Kevin Drum blogs today about being invited to attend BlogHer, and Chris Nolan encourages him to attend. So far so good. But then Chris veers off the deep end and I have to ask, what was she thinking?
If you are a man who like code and software and things that plug in, and is perhaps having trouble finding a girl who likes Java (and knows it's not just a coffee) and undersands your inner Geek, this might be the PERFECT place for you to spend a summer afternoon.The ratio at most tech conferences is hugely biased toward men that will assuredly not be the case here.
I'm not planning on going to BlogHer (my reasons why are here), but I find that approach rather demeaning. Not "come to BlogHer to learn more about technology, politics, developing a niche blog, blogging for business and woman's issues, among other things, and have fun too!" Nope, it's flat out, "Come to BlogHer to try and get a date." And then the official BlogHer weblog posted her comments, in an approving manner.
You'd think after all this time that we could do better.
All that said, knowing that Kevin is going does tempt me somewhat to go despite my previous post. I'd like to meet him. And looking over the evolving agenda, I see they've toned the mommy focus down somewhat (a plus for those of us who are childfree). And as a student, I can get in for a nice low price. So call me on the fence, but still inclined towards "no".
Comments (3)
Hi. I think Chris had her tongue firmly implanted in cheek, as did Lisa when she pointed to it on BlogHer and I certainly did when I pointed to it on my blog.
And there's only one MommyBlogging session the entire day...out of 22 sessions. (In fact that one session is one that attendees signed up to do themselves in the Room of Your Own track.) So I think you can get through the day sufficiently Mommy-free.
Bottom line, you should come. There's a lot going on...plenty techie and plenty non-techie. The idea was to have a broad spectrum of sessions so that just about anyone could build themselves a day that was certainly worth the $20 you would spend as a student.
Hope we do see you there!
Posted by Elisa Camahort | July 9, 2005 3:26 PM
Oh yes, you should come. Why not, after all? And I agree that Chris was just kidding in her post. As was I in my post about the conference. Which is probably a good thing, since I often think the blogosphere could use a little lightening up....
Posted by Kevin Drum | July 9, 2005 4:27 PM
As a man, I used to kid people that I went into nursing because I liked being around women. Actually, I do, because they usually don't make filthy sexual comments in the presence of men. But over the years, the reality of being a minority has sunk in, and, frankly, it sucks. O well.
But how funny would it be to see the actual experience of a man who went to a feminist bloggers convention to get a date? I would almost pay to see what happened...
Posted by serial catowner | July 14, 2005 8:58 AM