a side note to the reading response II

In reading through the articles I was struck, rather amusingly, by something that was mentioned in the introduction. When talking about growing up as a feminist Traister mentioned reading Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" which doesn't seem like much to most people but mattered greatly to me.

It's a bizarre and possibly unnecessary point to make but it reminded me of a rather heated debate I got into with my English teacher when we were analyzing "The Awakening". The main argument being made was that the protagonist committed suicide because she was abandoned by the man with whom she had fallen in love. My argument was that it was not the loss of her love but rather the realization that she was living in a world that would not permit her to live as an independent and intellectual being. She could not have an equal intellectual relationship with men as she seemed to want. We never reached an agreement. It is a point of contention that remains to this day.

Debates like these are one of the reasons I love the internet and particularly the blogosphere: they allow for a continuation and expansion of debate to include more voices and allow for more ideas to be introduced. It is through debates like these that policy is honed and improved, causes and activists are kept fresh and sharp, in short they prevent the ideas from devolving into empty rhetoric. That's kind of important. Just a little.

Reading Response II: why I love "teh intarwebz" and Rachel Maddow

A few weeks ago I was trolling technorati for information on how PCOS influences the likelihood of self-identification as some form of transgender when I stumbled upon the S&F Online. I was excited to discover it but only book marked it as I was working on a project for my sociology class and was trying to stay focused. When I clicked on the link for our reading and saw what came up I literally laughed out loud. Never think you're the first person to discover something on the internet.

One specific article I enjoyed reading was "Blogging Was Just the Beginning: Women's Voices are Louder Online" which I found fascinating. One of the most interesting things I noticed when reading this article was how very specifically dated it was. Without knowing when this was published I can tell you it had to have been written sometime after Feburary of 2007 and sometime before August of 2008. How do I know? Feburary of 2007 is when the Edward's campaign bloggers were fired and August of 2008 is when Rachel Maddow became the first openly gay, female, primetime cable news host.

I'm a dorktastic Maddow fan and would like to believe she has had a huge impact on the media just by being out there. There's a primetime cable news host who is openly gay and plainly butch. That's slightly huge for the average babydyke watching at home. I am aware that one cable news host does not a paradigm shift make and despite being a butch lesbian Rachel has many attributes that more than qualify her for the job.

Rachel is not just a woman with a journalism degree; she is a Rhodes Scholar who recieved her Doctorate of Philosophy in political science from Oxford. She is literally Dr. Maddow. She also has a long history of working in politics, HIV/AIDS activism, and prison reform. That's an impressive if not excessive resume for someone hosting a cable news show.

One interesting thing I did notice is that Nolan never mentioned Katie Couric who took over as the anchor of CBS Evening News in 2006. I would think that the inclusion of Couric in this article would be something of a big deal. Not only is she the first solo female anchor of the weekday news but she is also the highest paid news anchor and faced tough criticism when she was awarded the position. It just seemed odd that Couric wasn't included.


Looking at women in journalism and the blending of journalism and the blogosphere was interesting for me as I'm intensely passionate about the blogosphere. I feel many bloggers like Mayhill Fowler, whom I mentioned in an earlier post, are legitimate journalists breaking big stories. I still think there's a lot of room for improvement and women like Arianna Huffington and Rachel Maddow and Katie Couric are starting to change the game bit by bit. I'm really excited to see what happens next with women in the blogosphere.

Fun Fact: Rachel Maddow beat juggernaut Larry King in the ratings and has topped Countdown with Keith Olbermann as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions.