Feminist bloggers are all in a lather about the media  coverage of their convention compared to the larger and more well known Netroots Nation.

From Salon.com

The feminist blogosphere erupted this week in a brief but intense conflagration over a New York Times story about BlogHer, the annual conference for female bloggers held this year in San Francisco. “Blogging’s Glass Ceiling” was written by Times staffer Kara Jesella and appeared in the Times’ Sunday Styles section, a week after the conclusion of BlogHer. In it, Jesella reported on the frustrations of some of the assembled writers about the lack of respect they receive in the Wild West of the Internet, a frontier that still whirs away on masculine energy, despite the fact that nearly as many women as men surf it every day.

According to some ticked critics of the Times, a lack of respect for female bloggers was etched into Jesella’s piece itself.

Among Feministe blogger PhysioProf’s complaints was that the story was published in the Styles section, the section of the paper reserved for trend pieces, drink recipes, society photos and wedding announcements. In other words, the girl part of the paper.

PhysioProf also called out Jesella for her clichéd lede (about BlogHer attendees taking over the men’s rooms in the conference hotel), her reportorial focus on details that were female (there were lactation and changing rooms), superficial (women applying blush and eye shadow) and ridiculous (self-helpy affirmations posted in the bathroom stalls like “You are perfect”). She was also angry about Jesella’s decision to draw attention to the emotional, sometimes weepy panels that took place during the gathering, and the piece’s description of how the conference had “moved on” from last year’s Kathy Sierra-inspired focus on how women are treated on the Internet, to discussions of how bloggers can increase their influence, reputation and profit.

What were the organizers expecting?  They didn’t have the name recognition of the more established Netroots Nation nor the speakers that draw both attendance and media.  Sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me.

 

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