Psych! Bet you thought I was going to go off on a tangent about how there’s so much sexism in the blogosphere. Certain female bloggers say that virtual chauvinist swinery is rampant and must be opposed. (No virtual peckers for me, thanks.) Certain male bloggers say that we women are worrying our pretty little heads over nothing. Well maybe sexism is out there all over the place. On the other hand, maybe some persons are more sensitive to that particular human failing than I am. I can be oblivious about things sometimes, occasionally to my detriment. To just give the facts, however, I just don’t get any overt sexism pointed my way--and very little racism to boot.
One of the reasons for this dearth could be that neither the name nor the decor of this blog is identifiably female. Most of that is by accident--I’m just not a pastel kind of girl. Another aspect is by design, however: I moved my picture further down on the left sidebar just to “level the playing field” a bit. One thing I’m not oblivious to is the novelty of a black female conservative blogger and how my photo might bring a bit of the gawkers around here: look, Ma! A conservative black chick!
The results? For one thing, my traffic level went down temporarily. ;-) For another thing, I started getting the types of insults that are usually reserved for white males: being called m-f or told that I’m a racist due to my criticism of some black person or persons. Let's hear it for equality!
The interesting thing is this: when my picture was in a more prominent place, I could count the really nasty comments regarding my race or anything else on one hand. Additionally, there have been absolutely none with a distinctly female/sexual tinge to them. And that total is from two years of blogging.
(I must tell you, I like being treated like a lady far more than I like being sworn at, being wished into an insane asylum or called the b-word. If that's an aspect of sexism, I'll take it.)
Comments that are merely patronizing, however, occur more frequently. But, heck, I kind of enjoy those. If they’re really obnoxious, I view their existence as an opportunity. After all, there’s nothing more fun than nailing a pelt to your front page---or maybe that’s just my own personal sadistic streak. I like editing rude comments and I like making insufferable guests the subject of a post even more. On my more charitable days, however, I simply ignore the excessively contentious sorts. The fun part about that is that they hate talking to the hand even more, so it’s a win-win situation for me.
I suppose any condescension I’ve received could be due to sexism or racism on the senders’ part, but, frankly I couldn’t care less; a jerk is a jerk is a mouse for the Cat to play with.
Fact is I don't see any upside to crusading against the light-weight sexism that may come from the rightwing male bloggers, because, assuming it does exist, what does stirring up a controversy over it accomplish (besides getting others to post and link to the arguments)? Those of us who are on the female, not-white side of the equation have a choice: we can lament the sporadic imperfections of our white and/or male brethren or keep bringing the blogging, while yanking a chain every now and then.
And reveling in our own superiority complex. :-)
(By the way, I've never been called a bimbo, either in person or on-line; not that I know of at any rate.)
See also: Villainous Company
