It's March Madness time! This year, I'm rooting for three teams-- Louisville, in homage to my current domicile, Gonzaga, and Washington. The good news is that both the Huskies and Bulldogs won yesterday!! The bad news? All three teams play in the same bracket. It is very possible that Louisville will eventually go head to head with UW (and for those of you from home, yes, I will root for Washington in that case).

You might be asking yourself right now, "How does this have any connection to NNPCW?" My answer? It doesn't :).

Anyway, I read an article yesterday about women bloggers. The article evaluated why there are so few women bloggers in cyberspace... or better put, why so few women bloggers are getting noticed in the mainstream media and on the big blogs. Yes, for those of you not at all familiar with the world of blogging, there is a hierarchy of blogs-- people who have risen to the top, people whose thoughts and opinions are read by thousands every day. Getting noticed in the blog world, apparently, requires you to get a mention in one of these all-powerful columns. This is something I don't anticipate for Network Notes anytime soon.

There are several opinions as to why women aren't getting recognized in the blogsphere. For many of the male bloggers that wrote on the topic, it seems that women are not combative enough to "take" the sometimes nasty world of blogging. After all, we're raised to be nurturers and all that. And if men do criticize us or our intellectual stance, we'll (to get right down to it) get our feelings hurt.

First of all, as a college-educated person, I can definitely take well-considered, legitimate criticism of my ideas without getting my feelings hurt. While I do tend to prefer consensus-building over conflict, I sat through too many class discussions and had too many professors critique my English and history papers to break down at the first sign of opposition. Arguments that women can't handle criticism of their ideas are belittling our intellectual capabilities. Are we back in the 18th century or something? I think Mary Wollstonecraft was writing about this in the 1790s. Come on, folks.

That said, I do think the world of blogging, like many of the male-dominated spheres of influence, feeds on power. And in a forum where power dynamics are everything, it isn't enough to legitimately criticize someone else's ideas-- you have to do it in such a way that you assert your dominance over the other. You attack them to belittle their intellect as a whole. You essentially cut them down, undermining their power every time they speak until they cease to oppose and your ideas reign supreme. There always must be an alpha, and attacks must be viciously repelled in order to maintain the alpha position.

Maybe this is why so many of us women haven't been able to make it big in the blog world (or the world of politics, or anything where that dominance system exists). Do I think that this means we should go out and train women to be as nasty and ruthless in their critique as some of these men, so that they can get their blogs read, or get elected, or make it big as an op-ed writer in The New York Times?

Heck, no. Women's liberation, in my mind, is as much about liberating us all from this power system as it is about women being noticed by the power players. Getting attention from the establishment requires us to buy into it, to play by its rules. I would rather be authentic to who I am and have the five of you out there who actually read this blog read it, than have a million readers but have to belittle and humiliate other people to do it.

Because I don't believe that's what feminism or Christianity call us to. All this derided emphasis on feminists as "consensus-builders" just means that feminists believe in human dignity-- a person, and her or his thoughts, are worth more than your selfish attempts to aggrandize your own power. And you know what? If we believe that God loves every single human being, enough that God would give Jesus on the cross for all humanity, then doesn't God also believe that a person is worth enough for you to be respectful in your dialogue with her or him? Did Jesus go around putting down the Pharisees with his sparkling wit when they challenged him?

I can't speak for other women, but it's okay by me that the establishment isn't featuring my blog. If we disagree in this free-for-all of ideas known as cyberspace, then great. But I'm not going to posture as a vindictive, backbiting, nasty girl so that I can play with the "Big Boys" to get my ideas considered out there. That's not how I understand women's empowerment. And it's not how I understand God's call to humanity.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." --Ephesians 5:1-2

Kelsey

Good Morning Kelsey,

And it is morning for me I live in California. I like your blog its nice and chatty. Although I don't know if I agree with you about why there are fewer women bloggers. I have known some pretty mean women in my life, (I am 64)and some really gentle men. And of course the other way around too. But you are right about Christianity not being about power! I really am glad that you affirmed that God gave Jesus on the cross for humanity. I know that some feminist think that is child abuse. I guess because they don't understand the Trinity nor the compassion and love of God for humanity. Keep on blogging.
In the love of Jesus Christ,
Viola Larson

Good Morning Kelsey,

And it is morning for me I live in California. I like your blog its nice and chatty. Although I don't know if I agree with you about why there are fewer women bloggers. I have known some pretty mean women in my life, (I am 64)and some really gentle men. And of course the other way around too. But you are right about Christianity not being about power! I really am glad that you affirmed that God gave Jesus on the cross for humanity. I know that some feminist think that is child abuse. I guess because they don't understand the Trinity nor the compassion and love of God for humanity. Keep on blogging.
In the love of Jesus Christ,
Viola Larson