Skip to main content

Back in the Trenches



This morning brings another status report from the War Beween Men and Women:

 Study: male D.C. reporters retweet male colleagues three times more than their female colleagues- - Laura McGann, Vox

 In a tweet promoting this article, journalist Kainaz Amaria says:
Twitter is a fun place for men; a hellscape for women - via @lkmcgann & @christinamta


A new study reveals why female journalists are so much less influential on Twitter than men.

“A hellscape for women?” you wonder. Surely that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Considering the amount of negative feedback, sexual harassment, and threats of violence that women are subjected  to on Twitter (and other forms of social media) I’d say hellscape is pretty darned accurate. Add to that the heightened pressure that comes when being on Twitter and functioning successfully is a part of your job and people who should be your peers ignore you, talk around you, and give others credit for your work and ideas. 

This has been happening in the workplace for a long, long time. Social media simply magnifies it. I wrote about this phenomenon as it applies to the local social media scene in 2014 and lamented on the lack of progress in 2017:

Women
Tag or recount all present at an event
RT, Share, comment, and praise work by both men and women
Engage in online dialogue with both men and women
Respond to comments from both men and women
Support both male and female candidates

Men
More likely to tag or recount men present
More likely to RT, share, comment, and praise work by men
More likely to engage in online dialogue with men
Respond more frequently to comments from men
Support and/or take more seriously male candidates

Locally, I continue to see men piling on to support men while being quick to cast doubt when women are challenging the status quo, or negating women’s contributions in online conversations by flat out ignoring them. “Bro culture” is a thing on social media, even right here in Columbia/Howard County. It may not look like the hair-raising incidents of sexual harassment and threats of violence we read about when women dare to speak with confidence/authority on Twitter, but it is there just the same. 

When it comes to politics, I have become hyper-aware of who responds respectfully to constituents. Who engages with women as meaningfully as they do with men? Who includes women, supports women, is willing to allow women to take leadership roles? I’m not going to give any candidate a free pass on this. I’ll say it again:

Equality is empowerment: taking people seriously, allowing them to participate in the conversation, allowing them to be visible. 

Men, especially white men, have privilege. Brought to the world of social media that privilege replicates itself exponentially. Every single interaction we have online is an opportunity to either ignore, maintain, or disrupt that state of affairs. Keep an eye out. If you’re not already painfully aware, you might learn something.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
Post a Comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

What Kids Are Thinking

  It’s a Monday in February, and if you guessed that a lot of Howard County students have the new cell phone policy on their minds, you’d be right. It will mean big changes and it will be stressful, no matter how much good we hope it will do in the long run. But on this particular Monday cell phones might not be top of mind, as amazing as that seems. Some kids will go to school wondering if they or family members will be seized by ICE. Some will fear that their parents’ employment will be purged by the ongoing rampage of Elon Musk and his cronies through Federal Government. Some fear heightened and renewed racism as programs that supprted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vilified and destroyed.  Some worry that it soon won’t be safe for them to use the bathroom in school anymore. It goes without saying that some kids fear going to school every day because of the prevalence of school shootings.  And look! Here’s something new to fear. That old hate group, Libs of TikTo...
Post a Comment
Read more