BlogHer or Blogger? Who cares, just learn the tool.

Susan Getgood's posting on BlogHer set off discussions in many directions. I'm going to focus on one -- when does a "women-only" thing go from being an event identifier to a name-calling insult for an attendee?

As I was reading Susan's post and others the issue fell into two camps A)women being heard in the first place B) how to be taken seriously in the mainstream if you're the one segmenting yourself out of it. (by being part of an all woman event). A third unspoken issue also came out, is it limiting and in socially poor taste to identify with being a BlogHer instead of a blogger? (in the same way that women would rather be "lawyers" not "woman lawyers.")

It's the same discussion that's been held since I entered the business world three decades ago. Back then, women were forming business groups and associations primarily to have their voice heard or to learn things about their profession that weren't being shared in the workplace. They had no choice, they either sat in the dark or created their own spot of light.

Today, you would think that the world has evolved enough that separate groups aren't needed, it hasn't. Women are still struggling to learn how to voice an opinion and then have that opinion taken seriously. We've only had this "seat" for a few decades, cut us some slack. Knowing how to blog, pushes the process and sure beats standing on a rock and screaming.

What's the difference between a BlogHer and a blogger? The first is a business name, the second is a person.

Can closing the knowledge gap close faster if it's inside a woman-focused event? Yes. Sitting side-by-side sets off the women-helping-women gene. To answer my own question at the top, is it self-limiting to attend an all woman event to get information that you will be used in a mixed gender world? No. It's quite the opposite. Do whatever you have to do to learn and then apply the knowledge. For some that's being left alone, but for women, it's talking it out and learning from each other.

Comments

[Elisa Camahort]

Thank you for this post. I really appreciate your perspective, which is one that gets lost OFTEN in these debates over BlogHer. People ask me why it's needed, and I often reply by saying that it is obviously *wanted* by some folks...and very likely for the reasons you outline.

I mean, whatever happened to each their own? I'm not sure why some people are so threatened by what a bunch of us do in our spare time one weekend a year ;)

One side note though: men can indeed be members of the Blogher site and attend BlogHer events. Again, not everybody in the community likes that, but it's part of the BlogHer policy.

Thanks again.

[Mary]

I'm with you, Elisa. Having men at BlogHer is good for them and the group as long as they use women's unwritten rules of social interaction and not theirs. I noticed that those who followed the rules per se, were welcomed and those who didn't earned the cold shoulder.