The New York Times had an article yesterday about the rise of teen girl bloggers, which is great news. But it doesn't come without some predictable stereotyping.
According to a study done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 20 percent of boys blog, compared to 35 percent of girls aged 12 to 17. Plus that doubled increase in blogging activity from 2004 to 2006 by teens was mostly attributed to female bloggers. Awesome, right?
Yet the article focuses on the lack of girls and women interested in computer science and technology, and seems to argue that girls' interest in blogging is purely to express their own "girly" selves, and that they probably won't contribute much of an increase to the current 27 percent of women in computer and mathematical occupations:
It is possible that the girls who produce glitters today will develop an interest in the rigorous science behind computing, but some scholars are reluctant to draw that conclusion.'Girls are trained to make stories about themselves,' said Pat Gill, the interim director for the Institute for Communications Research and an associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
From a young age they learn that they are objects, Professor Gill said, so they learn how to describe themselves. Historically, girls and women have been expected to be social, communal and skilled in decorative arts.
'This would be called the feminization of the Internet,' she said. (Emphasis mine)
And so this build-up continues with the cattiness between blogs by teen girls (equating hotlinking with showing up at a party with the same dress on), that their content includes mother's day cooking recipes and even refers to those who make money as "would-be Martha Stewarts." Of course they happen to leave out that the same site is currently featuring a post on sexual harassment.
Am I saying there's something wrong with the trend of glitter graphics or a primarily pink website for girls? Absolutely not. But saying girls are dominant in blogging because of "cultural expectations" and assuming that the only reason girls like blogs is because they're naturally more "creative" and want to express their feelings seems to moot the amazing fact that not only are teen girls possibly becoming more blog-savvy than boys, but also that they're creating far-reaching online communities. In other words, why should the "why" matter?
Either way, it's awesome to see female teen bloggers kicking ass. Link to your own in comments!
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"Awesome" to some.
What the hell's the matter with the boys, who lag so damn far behind in communication skills? I'll tell you why: it's yet another gender stereotype where guys are "not supposed" to be able to communicate or express themselves as well as girls. English is for "girls," while math is for "boys."
Ugh! Sorry I don't share your glee that the girls are, predictably, "kicking ass" in blogging. They are doing so only because of another one of these gender stereotypes that is holding EVERYONE back.
It's just another side of a wicked, dare I say immoral, gender stereotype-prism that folks of both sexes perpetuate (not the readers here, I dare say).
Tim, I don't agree. Achievement isn't a zero-sum game. We can be happy to see girls blogging and communicating online while hoping the boys catch up, too.
I think it's awesome, and personally inspiring, to see that girls rock the blogging! This "technical"-side thing is bull. It seems to me that teenage girls have a one-up on everyone else, because they are able to recognize and utilize one of the ultimate benefits of the internet in the first place: global communication and the invention of new communities of people from such a venture. In my opinion, they've surpassed the whole this-is-a-hard-drive-look-at-binary-code-I/O thing and reached the heart of why we have technology and the internet in the first place. It seems more intelligent to utilize our technological resources for positive impact, rather than just make a sexier iPod. I'm just sayin'.
I just started a brand new baseball blog called Church of the Fonz. You know, predictably stereotypical girly stuff.
http://churchofthefonz.blogspot.com/
lets hope these girls are better story writers than those on Lifetime or LTMN.
Okay, that's good news, but the article definitely doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth at places. These lines, in particular, didn't sit well with me:
And maybe I'm just being a little nit-picky or thin skinned, but did it have to be Martha Stewart they picked? A woman best know for her "domestic" products and for her criminal activities? It just seems like it reinforces the idea that, ultimately, women have to be associated with The Home to me. Which is weird, given that the example they use is about a girl who started her own indie music show.
And I'd love to see the original context of the quote "“This would be called the feminization of the Internet,� she said." Because, where it's placed in the article itself? It doesn't really seem to make sense. It's the sort of statement that looks like it was in response to something else, not just an out-of-the-blue comment.
Another part that pissed me off: "Aside from depleting bandwidth, it is the digital equivalent of arriving at a party wearing the same dress as another girl, Professor Palfrey said."
Yeah, I'm sure that's it. It's not about, for example, concern about getting *credit* for things, or about the bandwidth... nope. It's about wearing clothes.
Bullshit.
*I* don't want people stealing my online content, either- and it's not about wearing the same dress to prom- it's about wanting my work to be credited as my work, and wanting to maintain control over how my work is used.
It's weird- girls are getting into blogging and creating online content, and, yeah, many of them are doing so in ways that are in response to the social pressures to "be girls", but the fact that they're interested in and working with computers is a good thing. Rather than dismiss it as just girls "expressing themselves" it seems to me that it'd be a good idea to recognize that it's an interest in technology as well. When boys post videos of themselves, it's seen as less about expressing themselves, and more about "impressing others". But, when girls post the things that they've created, it's about being social? Despite the "link and die" comment?
Meh.
Blogging had nothing to do with technology when it was all about "where are the women bloggers??" Suddenly, people are noticing that it has nothing to do with technology, now that they've realized that women and girls make up a good proportion of bloggers.
And, really, does it matter if girls "develop an interest in the rigorous science behind computing" or "make stories"? We're supposed to be bad at the former and good at the latter -- but most newspaper mastheads are pretty indistinguishable in gender makeup from a typical computer science department.
I totally forgot to mention the mention of Martha Stewart, RoyMac! Thanks :)
“Ugh! Sorry I don't share your glee that the girls are, predictably, "kicking ass" in blogging. They are doing so only because of another one of these gender stereotypes that is holding EVERYONE back.�
As a teenage blogger, I find it a little offensive to say that I am “only� blogging for the reason you stated. I don’t feel that anyone has the authority to tell me why it is that I chose to blog.
I was real impressed by the 17-year-old with the sponsored podcast. Wow.
I'm doing a blog for my senior honors project about menstruation. You might be into it, I try to keep it fun. http://periodpiece.blogspot.com
Arimalka: I've read his comment a couple of times, and I think you may have misunderstood. I don't think he said that girls are only blogging for one reason, he said that ther is a huge disparity for one reason.
"It is possible that the girls who produce glitters today will develop an interest in the rigorous science behind computing, but some scholars are reluctant to draw that conclusion."
I met so many boys (and a few girls) in my first-year computer science classes who were there because of their love for video games. Kids using technology will always lead to kids knowing more about it - thus empowering them to embrace it as possible field of study. This is true for the girls as well as the boys. These young ladies are awesome for getting involved with technology in the way they enjoy.
I think it's wonderful that more young women are out there writing... the more you write the more you learn to find your own voice. When I first started writing in high school, I kept it all to myself and it never went anywhere. When I began blogging in 2002, I had no idea what I was writing, and at this point, I do have a voice that I'm not afraid to use. It's helped me develop my opinions, and it's allowed me to push forward in speaking to others to get my viewpoint across. Communication is power, and I'm glad to see more women picking up the tools to empower themselves.
"Aside from depleting bandwidth, it is the digital equivalent of arriving at a party wearing the same dress as another girl, Professor Palfrey said."
Seriously? Is that the only analogy he can come up with--a fashion analogy? I doubt he would equate plagiarism with accidentally showing up in the same dress, and yet we're talking about the same problem: passing off another's creative content as your own.
As for the "why" of teenage girl blogging, I imagine that many teen girls blog in order to communicate with others who speak their language, who understand what navigating high school and the world as a teenage girl is like. As a bookish, introverted, and politically active budding feminist girl growing up in a smallish town in Oklahoma, I would have given anything to be able to communicate, even just electronically, with other girls who felt out of place in their high schools, as well as older feminist women who would encourage me to keep fighting on. The blogsphere (especially Feministing) facilitates the communication of ideas between people. I don't care why it's happening, I'm just glad it is.
I predict this phenomenon will have exactly 0 effect on girls in math/cs, which is too bad. Girls are much more receptive to being taught (my teaching experience is in philosophy and mathematics), and they actually do what the teacher suggests (Like homework everyday!). The end result is that girls tended to get better grades, and were not quite as stupid as the boys.
I'm a teenaged feminist blogger!
http://womenswritesonline.blogspot.com/
Why would I blog about shoes or clothes or other stereotypically feminine pursuits when I could blog about things I actually care about?
At 22 I'm not a teen anymore, but I have a political blog that focuses on reproductive justice, and right now the Democratic race for the nomination:
Pink Wave Feminism
Besides the irritating fact that just because this article deals with the intersection of women and technology, this New York Times article wound up in the "Fashion and Style" section instead of "Technology" or "Business"...
Makes me wonder why more girls aren't going into core technologies like learning languages and building applications for Facebook, but are just content-creating. I think there is a bigger issue at hand, and that is lack of women in development and design. Oh yes, and tech entrepreneurship :o)
I've blogged for quite sometime, not least of all to get over the god awful writer's blog that seemed to plague me.
In my journalism class, we all had to create a blog and choose a beat. Most of the women wanted to work on social networking sites like myspace and facebook or Internet phenoms like youtube and podcasting. They also chose social issues like health, sex workers' rights (hey hey we live in Vegas!), and animal rights.
The guys also had a diverse range of topics: nightclubs (hey hey, Vegas again! Know your audience right?), homelessness/poverty, environmentalism, etc. And, two guys chose sports. (That's not to say that other women in other classes didn't choose sports. IDK because I'm not in their class).
Here's my contribution in any case:
Neon Feminism
Forgot to mention:
My professor (at UNLV) is a female journalist that wants us all to be tri-lingual : you have to speak web, video, and sound.
I think we should all show her some love:
Arrgghhh, why didn't my link show up! I'm totally blowing up the feministing comments!!!!
Charlotte-Anne Lucas
Arrgghhh, why didn't my link show up! comments!!!! I've broken the internets!
Charlotte-Anne Lucas
Besides the irritating fact that just because this article deals with the intersection of women and technology, this New York Times article wound up in the "Fashion and Style" section instead of "Technology" or "Business"...
I can't see it anymore (I've exceeded my free time on the site, I guess) but I know that, at the very least, they included a link to it from the tech section- it's at the bottom now, pushed down by today's articles, but it's definitely there. But, no, it doesn't make any sense to have it listed as a "Fashion" article. That's... well... stupid.
Long-time Feministing reader, first-time commmenter and female teen blogger. I blog about birth control at http://brokenrubbers.wordpress.com
Can 20 be the new teen?
I blog here: http://thewordwarrior.wordpress.com/
about feminist-y things in the world, in politics, and on my college's campus.
The attitudes towards teen girl bloggers expressed in the cited article are remarkably similar to attitudes that long prevailed towards literary women and female artists in general. Going back to Victorian gender roles, it was expected that women would dabble in the various arts, but they were not taken as seriously as male artists. Traces of this still remain in, for instance, the gender imbalance in literary journals (and apparently beliefs about female bloggers).
In a related story, stand by for the Internet to stop being cool.
A group of girls creates a complex dance choreography. A group of boys collaborates on an intricate Hot Wheels track. Each group is applauded differently.
A girl who loves Sim City isn't told she should consider civil engineering. A boy who plays HALO is encouraged to try computer programming.
A girl who rigs the appliances to finish her chores faster is simply creative.
A boy who takes apart appliances is a budding scientist.
Women and girls are told over and over that "our" recreational hobbies are unimportant.
Boys and men are encouraged to segue their hobbies into professional aspirations.
Same thing, different article, still damaging.
Angie Chang-
I highly suspect that more young women would enter development and design if our contributions were viewed as a stepping stone to greater things instead of silly, worthless girl play.
Also, a quick plug for a cool and readable blog on ways to make a difference in computer science.
The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Grr this one makes me angry. I started my online journal in 2002-3 by the segestion of a therapist, to use it to write about my rape and sexual trama as an extention to my treatment and recovery. I rarely talk about clothing or moms cooking, I have NO glitter on my blob. No pink. None of that stuff. and out of the list of people who blog with me, 5 out of 50 have been male. Most of us are women.
This whole story about glitter and shit is completely wrong!!!!!
Stereotypes are a blatant sign of bad journalism..
I wax feminist sometimes here:
www.xanga.com/diamondICE
Ooh. There was not one bit of this article I didn't have a problem with. Firstly, it was written on stereotypes using more stereotypes, so it was doomed from the start. Secondly, it was on a topic I know a lot about and have strong feelings on and obviously written by someone who wasn't "in the know". I'm 14, I blog, but more than that, I write HTML, CSS and a spot of PHP and have a small family website design firm where I do all the coding and design. I started (age 11) with the coding and the blogging came later - it's sheer luck that I happen to like writing too. There's enough trouble with sexism and assumptions from my parents (particularly male) friends, teachers, people in general that when I say "I make websites", I mean "I put pretty sparkly things (glitters) on a site using some site which lets me copy and paste it or some other suitably simple method", without this article making it worse.
I may have to comment again when I have the time to compose a full response that doesn't come across too angsty, or, hell, maybe I'll BLOG about it!?