LIke cats, "most of the women we know . . . adore fiery political discourse," we wrote last year in response to Kevin Drum's clueless "explanation" of why more men than women are on the top of the blogospheric food chain. (Detail of "Cats Fighting in a Pantry" -- "Pelea de gatos en una despensa" -- by Paul de Vos 1592, Prado Museum, Madrid via All Things Beautiful)
"Maybe we're in a Pauline Kael bubble of our own, but most of the women we know -- fellow bloggers, readers, friends and relatives -- adore fiery political discourse and keep coming back for more," we wrote last year in a rebuttal to Kevin Drum's lame argument for why there are more men than women at top of the Ecosystem:
Not. As we noted then,
Surely the poor fellow means well. Liberals always do. But as with why some keep on catblogging and others, like himself, give it up, Drum totally misses the dynamics of why some bloggers get noticed more than others. The timid fellow admits as much in this please-don't-hit-me disclaimer (no doubt an attempt at humor, but we are not amused): "Since I don't wish to suffer the fate of Larry Summers, I'll refrain from speculating on deep causes" . . .
Our point here is that the more you're noticed, the more you're noticed.
Now comes a male blogger of sterner stuff, the provocatively monikered Baron Bodissey, co-blogger with his beloved, the divine Dymphna, of Gates of Vienna, floating our blogging boat:
Have you ever noticed how many good chick blogs there are? When Dymphna and I were on Tammy Bruce the other week, our hostess remarked that most blogs are by men. I thought about our blogroll, and since then I’ve been paying attention to what I read.
We were particularly taken with his listing of our own humble [wink, wink] blog alongside some of the giants on the distaff side of the blogosphere:
Picking from our blogroll, you can see a lot of females among the most outstanding blogs: All Things Beautiful, Neo-neocon, Dr. Sanity, The Anchoress, Atlas Shrugs, Fausta, Sissy Willis, and Baldilocks stand out.
As Goomp imailed this morning:
Sissy Willis is among the top-notch Bloggers. I knew that, but it is great to see others recognize it also.
And Goomp, our Papa, is not prejudiced [wink, wink].
"Chick bloggers," I believe the Baron said at one point, doing his best to be as un PC as possible.
Actually, he usually says things like "babe lawyer," "babe cop," etc. He finds obnoxiousity quite delicious, and it's one of his few vices...except for chocolate.
He likes feisty women. That's why he likes to check in on Florida Cracker -- just so he doesn't miss anything outrageous...I like her also, since I was born and bred a FL cracker. Actually, just born that way. My Dublin mother scrubbed off my more cracker- like tendencies, though she did take to Southern food instantly.
Do you know of any other husband/wife bloggers? I mean where they share a blogging space? He has his separate room elsewhere, and I have another blog, but we both enjoy Gates of Vienna the most.
I mean, what else are you going to do when the Boy goes off to college. Mission accomplished and we needed another project. It has been great fun so far...though the learning curve was hard to manage sometimes. You know, the things one is not supposed to do...
Oh, I just thought of something I've been meaning to ask you: do you think it's possible to teach photography on line? (this question may show the depth of my ignorance).
Posted by: dymphna | May 01, 2006 at 06:46 PM
Well, what with the technology today, I think photography can come down to the good eye. If you have one, you can learn a few technical things, and then you can soar. Lots of folks can be technically accomplished, but the best photographers know a good thing when they see it. Just my opinion.
Posted by: Sissy Willis | May 01, 2006 at 06:51 PM
It's praise well deserved Sissy and as you know you're among my favorites as well.
Posted by: sherry | May 01, 2006 at 06:54 PM