Today on Blogger's dashboard, there's a blurb about the 2005 Blog Business Summit. Technically, I blog for my business. Technically. In theory, this blog will accomplish 2 things:
1. Allow me to blow off steam, express my personality, etc. therefore making me a happier, more productive person and employee.
2. Give our readers and instructors a peek into the day-to-day life of The Planning Shop, and show them that underneath our crunchy, entrepreneurial publishing shell, our company has a creamy human center.
In practice, this blog is a place where I can talk about my dogs, my vacations and random things that make me feel less crazy. So I don't feel compelled to attend the Blog Business Summit, nor should I. Still when I checked out the site and
list of speakers, I found that out of 17 speakers, all but 3 of them were Caucasian males. Which is disturbing because most of the successful business people I know, as well as the best bloggers, are women. Chicks. I'm not sure why I'm not as indignant about the lack of ethnic diversity among the speakers, but I can always take time out of my busy day to whine about feminist issues. The funny part is that I don't even believe in many feminist concepts, rather I believe in peoples' rights to be upset about them. Concepts like the glass ceiling, women's equality in the military, the stay at home mom vs. the career mom, gender identities and sexual orientation in the media--all that stuff. It's a person's right to get pissy about the way women tend to be objectified, victimized, pigeon-holed and what not. Yet in my everyday existence most of this stuff just doesn't bother me. Much of the treatment that many feminists would consider misogynistic or controlling I find to be desirable and welcomed. I'm not saying that I'd like to be kept barefoot and pregnant, or banned from the boardroom. And goodness knows that I'd damn well
better get equal pay for equal work, but I also like to have doors opened for me, meals paid for, spiders squashed, light bulbs changed--not because I
can't do these things, but because I don't
have to. Or something. I like to think of it as post-post-feminism. I also like to think of it as having my cake and eating it too. And who doesn't like cake?
2 comments:
Deborah,
I hear your concerns. Not all the speakers and panelists are up yet. I'm counting 7 women at the event and I think we'll have a diverse audience.
Fair enough, DL--I do tend to jump the gun when I'm feeling judgemental. However I hope there's a diverse panel as well as a diverse audience.
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