Philobiblon

Where are all the female bloggers? Here, in my weekly top ten.

I thought I should start today with Thoroughly Modern Millie, who claims to be, at 79, one of the oldest bloggers on the web. (Just out of interest does anyone know of any older female blogger?) The post to which I’m pointing here could be a message to us all: “If you don’t go out, nothing will happen”.

I feel I have to include a London bombing post, but just one, reflecting my personal concern that it not be allowed to loom out of proportion. Catherine Redfern is quoted on MsMusings raising some of the broader issues around the attacks.

Of greater long-term importance, in a week when US abortion rights faced a new threat, Bush v. Choice’s is a blog to follow on the aftermath of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement.

The British government might meanwhile be shilly-shallying on the banning of smoking, but Fascinating History reports on a ruler who had an effective, and very final, solution to the problem.

But to gentler political climes: maybe it is just the pastures across which I graze, but Canadians seem to be represented in the blog world, both in quality and quanitty, far beyond their proportion on the world population. It thus seems appropriate to point to Promptings’ post on Canada Day.

The delightfully named Booklust is meanwhile finding that she (unfortunately) has seven degrees of separation to Norman Mailer, while Paper Napkin, whose title is explained as “all the news that’s fit to wrap your gum in”, is finally closing on the purchase of a house, with all of the ensuing stress, and wondering what watching aliens would make of the scene.

I have to give The examining room of Dr Charles an honorary mention here for introducing me to a whole range of female bloggers on topics green. The World of Botanical Girl introduces “Spyro”, her Bryophyllum tubiflorum that just grew, and grew, and grew …. Jane Perrone on her organic gardening blog meanwhile offers tips in this post of how to help plants cope with hot weather – she’s got lots of great advice on organic gardening and is certainly going on my “regular read” list.

Finally, on along the botanical (and very funny) line, Woulda Coulda Shoulda is talking about the problem of maintaining the yeast/bacteria balance, with the help of oatmeal and baking soda. (Not recommended for males of a delicate disposition.)

But wait, there’s more, as the telesales people say. Check out a blog pursuing a similar aim to this listing by a different method: Blogs By Women.

*********************

Here’s No 12 if you missed it.

Please, if you’re impressed by something by a female blogger in the next week – particularly by someone who doesn’t yet get a lot of traffic – tell me about it, in the comments here, or by email. Remember, I’m going for a list of 200 different female bloggers. (The first 100 are here.)

Where are all the female bloggers? Here, in my weekly top ten.

Vegans and sadomasochism: Amy ponders whether the two go together, in a post appropriately titled “Answers To Questions You Didn’t Know You Had” .

Now I’ve got your attention ….

Jane Hamsher on Firedoglake starts with car-sick dogs and ends with human health care – stay with her. Continuing the animal theme, Sum Summ Summer has been attacked by “big black scary birds of DEATH”, otherwise known as crows.

On the nice work if you can get it front, Creating text(tiles) is working in the college libraries of Cambridge, while Music and cats is written by an architect whose just been to a work conference that left her wondering where all of her female compatriots are.

Crazy Biker Chick is enjoying the wind in her hair, in the midst of some curious models of bicycle, while The Improvisatrice is enjoying the Frieda Kahlo exhibition, among other delights of old London town.

On the personal side, I’m the Mommy is temporarily child-free, which has allowed her to dig into her past, while Mad Musings of Me finds getting into her “to read” pile is an expensive business.

On a lighter note, Elikia’s collected her recent life in quotes – don’t miss the “bladder problems” one – definitely does the job it sets out to do.

*******
Here’s No 11 if you missed it.

Please, if you’re impressed by something by a female blogger in the next week – particularly by someone who doesn’t yet get a lot of traffic – tell me about it, in the comments here, or by email.

Where are all the female bloggers? Here, in my weekly top ten.

The raging debate of the week, at least in the US blogging world, seems to be a return to the Seventies – whether women victims are in any way to be blamed for sexual attacks upon them. (Well I suppose it is better than back to the Fifties, when the issue wasn’t discussed at all.) Chaos Theory provides a summary digest that will take you further – I’m too depressed at the fact that this still has to be argued at all to range further into the debate.

Then to something that is not a life-threatening issue, but one that consumes vast amounts of female time and effort – hair. I Blame the Patriarchy concludes: “as the Pakistani woman obscureth her identity with fabric, so doth the Western woman obscure hers with Nair”.

Pam’s House Blend, meanwhile, is getting angry about US southern senators refusing to sign an apology for inaction against lynching.

Moving on to more privately political terrirtory, Dr B’s Blog discusses the importance of domestic partner benefits beyond the obvious financial ones.

Now I decided at age five that I didn’t want to have children, and I’ve never wavered in that decision, but if you want to sentence yourself to 20 years or so imprisonment, Dru Blood has made a list of her favourite books on childbirth and parenting. Amybowlian looks a little later in the life cycle, exploring the torture of being forced to read aloud in English class.

If you want to stay footlose and fancy free, however, Game + Girl = Advance has a brilliant idea about how to prepare for foreign travel. (But she should have saved it and sold it for millions, I’d say.)

Also in the”good idea” category, Laurie Writes comes up with great suggestion for keeping in touch with all those people you are meaning to write a good newsy email to, one of these days.

But is “hypermodernism” a good idea? (Or indeed what is hypermodernism?)
Mary Karcher provides an introduction and, of course, an excellent set of links.

Finally, for some comprehensive cat blogging, 2 Board Alley provides a pictorial biography of the life of Arnie, “a nine-year-old bachelor”.

****
Edition 9 is here.

*****

Please, if you’re impressed by something by a female blogger in the next week – particularly by someone who doesn’t yet get a lot of traffic – please tell me about it, in the comments here, or by email.

Where are all the female bloggers? HERE, in my weekly top ten.

A perfect first suggestion this week with the tale of a real femme fatale. Laura James’s CLEWS, “The Historic True Crime Blog”, reports on the case of Marie Nicolaiewna Tarnowska, of whom it was said in 1910: ““She is not yet thirty, but at least six men have ruined themselves for her; two of these met tragic deaths and four of them deserted wives and children.”

I particularly liked the case of one Borzlevski, who “invited Marie to shoot him through the hand to demonstrate his devotion (which she did)”. Then her husband challenged him to a duel and shot him again.

On to modern matters (and manners): What do (and should) women want in bed? Holly Combe on The F-word ponders the debate about “pro-sex feminism”.

Samhita on Feministing is at the intersection of feminism and environmentalism in considering why you should buy food from a local farmer, while Lucinda Marshall on ZNet Blogs questions whether you should buy items funding research into breast cancer.

Musings from Redwing Marsh, who’s a serious booklover, for anyone seeking recommendations, recalls learning how to write a diary as a child, while the question “Why do you blog?” is exercising Letters from Fairy-tale Land. She ponders her resolution to post regularly, and how it relates to her relationship with her father.

Teresa on Making Light meanwhile finds several lessons to be learned in a lively piece of human stupidity.

For the parent blog-readers, Christine Hurt on Blogcritics checks out the movie Madagascar with her under-sixes, finding that “unless they read the NYT book review” it misses the mark.

For some real life animal action, check out Maviesansmoi’s puppy blogging – and (if you can read the French) some lovely doggy tales. And while I’m going pictorial, there are some lovely pictures of Portugal by Sophil de l’eau. (Text also in French.)

***********

Edition 8 is here.

***********

Please, if you read a post in the next week by a woman blogger and think “that deserves a wider audience”, note it here in the comments here or contact me by email. And don’t be shy – please also nominate yourself.

The disclaimer: I’m trying to feature as wide a range of female bloggers as possible, so the views expressed may not reflect my own.

And finally, you may have noticed service has been a bit erratic lately – I’ve been entirely refurbishing a new flat, so most of my time has been spent on physical labour rather than at a screen. I hope normal conditions will be achieved by the end of the week.

Where are all the female bloggers? HERE, in my (usually) weekly top ten.

To start with some reflection on the practice of the keyboard,Miriam Jones, on The Valve, discusses why how Chinese scholars paid for their brushes and ink matters in considering their writing. Are you writing on a battered old second-hand PC or the latest Mac. Does it matter?

Staying philosophical, Green Consciousness explains how she tries to avoid “psychic slime” and in a short but sweet post, Worshipping at the Altar of Mediocrity welcomes an activist approach to atheism.

Turning political, Reclaiming Medusa rejects “the burqa excuse”, while DED Space suggests Generation X women need to reinvent the consciousness-raising group and Iconochron finds that she can make relatively good choices in buying gas (petrol).

Nathalie on Mediabistro is meanwhile deconstructing Tom Wolfe’s white suit. /Then if you fancy a refreshingly surreal online juice, check out this gift from Orangepulp.

Meanwhile Mommy blawg has worked out the grand Star Wars marketing plan, but she’s let her four-year-old watch the new episodes anyway. The Cheeky Prof is, however, putting her foot down about her student’s grades.

***
Please, if you read a post in the next week by a woman blogger and think “that deserves a wider audience”, tell me about it, in the comments here or by email. Thanks!

(I try to cover as wide a range of female bloggers as possible, so the views expressed may not reflect my own.)

The most recent former edition is here.

Where are all the female bloggers? HERE, in my weekly top ten.

First, an unmissable if only irregularly updated blog, abortion clinic days, explains why one woman might be forced by circumstances into multiple abortions, being unable to find a workable method of birth control.

On a related topic, Brutal Woman, about her experience of getting an IUD fitted. (I did say I wouldn’t mention any blogger more than once in the first ten weeks, but I think this post contains information all women should know. And don’t miss the comments for further enlightenment.)

If you’re looking for an entirely different form of contraceptive, you might want to read on Confessions of a Drama Mother about the difficulties of getting a child to play by herself. But beware abortion, at least if you are a character in a television drama, Cool Bean warns.

Finally on this topic, if you’re feeling too depressed at this point, check out What was I thinking? for her “good gynaecologist” story.

Now, steering away from “women’s stuff” …

On reappropriate, “an angry little Asian girl” tries to reclaim the swastika for what it is, “an ancient icon in Buddhism”. Eurocentrism means, she says, “for Asians in America like myself and my sister, that piece of our culture has been lost, probably for good”. Meanwhile Reclaiming Medusa is finding that while a missing church-going white woman in America is big news, murdered Afghan activists are not.

I won’t call it a meme, but J&J’s Mum is listing those things she simultaneously loves and hates and others might like to follow suit. Many mothers – and others – might I suspect agree with some of her choices. I particularly sympathised with walking the dog after it has rained.

Music is my cultural blindspot – it all sounds like noise to me – but Joan Hunt, posting on Blogcritics about the
Adams Avenue Roots Festival might almost make me change my mind.

And finally, I feel like I should have a post on the British election, since it has consumed so many of my hours in the past week, but I don’t really know any female bloggers who regularly post on British party politics, so I’m going to point to a modest little effort of my own, in which I made a reasonably accurate prediction of the result, and suggested sweeping constitutional reforms that would make it all much more interesting.

(Nominations for next week on this topic, when the dust has settled, will be particularly welcome. Other suggestions – including posts of your own! – are also greatly in demand.)