Genesis Story
The idea for this SXSW Core Conversation was originally pitched as a panel discussion for this year’s Interactive component of the festival. While it didn’t make the cut for that, happily, it was deemed worth talking about in SXSWi’s Core Conversation series, a town hall-style discussion that actually may suit the subject at hand even better than an audience/panel/moderator configuration.
The premise behind the topic is as self-explanatory as its title: Often, it can be violent and bloody to be a woman writing online. While the wounds are virtual, the online conversation frequently sinks to lows surrounding female writers’ personal lives and suspected proclivities — rather than their capabilities, qualifications, and accomplishments — in ways that have negative repercussions for them both professionally and personally. We see this happening to men who write online less frequently. We want to talk about why that is, and what can be done to combat it.
We hope you’ll join the conversation, both here and in Austin next month.
I am co-convening this panel with Rebecca Fox at SXSW on Sunday, March 15th from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. Topics may include oversharing (and why articles about oversharing may or may not need to be accompanied by fetching photos of lovely young ladies on tousled bedsheets); Jezebelism (and who gets to decide what Feminism is, anyway?); fambeballing (and other variations on “balling”); microfame and gender-based backlash; Tumblettes; and why there is such a thing as “Tumblettes.” Come!
This should, indeed, be an interesting discussion given Rachel’s piece about Emily Gould — referenced in Rachel’s second sentence — last year in which she catigated her for banning commenters who slagged her looks (been there, done that), talking too much about her personal life and posting a picture of herself in a bathing suit (I prefer party dresses and fishnets or Feminazi bonerkiller clothes). I also think it’s a little interesting that they’ll be discussing “Jezebelism” without, you know, any of the women who write or wrote for the site in the room. I guess it’s a just little more fun just to talk about us behind our backs.
Can I suggest a topic even though I won’t be there? Maybe as part of the discussion that I won’t be present for, you all can discuss how women sometimes give the worst of it to other women.
