New York Times thinks women bloggers are a fashion story
By Jess McCabe | 28 July 2008, 08:47
The New York Times ran a story about women bloggers facing a glass ceiling - and placed it in the Fashion & Style section. As Every Dot Connects (from whom I stole the screenshot) points out:
Well, hello! Yes, there’s a glass ceiling. And instead of addressing the question, the New York Times editors are part of the problem. A story about men who blog, especially if they had built the kind of powerhouse network the BlogHer folks have, would have run in the business or technology section of the newspaper. But women’s accomplishments in the blogosphere are celebrated in Fashion and Style.
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Lindsey said:
well duh, that's the woman section and only women could possibly be interested in such a thing.
Segregated news has bothered me ever since I was first made aware of it by an ad campaign for the "thinking woman's suppliment" which showed make-up items on a chess board. I think it was for Times2 but I can't be sure, most of my memory was taken up by the insult.
Posted on 28 July 2008 at 10:34 AM
Lizzie said:
Lindsey- i agree about the segregated news, it's infuriating.
Especially in the case of 'women's magazines'. Who decided what women want to read anyway?
I used to read Glamour, Company etc but they just don't interest me anymore.
I wonder why (despite occaisional interesting features) they focus so much on fashion and sex (always to please HIM of course).
Best designer bag of the year? Couldn't. Care. Less.
Who decides what women want to read anyway?
Sorry for tangenting from the original post.
Posted on 28 July 2008 at 6:21 PM
Anne Onne said:
What is it with the media? Stories about violence against women are stuck in the 'zany news' section, and everything else woman-related is stuck in 'fashion and style'!
What better way to hint that women, 50% of the world's population aren't really people than by ensuring that stories about them, or of interest in them are placed squarely in the category of 'frivolous' news, even when the stories are serious and not related to fashion in the slightest.
It's infuriating. so good job pointing it out the reality that the media presents the 'serious' news as default, and male, sidelining even serious issues facing women and grouping them in with (and swamping it with) fashion and other 'women's interest' stories.
Lizzie, Lindsey, good one. I don't know what's more worrying; that we're supposed to be obsessed with handbags, or that handbags are supposed to be women's equivalents to raunchy men's mags- men are expected to lust after women, whilst we are expected to lust after handbags!
Posted on 28 July 2008 at 10:02 PM
Julie said:
I posted something about this over at my blog, and though my readers seem to be progressive men, they just don't quite get that the existence of the entire article (nearly a week after BlogHer was over!) is a bit insulting. I am so tired of "women's interests" being completely separate from men, and I'm tired of women of being judged for their appearance, and a million other things. I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought that this article was both truthful (women aren't always taken seriously) AND marginalizing.
Posted on 29 July 2008 at 12:09 AM
Jo Christie-Smith said:
Hello,
I also picked up on this the other night after reading your posting and did my own here:
http://jochristiesmith.blogspot.com/2008/07/were-looking-for-female-political.html
then I wrote to the BBC's iPM programme and they've picked it up and blogged about it too!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ipm/2008/07/women_bloggers_fashion_victims.shtml
Can I make a suggestion that you go and comment on it and put some of your own experiences on there...that way they might pick it up and put it on the radio!!!
(Although perhaps only a Radio 4 addict like myself thinks that's important)
Jo
Posted on 01 August 2008 at 10:46 AM