Why don't Women (Biblio-) Blog?

This was one of the questions raised -- indeed, raised with a fair bit of force -- during today's biblio-blogging seminar. Judging from both the amply endowed panel and much of the audience, the average biblio-blogger is white, male and 40-something: I was one of only four or five women in attendance, and the only female blogger -- or at least the only one willing to admit to doing so. The following theories were raised as to the whys and wherefores of this curious gender imbalance:

• It's something about men.
• It's something about women. (... if you find these mysterious, rest assured, so do I.)
• It's something about biblical studies.
  
• While entry into the blogosphere is easy and reasonably unisex, entry into the world of biblio-blogging is difficult -- something about naming the phenomenon establishes a moat that keeps out the ladies. (... your guess is as good as mine.)
• Women and technology ... nevermind.
• Women are too socially focused (e.g. involved in prison ministry) to engage in something as self-indulgent as blogging. (... curiously, female bloggers seem to proliferate in a wide variety of fields other than biblio-blogging. For one thing, I can personally list a number of female law/politics blogs. Much as I would like to believe in the "superior social conscience" hypothesis, I therefore suspect that this isn't quite where it's at.)
  
• Female biblio-bloggers are out there -- it's just that no one knows about them (... granted, this is likely true on a limited scale, but I'm not prepared to ascribe massive, much less willful ignorance of female bloggers to the esteemed panel.)
  
• Blogging is risky business for untenured academics. Groups who have traditionally struggled to progress in this field, namely women and ethnic minorities, are shying away from making themselves conspicuous by way of blogging. (... an actually very sound hypothesis presented by AKMA.)
  

Personally, I suspect that the problem -- if one may conceptualize it as such -- is multi-layered: First off, Biblical Studies as an academic discipline is still a fairly "male" field. At my present institution, I can name two very fine biblical scholars who happen to be women, neither of whom blogs (although one of them apparently reads blogs -- hi, Marianne!) but both of whom would have a great deal to contribute to the blogosphere. By contrast, I should note that I am unaware of any male biblical scholar at aforementioned institution who maintains a blog. Nevertheless, higher numbers of male biblical scholars no doubt result in greater likelihood of blog-maintenance.

Secondly, AKMA's instincts regarding the risks of blogging are unquestionably a propos: Just a few months ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education sparked debate on the employability of young blogging academics -- the jury's still out on the issue, but the question whether self-expression's worth the risk is of course a very valid one. In addition, biblio-blogging frequently occurs on the intersection of academia and ecclesia, neither of which tends to be particularly forgiving of indiscretions. (Incidentally, my personal blog -- while not exactly biblically oriented -- is anonymous for that very reason, although at present I've thrown enough link-rope to a sufficiently great number of people that I would no doubt be able to hang myself in no time, should anyone give me occasion to do so.)

[Insert interruption at this point by a gentleman who apparently noted my presence at the biblio-blogging forum and challenged my non-participantship -- apparently the "yeah, but you're a woman" argument trumps having a not particularly biblio-oriented blog.]

Last but not least, however, the panel has been an inspiration of sorts for me. I've been lax about blogging and more often random and overly personal than academically productive. I do, however, both value and believe in the blog as (one of) the academic fora of the future. In that vein, you may expect more and more ... relevant/stimulating posts in the near future.

(And now I go to a seminar on penitance in Judaism and the Early Church -- mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! ;)