More #BlogHer09 – On feminism
…well, that’s not what it’s actually CALLED, but that’s what it’s about.
Interesting comment about people dismissing BlogHer as a conference because they think we only talk about makeup and shoes. Zappos, Lush, and MaryKay may all be here, but I’m learning CSS and PHP. I’m here for techy stuff, the makeup’s just an added benefit. And hey, if Adobe or someone had wanted to show up, I’d love that free copy of Photoshop. But, alas, they’re not here. I did get an interesting laundry strip thingy from Tide, though. Hah.
People also completely forget that not everyone here is a mommy blogger with 4 yr old kids (it seems like they’re targeting the toddler group). Strawberry Shortcake stuff is cute, but utterly useless to me. I’ll give a buncha this stuff to my niece, but she’s too young for most of it. This conference isn’t called BlogMOM. There IS a blogging mommy conference, and believe me, I’m not going to it. Maybe we do need a geeky girl conference? I loved She’s Geeky, what if that was blown out into a multi-day sponsored thing? Hmm. I see potential.
The whole “dismissing this solely because makeup sponsors are here” reminds me a lot of a Quake tournament I ran a while back (with Vangie). Winners, or finalists, in typical tourneys at the time would get mice, speakers, etc. In our case, we flew all the finalists to NYC, took them to Elizabeth Arden for makeovers, and Killcreek & John Romero took them out to lunch. The finalists were finalists because they kicked more ass in quake than anyone else (just like the other tourneys), but we most certainly catered to their tastes. Just like they’re doing here, I will actually use this shwag (well, some of it), instead of giving it all away like I do for most conferences. I don’t see anything wrong with that, and I don’t think it reflects on the conference CONTENT in any way.
Anyway! The purpose of this session was to discuss Sarah Palin’s effect on feminism, or lack thereof. A lot of interesting conversations, and very different views on the topic. One interesting point (made by one of the speakers, I can’t remember who) was that the mere fact that Palin thought she COULD run for Mayor, Governor, then VP, shows she’s a feminist.
I’m not so sure. I think we’d need to know more about how she got started in all of this – I’ve read too much that says she was only chosen as a VP candidate because she was a beauty queen to believe that 100%. But it is an interesting thought.
Personally, I have issues with the tag “feminist.” It contains a lot of negative connotations to some people that I really don’t like. Sarah Palin never identified as a feminist until recently, for exactly that reason – conservatives aren’t about to embrace a feminist. Why is it so negative to say that I’m a strong woman, I believe I can do anything a man can do (assuming I’m physically capable, there are physical differences between men and women), and don’t anyone dare dismiss what I say solely because I’m a woman. I think it’s possible that a ‘few bad seeds’ have spoiled the bunch for us, and it’s something we need to change.
Ok, enough ramblies for now, off to find wireless so I can publish this thing!
