Why I Am (still) Not Going To BlogHer

Back in 2005, the year BlogHer got off the ground, I wrote a post explaining why, despite some mixed feelings, I would not be attending the inaugural event.

In the ensuing years, BlogHer has become hugely successful and grown into a massive 4,000+ person juggernaut.

I still have mixed feelings about it, and I’m still not going. I wrote this in 2005:

I think it is because I resist being labeled as a “woman blogger”. I am a woman, and I have a blog. But Fiat Lux is not a “woman’s blog” any more than it is a “Jewish blog” or even a “political blog”. It’s just MY blog.

I write about politics a lot less these days, and business a lot more, but I still feel that way.

You can add to that the rise of the “Mommy Bloggers”. The average female blogger today is far more likely to be chronicling the life and times of her family than anything else. And that’s great, don’t get me wrong, but as a woman without children, I just don’t think I’d fit in too well.

Plus there’s that whole “I work for a Big Brand” thing – even moreso now that things like influencer and advocate relations are a big part of my focus. I wouldn’t want to have to hide who I worked for, but on the other hand, I don’t want to have to spend the entire conference fending off requests for free stuff.

All in all, between the no kids thing and the brand thing, it just doesn’t sound like it would be fun.

Which is too bad.