Bean Counting the Bloggers

LiveJournal stats say that most bloggers are women (nearly 2/3). I think this is key evidence that blogging is what has finally let the web become non-technical. Blogging is driven by verbal, not technical, skill, which is what draws women.

Anyone can get on the web today, create a nice-looking blog in seconds, and start generating words for whoever will listen.

I've seen recent estimates for the number of blogs that range from 8 million to 16 million. The number is doubling about every 6 months.

Yet most popular (by traffic) bloggers are male. Already, the diversity police want to know why and are seeking both a politically correct explanation, and a politically correct solution.

No one will dispute that on average, women's verbal skills exceed men's. Yet even the most modern, consciousness-raised version of Bartlett's will have page after page of Shakespeare. Dickens, Churchill, Mark Twain -- verbal despite the fact that they were guys -- will have a page or two apiece.

Heard this?

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Now list for me three quotable lines by George Eliot. Fine then, list one.

Yes there are some quotable women. Dorothy Parker. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. But if you don't have a quotation dictionary handy, a quick look at the internet Quotations Page will give you a feel for the disparity.

Prejudice? "I have a dream." "I will fight no more, forever." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

I think this is interesting, and wonder why. Some people think this is immoral and wonder how to prohibit it from being true.

Heather MacDonald argues here that this is another equality-of-opportunity versus equality-of-outcome battleground.