On desiring diversity in the Australian blogosphere
Apr 22nd, 2008 by Rebecca
The Australian blogosphere is an odd beast. As a feminist blogger, I often wind up reading more American blogs, and it seems as if on those, even in the mainstream, there is some passion for political change. It may be severely beholden to privilege of various sorts (DailyKos is the obvious example, though there are many others), but it’s seems to be clear most of the time that the people writing actually care about something. It may not necessarily much as result in activism or real-world efforts, but there’s a passion there, a belief in something, a desire to actually change things, to use the online grassroots for something.
I look around at my Australian counterparts, and for the most part, I see something very different. I’ll use for an example today’s edition of Missing Link, the daily all-encompassing Australian political blog carnival, run by Big Blog Club Troppo, as an example. Today, we have analysis and commentary on the torch relay, on Kevin Rudd’s 2020 summit, economic policy, and a few other random issues. There’s sometimes some informative and/or interesting stuff there, but it’s peculiarly detached; it comes across as people looking through the news headlines and trying to find something vaguely intelligent to say. It may well be partisan; there’s plenty of Howard/Rudd hatin’ going on, but it’s still at that same level. There is most of the time, it seems, no real sign that anyone has much of a personal stake in any of these issues, or perhaps deeply cares about them behind finding them of intellectual interest.
It follows on from this that the demographics, too, seem to be pretty different. After reading Australian blogs for a few years now, it’s pretty safe to say that the very vast majority of the whole sphere is made up of middle-aged, white, middle or upper class, straight men. We have only a handful of feminist bloggers, and we’re generally a pretty disparate group; I wouldn’t know half of the others existed if I hadn’t been looking pretty thoroughly. More than that, it’s an incredibly white group; I can think of three non-white Australian bloggers off the top of my head, two of whom are I believe are now inactive, and that’s not for lack of looking.
This means that we wind up with nearly an entire blogosphere that is peculiarly privileged. Most of these people can afford to write about mere curiosities; few, it seems, have (maybe have ever had) oppressions that need to be lived under and fought. Politics, thus, is framed as an interest or a sport, but not a way of survival. It’s pretty disappointing in terms of just producing content that is, well, crap (the couple of times I spent filling in for Ken Parish as a Missing Link editor last year were a lesson in just how much complete crap is out there), but it also means that we’re starkly devoid of local content that means much. As Firefly mentioned on the very first comment on this blog back in January, it means that we wind up spending much of our time writing and commenting on issues focused on the other side of the Pacific, rather than those closer to home. It struck me during the recent departure of Brownfemipower of the blogosphere that thanks to the likes of her I now know as much if not more about abuses under US immigration policy than I do about ongoing issues surrounding our own system, simply because those same voices and means of getting the information out there simply do not exist in the Australian sphere.
Having observed the broader (albeit highly North American-dominated) feminist blogosphere for a couple of years now, I’m really coming to wish that feminist/queer bloggers could get more organised here. We do have quite a few great bloggers here, but we rarely pick up on each other’s issues or posts (and I’m as guilty of this as anyone else), so it’s rare that we’re able generate much discussion, let alone effective action, on a local level. I find it a bit strange that, of all of us here, it’s the trans bloggers who seem to be networking most effectively, but I do wish the rest of us could get it together. I’ve wondered for a while if some sort of local feminist blog carnival/group blog/something else might get some sort of collaboration off the ground. Any takers, maybe?
Later edit: I did not want to make this post about them, per se, but I couldn’t help but noticing that Missing Link and Club Troppo decided to respond to this post by labelling the race, relative age and gender of most of the people listed in today’s edition (am I supposed to proud that you managed to find four women in what was quite a large collection?). How very…naff of them. Considering that they introduced the Carnival of Radical Feminism as “Stuck for the material you need to construct a straw feminist? You might find what you’re looking for at the latest…” in Friday’s edition, I’m starting to see a bit of a pattern here.
You have nailed exactly my own concerns about Australian blogging to date. Good luck setting up a group blog. Penny
Hah. Told ya, a lovely little blog war doesn’t get their attention unless you bag them! Club Troppo’s missing link has gone seriously down hill, it’s a sum up of little more than their own circle of interest, rather than their original stated purpose of putting Crikey to shame by linking to those “missing links” of interesting and overlooked content in the Australian blogosphere.
If you’re looking for an alternative, our friend from the Dead Roo, slim, is still publishing blogotariat. It’s a project that will be as diverse as the links people suggest to him, at the moment it’s pretty much trapped in the paradigm you’ve identified. We can help it become a little more diverse, when you stumble across good Australian content be sure to drop him a line.
I’m not an ML editor / cabal member, but as a troppodillian I’ve noticed that the editors don’t mind taking the piss now and then. But you’ll also notice that the gag is Gummo’s, specifically marked up as such.
I wrote the system that extracts those little asides for pretty much this sort of scenario. ML has always been an opinionated roundup, but problematically, the opinions can differ. The system allows each cabal member to have their own voice within the overall effort.
Still, we’re not perfect; and one of the side effects of opinions is that someone somewhere always holds a contrary one. Help us to illuminate the under appreciated elements of diversity: let us know what blogs we’re missing out on.
Kieran: I wasn’t intending to stir up drama with this post, and I’m not particularly bothered about what ML chooses to do or not to do. I don’t need their links; rather, as the most comprehensive sampling of the Australian blogosphere around, they’re a good jumping-off point for looking at the state that it’s in.
Jacques Chester: That’s all fine, but the Missing Link collective might want to think about the message they’re sending out. It’s not a good look when a group with demographics of that nature captions the few feminist contributions it actually mentions in a derogatory or mocking fashion. I’d also note that when Kieran actually did suggest mine and a couple of other blogs a few days ago, the one response it earned was a hatchet job from a Missing Link editor (saint). Nevertheless, I’ll keep that avenue in mind.
More generally (and this goes for anyone else who comments, too): I mightn’t have been as clear as I wanted to be, but I really didn’t want this post to be about Missing Link or the Big Blogs; in fact, as I mentioned above, what they do is their own damn business. Rather, I wanted to look at what (at least I feel) is wrong with the mainstream Australian blogosphere, and what might be done to create an alternative, and one more conducive to feminist, queer and anti-racist voices and grassroots action. I don’t generally direct comments threads, but I would like this one to stay relatively on that topic.
Sure. Like most folk, we reckon it’s all about us anyhow
As for your core problem of broadening the blogosphere, I don’t know how much I can help you. I’m an outsider’s outsider on that world and I fear my help wouldn’t be welcome.
However, my advice is that time and patient promotion do the trick. A lot of bloggers get their start in group sites and then branch out on their own. Over time the process repeats and builds a stronger overall scene. Maybe you could invite some friends from your uni courses to join your site? Or somebody else you know who you think ought to be heard?
Just some suggestions.
Penny: I’m sorry, your comment got caught in the spam filter for some reason. I’m not necessarily planning to set up a group blog, although I was putting it out there as perhaps one way some of these issues might begin to be addressed if there was some interest.
On a completely off-topic tangent, thanks for dropping by! It’s always nice to see MPs taking up blogging, and I’m a bit of a fan!
Rather, I wanted to look at what (at least I feel) is wrong with the mainstream Australian blogosphere, and what might be done to create an alternative, and one more conducive to feminist, queer and anti-racist voices and grassroots action. I don’t generally direct comments threads, but I would like this one to stay relatively on that topic.
I’d suggest that directing comments threads - or at least riding herd on them - would be very important to making blogs more conducive to unheard voices. I find the level of smug, corrosive cynicism, snarkiness rather than debate, and complete lack of openess to different ideas on some Australian blogs (left and right) means that I feel like they are not worth participating in.
This is not an issue for me personally, as I’m quite good at getting my voice heard. But I think that being quite ruthless with people who don’t come to a comments thread to participate seriously will do a lot to make threads more welcoming to those who aren’t used to speaking loudly. Robust debate is not the same as expecting people to accept bullying under the same, tired old line of ‘Oh, it was just a joke’.
For instance, I wonder how Zoe Brain (an Australian libertarian-right transwoman) would be on some left blogs in Australia? Not that I think she would have problems looking after herself in a stoush. But what about those who would silently watch?
Setting up a blog carnival would be a simpler and easier start than a group blog, I would imagine. If you choose to do this, please post and I will let you know what I might be able to help with.
I’d suggest that directing comments threads - or at least riding herd on them - would be very important to making blogs more conducive to unheard voices. I find the level of smug, corrosive cynicism, snarkiness rather than debate, and complete lack of openess to different ideas on some Australian blogs (left and right) means that I feel like they are not worth participating in.
It’s certainly a tactic which I’ve seen used to good effect on a lot of blogs, but it also limits the ability to engage in discussion with those who don’t agree, but might come around; or those in the peanut gallery who might get exposed with those arguments. I try not to block unless people are over the top, but if people aren’t engaging respectfully, I’m inclined to go for the snark. I try to walk a line between all of those on this blog; sometimes I succeed, sometimes not.
For instance, I wonder how Zoe Brain (an Australian libertarian-right transwoman) would be on some left blogs in Australia? Not that I think she would have problems looking after herself in a stoush. But what about those who would silently watch?
I actually know Zoe personally, and she’s an occasional commenter on this blog. I’ve never seen her not respected in trans and feminist circles; I’ve never actually wound up in a discussion with her on some of the areas where she’s more conservative.
Setting up a blog carnival would be a simpler and easier start than a group blog, I would imagine. If you choose to do this, please post and I will let you know what I might be able to help with.
I’ve certainly been thinking about that, but it worries me that it might be a difficult job to get together: there’s so little networking going on between feminist blogs out here that compiling a list of blogs that’s longer than about twelve would take some serious research. It’s something - at least for the first time - might be easier if a few people could do it collectively, so as to combine all our blogrolls.
I actually know Zoe personally, and she’s an occasional commenter on this blog. I’ve never seen her not respected in trans and feminist circles; I’ve never actually wound up in a discussion with her on some of the areas where she’s more conservative.
I guess its more blogs that call themselves left but are not specifically transfriendly where I would guess bloggers like Zoe Brain would be ridiculed. Not so much because of the trans issue but because of the right-wing politics. I’ve seen a couple of her posts where right-wingers in the USA have ridiculed transpeople and she has responded - I wonder if the reverse would happen here, where her politics are ridculed rather than engaged with and debated.
Obviously no-one should get a free pass, and all ideas should be up for debate, but people also need to know that disagreement will be within certain civil bounds, IMO.
Hi Rebecca,
I have to confess to being a poor reader of blogs cos I’m so busy. Unlike most Australian bloggers, I’m not a PhD student who basically sits at a computer most of the time. I mostly read US blogs because I want to focus on women of colour. As you say, the Australian blogosphere is overwhelmingly white, male, able-bodied, cisgendered, straight and middle class. I don’t need to seek out the perspectives of such people since I’m surrounded by them. Why would I bother reading their blogs too? Unless they’re linking me and affecting the traffic to and atmosphere of my blog, I don’t see a point in having anything to do with them.
I don’t read American blogs by middle-class, straight, cisgendered, able-bodied white men either, despite Chris Clarke occasionally commenting at my blog.
I’ve found that the thing which makes the US feminist blogosphere — and other tightly-knit blogospheres, such as the progressive Muslim blogosphere(s) — is the large amount of off-blog networking that these bloggers do. They communicate via email and e-lists, meet up in person, organise their blogging so that it achieves other objectives (be it book deals or editing major websites), and generally treat blogging as part of a career, whether they treat it as a form of activism or as a form of self-promotion for a more conventional professional feminist career.
Unless I’m seriously missing something and nobody invited me to the party cos I smell, this is quite different to the Aussie feminist blogosphere. The Aussie femmo-blogosphere seems really atomised and individualised, same with the general social justice blogosphere in Aus. I tried to create some momentum around Australian issues through blogs through the National Day of Action to stop the intervention last year, but I was too busy to follow up on the dynamism it created, and there was nobody else to do it.
Bloggers here don’t seem to get the kind of recognition as they have in the USA, as writers or as organisers. But like I said, that “recognition” isn’t imposed from outside, it’s actively sought out through social networks. And I know for a fact that Aussie feminist bloggers are plugging into US networks because of the lack of Australian ones — I’m one of those Aussie feminists.
I’m not saying the solution to the issues you’ve raised is to start an e-list. In fact, I think it’d implode in a month given that many of the tensions around race, trans inclusion, sex work, porn, class, sexuality, disability and ideology that bisect the US feminist blogosphere also divide Australian feminist bloggers. A carnival or a group blog sound like good ideas, but I’m way too busy to commit to a project like that. If you’re interested, I’d suggest emailing around to see if you get any takers.
Great post. (I, too, have been irritated by the intermittent mocking of feminist posts by ML, though I definitely see the value of the ML project in other ways.)
Tigtog and I have been quietly mumbling about the possibility of an Australian feminist blog carnival for a while now, but daunted at the idea of the work behind it. I would absolutely support one, and if there’s something I could do to help, please drop me a line.
Thanks for dropping by, Lauredhel! I’d really like to see something like this happen, and I wouldn’t mind doing the work for it. I guess the main problem that I can see (at least, if I was to do it) is that I don’t have a particularly long list of Australian feminist blogs; one consequence of ignoring most of the mainstream Australian blogosphere is that I tend to miss the good blogs that are actually out there.
I wonder if it might help if, say, a call were put out around the place inviting people to send in links? One of the advantages Hoyden About Town has in that respect is that it’s one of the few (if not the only) blogs that really crosses into both the Oz and broader feminist spheres.
Well, just let me know if there’s anything useful I can do. The list is smallish (but growing!), isn’t it, so there might need to be a fair bit of calling and outreach in order to encourage people in. The whole thing of course can bring up the issue of diversity, and how far do we go in accepting things outside of our particular feminisms? We’ve seen the US based feminist carnivals split and split again. I don’t have a pat answer to that, except that I’d probably endorse an inclusive sort of approach in the first instance, and see how it shakes out. The whole thing should be about building bridges, not walls, even when the bridges are between quite different places.
They’re my raw thoughts.
I think that’s a pretty wise tact to take, considering the size of the group we’re talking about. Or at least to, yeah, start with an inclusive approach and see where it went from there.
I might draw up a call for posts in the next couple of days and see if I can get it out there.
I’d be interested in an Australian feminist blog carnival. From my point of view, I’ve been blogging since before there was actually an Australian bloggosphere, and I see the internet much more as a tool to network politically/theoretically across oceans and national borders, than to form networks based around nationality. So, apart from 6 or 7 people who are mostly friends/acquaintances, I don’t read Australian blogs at all. It doesn’t surprise me to hear that there’s not a very large feminist or trans-friendly consciousness, though. But I think the differences of space and geography on the internets mean that representational politics don’t work so well, and alliances or networks form more on a random, strange basis. Which erupts into a different form of politics, sometimes, and a more exciting one, for me.
(That said, the American-centricity of many blogs really annoys me; sometimes it’s like geographical location in the USA goes completely unmarked, as if it really is the ‘centre’.)
Sorry, have only just seen the followups here (RSS strangeness, I think?) I ended up announcing a monthly carnival, here. Blogcarnival.com is doing the hard work - it has a rather neat “instacarnival” feature that generates HTML from the submissions, which reduces the workload fairly dramatically. If anyone here would like to join in - submit your own and/or other people’s work - that would be great. Offers to host are also welcome.
The only real requirements are that it be from an Australian or New Zealander blogger who identifies as feminist, and that the subject matter be feminist/feminist-related. I’d like to go for fairly broad/inclusive definitions of “feminist” for both of the above, so it’s possible that everyone will find something they resonate with and something they disagree with; I’m hoping that will be less of a cause of friction and bad feeling in our little blogger pool than in the larger ones.
[…] Rebecca would like to see more diversity in the blogosphere: […]