Gated Community?
A bit of blogodrama (tm Geoff Livingston) took place yesterday over a new list of the Top 20 PR Power Women bloggers developed by Valeria Maltoni (and no, it’s not about the fact that I wasn’t included, despite my rampant awesomeness).
(Haha, just joking, I’ll be alerting Valeria to my various blogging efforts just as soon as I’m done typing this post–and I’m glad to have another excellent blog to add to my RSS feeds, as I only discovered her through Geoff’s post. Any other female PR or marketing bloggers out there who want to get on what she’s calling the “W List?” Just head on over to her blog and let her know. After all, one of the reasons that women make up such a small part of “power bloggers” is our unwillingness to promote ourselves. Luckily, I don’t have this problem–hooray for being shameless!)
First, a couple men chimed in on the comments section of Valeria’s post indicating that a “girls only” club excluded them–one said something offensive enough for Valeria to not only edit his post, but to shut down comments altogether.
Then, Lewis Green, another blogger I was unfamiliar with until today, posted a response on his own blog called “Throwing a Bomb at Women.” He was obviously trying to be provocative with the title, and I don’t find it offensive on its own–a provocative title can only promote your post, I saw it as savvy. Lewis argues from a civil rights perspective, and doesn’t think that separating female bloggers into their own list does any favors to that cause. It’s an interesting argument, even if you don’t agree with it (I don’t).
But the discussion seems to have degenerated into an “us vs. them” attitude–no matter how many times Lewis claims he is actually a civil rights advocate with his argument that a women-only list of PR bloggers is exclusionary.
Without getting into the arguments regarding misogyny or sexism (although I will say I disagree with Lewis’ view of “The W List,” I don’t agree that he is either misogynistic or sexist), what interests me most about this kerfuffle is the idea of community.
Social media has changed a lot of things about business, even more things about communications and mass media, and is on its way to completely overhauling the way public relations is conducted. The reason? Simple. Technology has allowed people with similar interests to connect and exchange ideas in ways never before possible. New communities pop up every day, be they members of Facebook groups, Tweeters, message board devotees, or bloggers.
Why take offense, then, when one community seeks to promote itself or its members?
For example, I would not in any way be offended to not be a part of a list of bloggers who are also Guitar Hero enthusiasts, because I do not happen to be a Guitar Hero enthusiast (I leave that entirely to Nate, who was in Seattle for the 360 Flex conference and actually organized a “Guitar Hero Thowdown.” I’m sure he’ll give us a full update when he’s recovered from his travels).
So no, I don’t think Lewis is sexist, I just think he is misguided. Promoting female bloggers isn’t about exclusion, it’s about wanting to highlight members of a particular community. It doesn’t trample on anyone else’s rights, or say that male bloggers are inferior, or that women are superior. It merely says, “Hey, we’ve got a fantastic community here, let’s build it up and promote it!”
And why not? After all, that is what social media is all about: community.
Filed under: blogging, recommendation, shameless self promotion, social media
Well said, Sarah. I personally think Lewis chummed the waters with the title and photo. You and I both agree that women should be celebrated for their success. It’s unfortunate that this post has taken attention away from that.
Good point Geoff; the focus does seem to have shifted, hasn’t it?
I for one love the idea of a PowerWomen list, perhaps it will help raise a few more women into the 150 ranks!
Sarah,
Thank you for your thoughtful review of the post. Actually, with the exception of Geoff who launched into personal attacks on Cam and me, the post has been read by more than 300 people, many of them women, some of whom have contacted me offline to discuss the topic.
It is important to note that the blogosphere is a place for an exchange of ideas. I respect and honor that you disagree with me. That is fair. At least you took the time to understand where I am coming from, and here in brief is my motivation.
In the ’60s, I was invested in and participated in the Civil Rights Movement. In the ’70s, that morphed naturally into my participation in the Women’s Rights movememt, including become a member of NOW (National Organization for Women). The problem then was a mindset in America that saw nothing wrong with segregrating people by gender, race and ethnicity. My values are assualted by that idea, and the Women’s Movement worked diligently to change that mindset.
In and of itself, the W List is harmless. But the mindset that allows and encourages us to segregrate people into groups defined by gender, race and ethnicity continues to offen me.
Valeria is a friend of mine. She knows me well enough to understand my point of view. And I know her well enough to understand that she would never do anything intentionally to close doors. As I told Geoff, my post is not about Valeria or the woman on that list, some of whom I know and respect. It is about a pricipal.
A final note: I removed the photo and changed the headline at the behest of several woman who made me realize that is was too provocative for the subject matter. If only Geogg had taken the time to help me understand that instead of personally attacking me, he would have found that I do listen carefully to my readers.
I am reminded a bit of one of my favorite episodes of “The West Wing,” in which Ainsley the feisty Republican woman debates another staffer about the ERA. Her argument is that women are already protected by the 14th amendment, another amendment would single them out as some “special” group in need of protection, and to do so would be redundant.
Very interesting debate topics here!
Well, nice to meet you.
I’m glad Lewis got some nice traffic out of making an example of a quick idea. I just got lots of the wrong attention and too much credit. I like to matter for my brain, not my looks.
If people read the post, the only idea I had (and not even original) was to add women to an existing list… BlogHer had already done that. It was meant to celebrate a group I had frankly overlooked.
What Lewis and others did not mention is that they often will send around links to their posts to solicit comments and I usually help out. I did that with one or two of my posts and noticed women tend not to do it.
Anyway, I am really only one person who wanted to celebrate others she had underserved. Hell, I’m not even original in calling out women, many on that list have done so multiple times before. That was my first time and might be my last.
I love how Lewis will play the violin about being attacked, and his stellar record as a civil rights activist. Yet he cannot simply take responsibility for his actions and say I was wrong for writing a post titled, “Throwing a Bomb at Women” with a picture featuring male bomber.
Here is the world’s smallest violin playing Lewis a sad, sad song.