Oxblog asks "Why Don't Hot Chicks Blog?"

[randomness]

(Actually, Crooked Timber poses the question and Oxblog offers some hypotheses, but Oxblog's title was catchier.)

My immediate thoughts were a) there are plenty of them on LJ, but of course b) LJ doesn't count. Why LJ doesn't count when bloggers discuss blogs, and why there are plenty of women here strike me as interesting questions.
There are a lot of people who don't really consider LJ a blog. Certainly LJ has the reputation for being an insular place where people talk mainly to and about their friends on subjects that are only of interest to themselves.
Personally, I don't actually mind the reputation, because by and large--aside from the food and lodging listings--that's why I blog.
LJ's focus on people you actually know may be more attractive to people who care more about social interaction. My gut feeling is that this tends--for cultural reasons, perhaps--to attract more women.

To be fair, Crooked Timber was originally talking about academic blogs. Oxblog theorizes that women may not be so eager to join the cut and thrust of online argument. It might be, though, that we social people have other things to talk about.

Comments

[contrariety.livejournal.com]

And, you know, having now read both articles, I'm not sure what I think of Crooked Timber, but the Oxblog one really cements some skepticism toward Oxblog that I've had for a long time. For instance:

"So is there any validity to what I'm saying? Heck if I know. I don't study this kind of stuff. All I have is experience to go on. In high school, in college, and in graduate school, I have always found men to be far more outspoken in the classroom. Even on a one-to-one level, I have found many more women who shy away from political debate. In almost every organization I have been part of, men have been more assertive about taking a leadership role."

Uh. Apparently you didn't go to the same college I did. Oh, wait, except you DID. So damn, you've got some selective perception there, buddy.

[mentalapse.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Quite a hack at work at Oxblog. A lot of BS and anecdotal evidence, coupled with a misguided "Doesn't it just mirror the gender gap in the academic population?" Oh, and the writing ain't exactly the height of parsimony. I'm still trying to figure out whether he's saying conservative bloggers will be overrepresented in academic blogging circles compared to their representation among all blogs (decidedly unlikely, given the great underrepresentation of conservatives in academia) or if he's only talking about conservatives being overrepresented among all blogs compared to the greater population.

Of course, Crooked Timber ignores the possibility that men and women might have different perceptions about the efficacy of blogging in conveying information or opinion. That, and they're content to latch on to academic-speak, making their argument seem more important by resorting to smart-sounding buzzwords such as "homophily" or "efficacy" (man, don't miss that about academia). I know they gots to maintain their academic street cred, but come on...

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Uh. Apparently you didn't go to the same college I did. Oh, wait, except you DID.

*snicker*