Being Part Of The Minority
I’ve been blogging for three years now, and I’ve been in the habit of observing the trends in the “blogosphere” (even way before it was called that). Based on most of the blogger surveys I have read, majority of bloggers around the world are male. And while in some areas, the population of bloggers is just split between men and women (or boys and girls), women are still in the minority when it comes to the “influential blogger” set or as part of the A-list of bloggers. We’re less likely to write blogs to influence people. Or so they say.
I’m also an avid gamer, having my share of WoW exploits and various stints with other MMORPGs. But I seldom disclose that I’m a lady. From my avatar to my aliases, I usually prefer the more neutral characters (or at the very least, I don’t disclose that I’m female in real life). Why? because there’s this feeling of mine that we girls are in some sort of pariah when it comes to geek stuff like gaming. Even in LAN parties, I would usually be singled out, and set apart from the men. I have even experienced being ganged upon because the guys thought I would be an easy prey (guess who won the game, though!). Then realizing I was the better player, I’d usually hear comments like “gamer chick,” or “geek chick,” which I find okay to some extent.
The fact that one is a girl and is a kick-ass gamer at the same time seems like a novelty to most people. Same goes for blogging. It seems that if one is female, she is expected to stick to personal journal-type blogs or blogs that talk about fashion, parenting or other such girly stuff. Or maybe it’s because the fanboys and geek guys who are fond of playing and blogging don’t get to go out and socialize much.
Does this mean we can’t be influential in the “blogosphere”? Does this mean we can’t beat guys at their own games (literally)? Of course not. I know of a handful of women who have made it big in the Web 2.0 world as founders of web apps (like Flickr) and blog networks (like about.com). So yes, we may be the minority. But we’re also very much active as influencers.
I took on contributing for Jack of All Blogs as a challenge. This isn’t to prove myself or anything, but just to set some balance in a male-dominated space.
