they disagree with more humanely and civilly. So I excuse myself from writing/talking explicitly about the need for tolerance, and from trying to change people's minds, because I hope it will happen naturally, as people are provoked into thinking (evidently, I'm delusional).

The reason I've been thinking about it though, is that there are so many times where this doesn't happen--times when people who disagree about everything but fluff discover that they disagree and avoid each other, or dismiss each other as another of those crazy whatevers whose opinions don't need to be taken seriously.

[Liz]

By analogy: I eat plenty of healthy food. But my great pleasure, my indulgence, comes from sweets. Similarly, I think about and discuss plenty of Serious Stuff (tm) in my day-to-day life. My indulgence, however, is knitting -- and writing about knitting.

Finally, I started my blog not necessarily to have a blog, but because the people to whom I kept speaking about my knitting (muggles, all of 'em) were just not that interested. Not so with Serious Stuff (tm). Muggles find that stuff interesting, so I tend not to need the online outlet.

[Abby Franquemont]

Hrmmm. This is definitely food for thought.

I started my fiber blog primarily to have a solid venue in which to house huge piles of stuff I'd written on mailing lists and the like, which I wanted to be able to find and/or point people to with ease.

Later, I found that I wanted a soapbox of my own, so to speak; that while I wanted to be able to engage in dialogue on mailing lists, forums, and so forth, the truth is I also have a general inability to shut up. I'm not always nice, I don't always agree with the majority opinion or prevailing wisdom, and while I'm not looking for flamewars, I do still want to be able to say some of those things where other people can hear them and weigh in.

Still later, I realized I'd picked up a few readers -- probably the biggest surprise to me being when a number of them delurked to comment on a post about the death of my much-loved old lady cat. I'd been apprehensive about that post in some respects, because it represented a departure from "sticking to the topic of fiber arts" and delved into the personal sphere. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me like the personal sphere was a part of what people were looking for in the blogs they read. So as you note, connections, and a sense of community.

I'm not sure I'd given it much thought from the perspective of gender, but now, without a doubt, I'm going to. And like you, I don't know what I'll conclude, if anything.

[Kat with a K]

Interesting. Another thought - isn't the point of worrying about the Serious Stuff to protect the Actually Important Stuff like art and family and community? If we all were caught up in talking about the Serious Stuff all the time, the other stuff would get lost, and then what would be the point?

[Dr. Steph]

Nice post. You're right that "they" define the important blogging spheres--politics, academic life and not-so-important ones--fibre, family, fashion etc. And "they" create the links that give people power in the blogiverse. But there is a huge group of well written feminist blogs that only get to play on the outside of those important spheres because woman's stuff is still not important enough compared to "real" politics. (Bitch PhD notwithstanding though I find her arrogant and overrated).

The other issue is the "putting yourself out there" factor. I've seen some pretty nasty stuff happen to woman bloggers who get political about gender and women's lives (threats, attempts to identify them in real life, getting fired, having trouble at work, onslaughts of nasty personal comments and emails, cyberstalking) and since the "real world" power relations are replicated in the blog world, it means women may need to risk a lot to have a say.

Finally, while I think many women's sphere bloggers (just to put a generalization label on it) are political, most are not. They are do not recognize their priviledge as mothers, crafters, computer users etc. And they are not challenging the structures which make life pretty damned good for them in their blogs. I doubt many of them even think about that stuff very much.

All this sorta makes my posts about my new bike a bit hollow right now. I'm not writing a lot of "deep stuff" either because I'm tired after doing the deep stuff at work and mothering and all that. Another possible reason why women don't write about those topics--too tired living the inequalities.

[claudia]

A law blog would bore the living hell out of me. As does politics presented the usual way. However, mix a little fiber (or a fiber person) in with politics or academics or other thoughtful discourse, and I'm all over it.

I notice that few blogs, political ones included, get as many comments as most knitting blogs. Blogging for community vs. blogging for self-aggrandizement perhaps?

OK, back to work.

[Ruth]

I was a number of years into a traditionally male dominated career before I realized the absurdity of proving that I was "as good as any man" by striving to be just like them. The women in my profession approached it very differently, with different values - and though their practices looked different than male practices, the outcome was just as good and the "female" insights brought some very healthy changes to the profession as a whole.

Women are different from men, and people in general are different from each other, and personally I am sick to death of struggling to live up to anyone else's ideal of what a successful life looks like. I want to be happy, I want to do things that play to my talents and strengths, regardless of where they fall on some arbitrary societal scale of power and importance. Having made the decision to have children, I want to do everything in my power to help them grow up physically and psychologically healthy, and I want to think carefully about how I affect the things and people around me and try to contribute to making the world a better place. That's it. I don't really care anymore whether that puts me in the running to be deemed successful, or powerful, or even a good feminist.

And how is it that raising the next generation of citizens is "fluff", while endless speculation and breaking news about the release dates of competing techno-gadgets is "important and intellectual"? I absolutely agree with your idea of building our own house with different materials.

I do, however, love the way that so many female bloggers tell the truths of their lives with insight and gentleness and good humour - and I'm not convinced that this is a less effective way to improve the world than the angry, strident arena of traditional political activism (as necessary as that is at times.)

Oops - didn't mean to go on so long! :)

[FemiKnit Mafia]

I'm gay?

[FemiKnit Mafia]

Great post! As a former paid political activist, I think about these things all the time. Mainly I worry that I'm selling out by not using my online space to explicitly promote my politics. But aren't I doing that just by blogging my life honestly? And for that matter, aren't you? Despite my years of sign-waving and yelling, I'm growing into the belief that quieter methods are more effective. Just living life unapologetically and, as others above have said, putting it out there. And also like others, I'm getting to tired to fight all the time.

[Jennifer in Ottawa]

Deliciously thought-provoking for me as I am contemplating starting a blog. I think the bottom line is that in doing something we like to do (writing, knitting, whatever), we are given the ability to discuss the greater good when it strikes us as needful. Blogging creates communities of people. And inspired communities can do amazing things. Even one person at a time. Change one mind...change the world.

[Laurie]

I like what Ruth said. If one works in a profession where the blog is important, and the blog needs to be oriented to the employment subject matter, then said female would put herself at a disadvantage not to participate on that playing field. However, that probably includes a tiny minority of women.

So then blogging is like anything else we do with our free time: our choice, our options.

I have no interest in medical blogging. I know that forums exist for my profession, but it is mostly docs grandstanding about how they would have done X better than the previous respondent. That is just not what I'm looking for AND it would not do a thing for me professionally (thank god).

Political blogging? *yawn* No. Not even on my knitblog.

Connection. Fiber. Expansion of network and skills. People.

[Gina]

I think what you are really talking about is value. These political blogs are assuming there is no value to "mommyblogging". I think there is lots of value to the blogs I read. Yours is about knitting, others are about stamping and scrapbooking, infertility blogs, medical/autism blogs and then some mommy blogs.
They make me think, they enhance my life, they spark creativity and some even talk about local and world issues. The fact that these issues are mixed in with other main points makes most of these blogs more rounded than a plain old political blog. I see these as one sided and the women blogs more well rounded.

I do see your point though about the power issue. Men think isn't it cute the women are blogging about knitting and WE are blogging about IMPORTANT THINGS. We, as a community of women, need to stand together and show that our thougths even if just about knitting are valuable.

[Judi]

Okay, most of the salient points have been made, but in my unreconstructed, simple minded (that isn't a bad thing you know)approach to the issue things are much simpler than that.

Assuming that most blogs are written on "off" time it seems to me that many of the serious blogs are waaaay off base. If you are a professional in any field and you spend many of your off hours discussing the same things you get paid for - you need a real life. And there is the simplistic rub, men tend to define themselves in terms of what they get paid to do and women have much broader self concepts.

I realize that is a gross generalization, but nothing in the linked articles or in the previous comments convince me that it isn't accurate.

[Cynthia]

Thank you for prompting me to think again, though I suspect that I won't be as clear as I'd like to. I often wonder how you managed two newborns.

So, when I decided to start my blog it was to separate the Serious Stuff of my life (at the time) from the fluff. Turns out, though that there was much more to knitblogging than taking pictures of pretty yarn. I had to learn some things about programing languages, the way the Internet really works, more than just basic netiquette, and a whole crapload more about knitting than I didn't know I didn't know.

In short, I had to acquire a ton of information. Which isn't a whole lot different than what I do by profession (librarianship). Suddenly, my fluff was crossing into my work and I was teaching other people how to set up blogs and what RSS feeds are, and suddenly I didn't have to justify to my coworkers why I took pictures of yarn on my lunch break.

I guess this is important to me because I view information is as bigger than politics, bigger than careers, and bigger than my fluff (but not some stashes I know of...). Knowledge is power, dude.

So, you know, carry on.

[Kristen]

I've much to say about this, but can't do it now as my brain is mush. Funny how we're all starting to feel worn out just as orientation is ending and our rotations are starting...(we've done nights on calls and days in the clinic, just not at full-speed-ahead force, yet.)

The short version: I whole-hearted'ly agree with the caveat that I love reading medically themed blogs and ramblings of other medical professionals. This might change as time passes and I learn more and feel more confident, but right now I like being able to read about how others handle the same problems I'm apt to see. (or have seen.)

[melissaknits]

My everyday life is not always happy. Not that it is miserable; it is not. But when I blog and read blogs I want to be joyful and indulgent. It's cathartic. It gets me away from the crap and into something I just plain old f-ing love. I don't want to . . . well . . . think.

The charity portion of the program - what we can do when we band together as (mostly) women and (mostly) knitters - that is an outpouring of community effort that historically took the form of a fortnightly group, or women's church group, etc. The scale and scope are larger, but the roots are the same. We want to feel good. Reading happy crap and knitting stuff makes me feel good. Similarly being part of something larger than myself in a way that helps the community, or the planet, or whatever also makes me feel just plain good.

If I ever blog about serious stuff - other than the occasional "friend's kid died" entry - someone needs to smack me.

[RogueTess]

Disclaimer: I read blogs about knitting, gadgets and a few on books and education. Period. To me the best blogging is about community. "My" community generally plays nice, even when talking about Serious Stuff. As Carol Gilligan so insightfully observed years ago in "In A Different Voice" men tend to communicate in a "ladder" (hierarchical) model whereas women relate more in "webs," which respect interconnections without one-upmanship. I detest political blogs (and TV/radio shows) that scream for attention claim to know all. Thanks for a great post and ... happy knitting!

[Emily]

I found your writing (particularly the lack of conclusion) and the comments most thought-provoking.

I particularly agree with Kat with a K that 'politics' and other Important Stuff is really only meant to be there to keep things fair and allow us the space for what is *really* important to us, our art, our friends and families the natural world itself, and so on. For example, I'm not a feminist because it's fun to be, but because I want to make space for women in our society that has been built around men.

[CarolineF]

I read DailyKos all the time, because I like to have an arsenal of information about what is really going on and an alternative to the public spin in case I'm called upon to speak up. I have bazillion links on my blog to the other political sites although I rarely have the energy to go look at them all. I stay out of conversations in the comments, however, because I don't have the time to be well-informed enough about everything. All of that being said, there is a presence of feminists on Kos who almost always end up embattled - like everywhere else, there are men who follow the feminist writers around the site posting mean shit in their comments. And there are men all over the site that post thoughtlessly sexist comments on things. Big blogs like that are just a microcosm of the real world, even if they happen to exclude the rightwing nutcase branch of the real world. I stop reading anything that degenerates into arguments. So, skimming across the surface of sites like Kos is very useful to me, but I stay at that level.

[Cheryl, the knitting Jungian]

I have been thinking about and even writing some about this very issue on my own blog. And now you have set me to wondering why I have the division I do between the part of my blog about knitting and more mundane things and the part for my more serious thoughts about my profession.

[maryellen]

I think that most fiber art bloggers write about fiber arts(fluff) until something or some one really pisses them off writes about it then somthing un fluffy happens. I've gotten assistance from other Mom's of Add kids that I could not get from unfluffy sources. It works for us and yes it's not the republican party line(Thakfully) But do we really need that. Lets talk fluff until a situation arises then we'll take care of it then back to fluff.

[Manise]

I have to agree with Lee Ann and Laurie.