Have you noticed that the list of CEO bloggers in the right-hand column doesn’t include a single woman?
Halley Suitt (my blogging heroine) issued a challenge at the Harvard/Nieman symposium last week to go out and find 10 non-white, non-male bloggers worth talking about or linking to. In response, Newsweek’s Steve Levy writes about the blogosphere’s white male majority in his column this week: Blogging Beyond the Men’s Club. Now comes Halley’s Ten New Voices Report Card. I was thrilled, BTW, to find my name in Hypergene’s list of 15 non-white male blogging voices. (I don’t get the reference to Tony Robbins… Tony Robbins?!)
And in another response, Chris Nolan (yes, a woman) talks about why we only hear about the guys (mainstream tech writers tend to be men; men link to men; etc. Oh, and Ana Marie Cox only writes about sex so she doesn’t count.).
And sorry but I don’t agree with Jeff Jarvis’ rant about “so what if I’m a white male blogger.” That’s akin to saying, “So what if Harvard president Larry Summers says women have less innate ability in math and science… he’s just trying to be provocative.” Summers’ comments do matter. They reveal his prejudices and his point of view. And he’s in a unique policy-making position. And, yes, I’m a Harvard grad of the female persuasion. So I’m a little sensitive on the subject.