AGA roll call: We, bloggers.

I realised something aout blogs today: a lot of political bloggers are men. Why?

Could it be that the blogosphere is a perfect reflection of our offline gender-centered world and that women are more reluctant than men to take a stand in the public sphere and be vocal about opinions? Statistics are ambivalent about the issue, and research seems to say yes and no.

The Pew Internet & American Life project Center recently reported (pdf link) that in September 2005, 25 percent of women were reading blogs, compared to 29 percent of men (11 % of men had already created one, while only 9 % of women had). The survey also reports gender-based differences in terms of usage: men seem to consume information online more aggressively than women, their approach to consulting news can differ greatly:

Sticking to this analysis, we might start running on a dangerous stereotypes-filled playground, where men always know more about technology than women and therefore blog more. Men also systematically outnumber women in the professional political field, so it shouldn’t be surprising in theory that an important majority of political bloggers are men. But is it so simple?

Various commentators have tried to explain this phenomenon in the past few months. The Guardian's Ros Taylor says the misogynist comments often encountered in forums or blogs might “well be having a detrimental effect on would-be female commentators” who find themselves relegated to a simple role of ‘lurker’ rather than participant for fear of being the recipient of sexist insults and nasty words which so often arise in heated political debates.

For the Independent’s columnist Mary Dejevsky, the problem has deeper roots. In ‘There’s a good reason why women don’t write blogs’ she explains that women are often tied to two jobs (housework and a career) don’t have time for themselves, and are affected by ‘this old fashioned and persistent division of responsibilities’.

Nevertheless, there are hundreds of them waiting to be read, even if the most prominent ones seem to be right wing: from Fox News’ Michelle Malkin (warning: blog content may contain bad faith and news manipulation!) to the pitiless and aggressive tone of American conservatives Moxie and Wonkette.

So I wonder: were you ever insulted in a forum, or intimidated because you were a girl or a woman?

Do you feel more comfortable discussing topics such as politics or religion (issues that can push people to get mad or passionate very quickly!) with women only?

Either way, I only have one thing to say: Liberal women (and conservative too, I guess!): time to ‘get your blog on'!

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To read our writer's responses to this call as they come in, click here.