Tell the New York Times: Why do more men seem to be involved in politics online than women?
by Morra Aarons

UPDATE: Seelye's article is now live on the site with comments from me and Emily McKhann.
On the NYT website right now, Katharine Seelye, politics reporter at the New York Times is asking readers to respond to this question, because she is writing a column on the subject tomorrow. Please dive in. some sample comments:

I think men are more interested in the competitive nature of the election. It’s like a sport — who will win or lose, who has the best strategy, who is on offense, who is on defense. Men are interested more in the minutae of the game and tracking the ups and downs of the election contest. It’s the same reason men are interested in fantasy baseball and knowing specific stats about everything involved in sports. I think women could care less and are more focused on the big picture.


Good questions. I am a woman. Personally I post comments under fake male names to some blogs (not this one), where postings under a female name are routinely attacked in ways that I consider unfair or deceptive. Some of those blogs are interesting places, so I don’t feel that I should be avoiding them. There are so many questions to think about in this world, I feel it’s better to participate, even if I have to pose as male. I feel it would be a waste to throw all my energy into a single narrow goal like creating a woman-friendly Internet.



And is this person below saying women can't take the heat? Online? This is pathetic. What we go through in our daily lives is real, online heat is not personal.

There’s the potential for a certain level of gratuitous, ad hominem, not to mention highly public abuse I suspect women are less inclined to risk.

This one is kind of funny:

I agree. Perhaps the answer lies in why men won’t stop and ask for directions when women will. Generally women don’t discuss the weather and politics because they know there’s no way they can change either. Women recognize a brick wall when they see it, most men will crash right into it. "

I spoke with Ms. Seelye and gave her my opinions...and please stay tuned for my interview with Marie Wilson, President of the White House Project and a seriously amazing woman. She gave me some great advice: if I want to be taken more seriously as a political blogger, maybe I should blog less about traditional "women's issues."

Now what do you think of that one? I think of Emily McKhann's fantastic coverage of the Clinton Global Initiative. I think of Virginia Debolt's techy take on "One Laptop per Child." And Kim Pearson on the Jena 6, and the general "dailyness" of the media and news cycle.

In her book the Second Stage, Betty Friedan writes about famed Congresswoman and activist Bella Abzug:

Fired as head of the President's Advisory Committee on Women when she (Abzug) insisted that inflation, unemployment, and the federal budget were women's issues, she was now trying to start a new women's power base...."

Maybe the Internet is our new power base.

Submitted by Morra Aarons (view blog) on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 17:48

Comments

 

I think some women might be

I think some women might be afraid to offend others and shy away from politics. That was my fear in the beginning -- and I'm still gradually getting over it.

Submitted by Dana J. Tuszke on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 17:07
 

Tell us more Dana- and do

you think this could be seen as an opportunity for men (or even women) to call us weak?

I agree with you. It's scary out there. But that doesn't seem to stop men...

Submitted by Morra Aarons on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 17:55
 

Maybe its a lack of attention...

...because I find women online, in politics, EVERYWHERE. Is it the crowd I run with? LOL.

Seriously though, I wonder if we are involved in a different way? Sites like Momsrising.org and HuffingtonPost and BlogHer...do they differ that much from the male run sites???

I'm just not sure I see the "less women in politics online" thing...maybe they don't consider a Mommyblog that spouts off about the environment because her son has pollution related asthma "politics?" I think the women writing politics online might actually outnumber the men, if they would stop and read something other than the typical sites.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

Submitted by Erin Kotecki Vest on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 18:45
 

That's right- but

"if they would stop and read something other than the typical sites."

I think you're differentiating between "political blogs," which tend to cover the inside baseball, horserace side of politics, and other blogs that cover politics when politics touches our lives (which is everyday, but it just sounds different than covering what Keith Olbermann just said on Countdown, or what the Republicans are doing in Congress at this moment).

The key is: if we women bloggers want our political voices to be heard, so we can change this country, do we have to enter the arena and join the "typical sites"? Will the media and establishment pay attention to us if we're just "women's sites"?

Submitted by Morra Aarons on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 18:51
 

Interesting

Absolutely Morra. Politics touch our lives daily. So some of us write about it often, but not on a "political" blog. It seems to me the idea that we are not on those traditional political sites means we are not heard...but our advertising dollars and traffic do tell a different story. They can choose to ignore us, and claim we don't "count"-or not count us in their "women online don't write about politics" kind of poll...but is it at their own peril????

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

Submitted by Erin Kotecki Vest on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 19:16
 

Relating to Erin's statement

Politics do touch our lives daily and I've always been told that real change starts at the local level.

I joined local forums because I wanted to get involved with my community. What I forgot was that the online world can be a ugly place. If the people participating in the local online forums are indicative of how people in my community think and feel? My community is in trouble.

It's interesting because people are constantly discussing the bickering and complaining that takes place between our local school board members and our city council. Our local Democratic party is even divided into two groups who don't get along. What the forum participants don't realize is that the majority of them are bickering and complaining just as much.

I have no problem with different opinions. I do have a problem with accusations and assumptions. I don't expect everyone to agree with my views. But if I know ahead of time that I'm likely subjecting myself to abuse for expressing myself, chances are I'll keep it to myself. That makes it a little difficult to be involved in anything.

On a side note, I want to thank you, Morra, for helping me come up with an assignment topic for my podcasting class. :)

Disorderly Conduct

Submitted by Valbee on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 19:53
 

Thanks for inviting us into this discussion

I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes about this. It reminds me of that Mother Jones issue and how only you and Esther Dyson were interviewed along with a few dozen men. (Ref: my post.) I did comment, but it's a few hours behind her deadline now. I was busy following-up on the SVMoms meeting with Elizabeth Edwards, that according to NYTimes commenter, "woman on the inside", "no one in the political sphere notices." Sigh. I'm glad this is getting some attention. I look forward to reading what you said as well.

Sairy

Submitted by Sarah Granger on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 19:05
 

I really think it's partially an invisibility
issue.

Even amoung ourselves sometimes.

I belong to this knitting group and in the time we've been knitting we've had numerous discussions about our careers, politics, gender issues, real estate, and yes, our significant others.

And just last time, this older woman in our group remarked about how "all we talk about is men." I wanted to clock her.

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Submitted by Liz Rizzo on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 10:00
 

You should have clocked her

tunnel vision and boring conversation doesn't drive movements forward!!

Here is the NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/politics/01web-seelye.html?_r=1&ore...

Both Emily McKhann and me are quoted, where, according to Seelye,

"They echoed what some of our posters said _ mainly that women were re-defining politics online, away from conventional male-dominated sites that were obsessed with the horse race and toward sites that wove politics into the fabric of women’s lives."

Go BlogHer!!

Submitted by Morra Aarons on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 12:51
 

All too true

Let's keep this conversation going.

Sairy

Submitted by Sarah Granger on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 13:28
 

Yes, let's keep this conversation going!

Yeah, BlogHer!!!

It seems to be that the traditional punditry are only just beginning to get a handle on the soon-to-be-seen impact of women's voices online, in part because they're caught up in the all-politics-all-the-time sites. Not only do we see the political in the day to day of our lives and stories, but sites like www.momocrats.typepad.com, which just launched to support John Edwards, are sure to start popping up all over the place.

Thanks Morra for kicking off this great conversation!!!!

Emily McKhann
Website: The Motherhood
Blog: Been There
BlogHer Contributing Editor: BlogHers Act

Submitted by cooper and emily on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 15:20
 

Names and the Media

Rather than ranting for too long here, I posted about this on my blog and listed some names of women who are actively involved online in politics in hopes that maybe reporters will find it and use it as a way to highlight more of us rather than just calling up the men whose names they may already know. It's not definitive, and if I'm missing people you think should be noted, please feel free to add them in the comments.

Here's that post: http://www.sairy.com/2007/10/new-york-times-women-in-online-politics.htm...

Also I'd like to draw attention to Shesource.org - a great resource for helping get more women seen through major media outlets. I think the comment "woman on the inside" made about how there are plenty of women out there, but we're not the ones on "Meet the Press" hit the nail on the head.

Sairy

Submitted by Sarah Granger on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 16:43