The difference between women bloggers and men bloggers
There is a fascinating thread going on at Bunnie Diehl, who loves to rock it Lutheran style, on Women Vs. Men Bloggers. It all started with a post noting the stark differences between two toddler cousins, one boy and one girl, and turned into a very, very interesting (and funny!) discussion of the the differences between men and women bloggers. In a follow-up post, The Bunnie wrote:
In the comment thread below, Defensor mentioned that there are more men blogging than women. He said he heard someone argue that “Women tend not to like debate and argument, but men on the other hand thrive on it. Women prefer conversation and discussion, rather than assering a position an arguing about it.”
He wondered what I thought about that argument.
I suggested a few reasons which I’ll expand on here. I am not sure on the data of whether men blog more than women but there is no debate that the most popular blogs are written by men. Read on…
Be sure to read the comments on that post!
The comments thread has turned to reasons why women blog less and, when they do, why they shy away from having opinions about things other than children and homemaking. (Hey, I’m a woman with kids and a home; I can make that observation.) I wrote:
What we all seem to be saying is that many women bloggers, at least the ones in our circle of blogs, aren’t typical women. We are definitely women, with lots of strong feminine traits, but we have interests that sometimes separate us from other women. As Mayflower put it, maybe we are not a good sample of the average woman. I just wrote a long post on that, but haven’t posted it yet. Although I love that I was raised to speak up and have opinions, to study theology, politics and the issues of the day, doing those things has always separated me from many of my “sisters”. Sometimes, I’m even called that awful “J” word: judgmental. It’s a label that is true, but I have to remind myself that it is not always a “bad” label. I do think that any strong Christian will earn that label just for believing that God actually wrote the Bible and His Word is still true and living. Does that label bother you men? Do you ever feel that you have to work on being perceived as more loving?
I also should have added that being a Republican and/or a conservative will also automatically earn you the label of judgmental. Mayflower commented:
Theresa - Interesting observation. Now that I think about it, most of my female friends that I consider to be average women aren’t really into blogging. Maybe “normal” women blog the sites that the rest of us find boring & never visit…
Yeah, I’ve observed that people sometimes aren’t quite sure what to make of a woman who has strong opinions (outside of child care & recipes!). Even in the workforce - I had several people who were convinced I was “mean” b/c I told them politely that they were wrong. Now, to be a “mean” guy, I would’ve had to yell & rant & rave - but apparently, for a woman, just disagreeing with someone is “mean” (kinda a bummer when regularly disagreeing with people is part of your job description). And in religion - watch out! Apparently “nice” women just smile perplexedly and say, “I’ve really never understood all that deep theology stuff, it’s just so complex.” What I can never figure out is why large numbers of men apparently think that theological ignorance is a good background for raising children. Glad my Dad (& my husband) felt differently!
Anyone in the MAWB reading this? I’d love to hear your comments!
I think it’s indisputable that women are more social than men.
For example, the Boy will tell me, “I met a new friend!” I reply, “Oh really, what’s his name?” Turns out he never bothered to find out. He just had fun playing with his new friend. End of story.
On the other hand, the Girl would meet a new friend, and not only be able to tell me her name, but all about this new friend’s social life.
So, maybe women find it less satisfying to have their social interaction through an impersonal keyboard? (I know one of the first things I do when I read a new site is to look for an “about” post for some context of whose site I’m reading.)
Since social interaction, (on a personal level rather than a business level), is more important to us, it makes sense that we’d be more likely to post about home and family.
Personally, I was raised to have opinions and given the opportunity to voice them from a young age. I’ve also been in supervisory positions most of my work life. I’ve been described as “scary”, and I’m sure worse, because I don’t back down if I think I’m right.
Probably a decent recipe for a blogger of either sex.
I’m fairly sure that there are more men than women bloggers. (This little fact probably came out of a BlogAds survey, but I can’t remember).
On the other hand, girls typically outscore boys on standardized tests of verbal ability, while (it’s been a while since I checked this) women outscore men on the verbal portion of the ACT and SAT.
The puzzle continues, unless you’re talking about a meeting of the Harvard faculty, in which case no further discussion is allowed.