Um, y'all realize this is satire, right?
There seems to be some confusion about the "The African-American Blogging Thing" post on XX Blog. You all know it's satire, right? I wouldn't point it out, 'cause it always sucks to be the person pointing out a joke everyone else already got, but it's listed under the category of "Race and Ethnicity" in the syllabus, and the other posts I've read on the topic seem to take it seriously.
The post is satire. Go back and read it. Now go read this post on BOP News titled "The Woman Blogging Thing". The latter was written during the most recent (but surely not the last!) kerfluffle about why there aren't any women bloggers. (Answer: There are plenty of women bloggers, men just don't bother to read them. Mmmm....sexism....)
This piece from XX Blog isn't about race and the blogosphere. It's about gender and the blogosphere. The author's point is that Matt Stoller's musings on gender are sexist, but it's hard to notice the sexism unless it's placed in a context in which we're all more attuned to bias and discrimination, like racism. The same sentiments which are taken as legitimate arguments when said about women seem deeply insensitive and out of place when said about African-Americans. Nothing in this post should be taken as opinions or thoughts or facts about race.
Agree or disagree with the blogger, but that's what this post is about.
How'd I figure this out? Well, first, I'd read the "women blogging" piece when it was first written lo these many months ago, and this one seemed a little familiar. But mostly, I read the first two comments on the assigned post. Commenter one notes the similarity and politely asks about plagiarism, commenter two points to the satire.
2 Comments:
I read the comments, too, but sometimes it's hard to interpret them. It's like trying to read my little sister's email/IM code, or figure out what's going on in a chat room for me.
But I do think the style point is true, satire or not - I can't say for people of color, but I do think a number of women do have an adversion to the combative style I've found on a lot of political blogs. It's a turn off. It's also a turn off for women about politics in general. Even when they do have opinions, they often say, oh, I don't know, because they don't want to get into a fight.
There are more men in party politics and in electoral organizations. There's more women in issue groups and service groups. I think that's an extension of the same thing.
Fascinating. I think it's true that alot of things that are sexist are not recognized as such, and putting it into the context of race is useful. I also think there are other categories that this is true of, e.g., religion, national origin, cultural background.
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