Take Back the Blog! Host Page Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

The Take Back the Blog! Blogswarm supports the rights of women to participate fully in all aspects of our society, including specifically online in the world of blogging but indeed everywhere and at all times, day and night, without fear of harassment, intimidation, sexual harassment, online stalking and slander, predation or violence of any sort.

This is a link to the LARGE LOGO, removed to improve load times; similarly, this is a link to an archive page for the prior version of this page as of the morning of April 28, 2007. I cannot begin to thank everyone on multiple continents who have promoted and contributed to this effort, but will attempt to do so below for the contributors.

I have singled out for a "Good Crabbing Award" a few people whose support was especially early, strong, or dramatic in effect, but quite arguably everyone who has contributed at all deserves three of them.

MANY MANY THANKS to Renee in Ohio for her vigorous and very early moral and promotional support of this effort and to both her and her husband for their rapid design and distribution pro bono publico of the jaw-dropping logos that appear on this page for this blogswarm.

HOW TO SUBMIT POSTS to the Take Back the Blog! Blogswarm. I have set up a new email address at:

TBTB2007@crablaw.com

solely to receive links for TBTB. If you don't have a blog, but want to contribute, email me and we will work something out. The "cut-off" time will be 7 8 PM on Saturday, April 28 EST (extended due to volume of interest). To all, thank you, thank you so much for being part of this.

Throughout today (4/28) I will be adding to this page, as much as my two boys will let me. They go to bed around 7 PM so it's going to be an uneven trickle and then a gush. I simplfied the original alphabetizing plan to safe time. If you don't see your submitted post here, please email me if you have not heard from me.

UPDATE EARLY 4/29: The posts keep coming in. Long, wonderful day; my efficiency is dropping as my glasses are the wrong prescription, so reading is being more of a challenge. Also, I have to work tomorrow in DC at 9 AM, so it may not all get done before dawn. THANK YOU! If you have not gotten a thank you email from me, please forgive; it's because I am mildly overwhelmed.

UPDATE 2 4/29: I await content from three bloggers who have indicated directly to me an intent to contribute a post. But I need 2 hours of sleep and I need closure. In six hours, I will be reviewing multi-lingual corporate documents 50 miles from here on special overtime for 7 hours. So you may have a hard time getting hold of me between now and Monday night. Theoretically, have to sleep at some point. Thanks very much to all; the support and contribitions were inspiring and made the work worthwhile.

FINAL EDITION: TAKE BACK THE BLOG 2007 IS HEREBY CLOSED EXCEPT TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY CONTACTED CRABLAW (2:45 AM 4/29).

BAC of Yikes!, whose motto starts "Don't agonize, organize," ties the need for an event such as Take Back the Blog! to sexist assumptions about women's career choices and pay equity. Rather than excerpt here, I would encourage you to bookmark the blog as a whole and check it all out. Many thanks, BAC.

Columnist Tze Ming Mok who writes Yellow Peril at New Zealand's Public Address writes of the intimidation attempts upon her and her response to them in "Are you gonna liberate us girls from male, white, corporate oppression?":

... the white supremacist movement (about four people - maybe more of a mah-jong group than a movement?), had a bad photo of me on a 'watchlist', which included a link to my phone number and address details. The purpose of this was to encourage harassment of me, due to my involvement in an anti-hate crimes march in Wellington 2004, on a day that ended with skinheads being routed from the city by a mob of bloodthirsty anarcho-punks. Naturally, I was also receiving a few nasty emails, sometimes threatening and graphic, via the Public Address feedback function, messages which I generally file under a 'Nazis' label and forget about unless they're particularly inventive.

At Wednesday's View, Kellie Powell describes the abuse that she took as a student journalist who dared to stand up for gay rights in her first year, first semester:

I remember walking to my class in a daze, wondering: How can so many people - who I have never even met - hate me so much? I was shocked by how much people hated gays, but I was even more shocked by the efforts they exerted to threaten me personally. I was called an "ugly fag hag." I was directed to a message board where people had posted photos of me, photos of my mother, and information about me from the campus directory. Someone even posted my class schedule.

WebWeaver checks in from Wellington New Zealand (TBTB2007 seems to have enjoyed a very strong showing from that proud country of 4 million!) and describes how she, a busy web developer, self-censors in her various blogging and other endeavors:

I work in a male-dominated industry (I'm a web developer), and although often I'm the only female coder in the office, my gender doesn't seem to have held me back at all. I'm in my dream job, working for the best web design company in the country. I think I'm doing OK.

And yet...and yet... the whole time I've been trying to compose this post I'm thinking that just because it hasn't happened to me yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen. I'm worrying about writing this as I write it because I'm afraid that even saying it hasn't happened is going to make it happen.

WebWeaver has additional coverage on her site of the reports about the threats and crimes against prominent tech blogger Kathy Sierra.

Velourmane focuses on systemic sexism in her analysis of harassment on- and 0ff-line:

Women who are identifiable as women are harrassed more online. This shouldn't be a shock to anyone who pays attention to, you know, life. Women are constructed as victims. It's not that all women are less strong than all men; I certainly know men who aren't very strong, who nevertheless don't have to worry about - say - taking a walk in the dark at night. The standard narrative constructs women as vulnerable targets, and appropriate victims, so even strong women are more likely to be targets for violence.

Uppity Rib brings her daily experiences in corporate communications to the experiences faced by women bloggers in Virtual Violence: Shining light on the dark side of the internet:

Significantly, even though the psychos have no idea who is reading their email, their rage is almost always expressed in a highly sexualized, misogynist manner. I could be a 55-year-old man for all they know, but their email will inevitably be some version of “fuck you bitch I hope you are gang raped and your children die of aids and your cunt is cut off.”

The bloggers are being assaulted with the same savagery, only their genders and contact information happen to be common knowledge.

Thus we wake from our dream of Utopia to acknowledge that misogyny is alive and well on Earth, and the internet is far from being immune. But I’m not worried. We’ve come a long way, baby, and it’s unlikely that women will retreat now just because the old foe has a new battle ground.

Kalimeg of Unrepentant Old Bat sets its straight about the "what about the men" crowd in All the Fit That's News:

What makes me craziest are the ones who begin by acting the part of "nice guys", but who get more and more defensive of their privilege until they suddenly turn and rend. That often happens when they are told that the topic in a given discussion is not going to focus on the men.

Journalist Devious Diva of This Is Not My Country took on racism in Greece in her investigation and reporting of the conditions faced by the Roma of Athens (often known improperly as "Gypsies.") When racists recently outed her personal ID, she stood strong. Crablaw is honored that she took time out of her schedule in light of recent pressures to contribute this brief but compelling post:

I have battled with stalkers, harrassment and threats almost since the beginning of my blogging experience but recent events really shook me to the core. I can honestly say that today, I am stronger and more determined than ever to continue in the battle I started.

Aicha Qandisha of Tales of Taromeet provides an example of non-blogosphere anonymous death threats against her free speech from her undergraduate days:

"You f***ing c***. Keep you f***ing ugly pie hole shut. Shut your ugly f***ing face....You better watch the f*** out. Watch you f***ing back. If you don't keep that ugly c*** of a mouth shut I will slit you f***ing throat."

Trinity of The Strangest Alchemy discusses the basic morality of privacy and respect of private identities online:

Coercion is a paradigm case of power over, and not only that but a paradigm case of its misuse.* Even people like me who think that not every form of power over is bad or wrong will agree that coercion is unacceptable. If you're really committed to limiting or stopping power over being used harm women (and, I would hope, being used to harm anyone at all), then I do not see how you can ever accept the idea that it's proper to coerce one.

New Zealander Span of Spanblather describes the all-white-boys club that frequently constitutes New Zealand politics and political blogging in XX in an XY World:

In a way the nz pol blogosphere is a reflection of the real world, although the arseholes are distilled and less avoidable. Often they come to you, and then if you tell them to leave you alone they get all "freedom of speech" on you and sometimes they start publishing your home address, emailing you disgusting things, generally making your life a misery. How do you get a restraining order online? And why should anyone need to anyway?

At Single-Dad v1.o, Single Dad stands bewildered and disgusted at the assholish conduct of men online. He has benefited from reading of the experiences of women bloggers:

This [his perspective] started changing when I entered the world of blogging and more importantly, actively reading blogs written by women.

Single Dad, I say keep going with what has clearly worked, and thank you for your support.

Jenna of Real Honest True Love tells of the sexualization of the political criticism she and other women students faced in student government as distinguished from what her male colleagues faced:

The other awful part was how hardly anyone stood up for me publicly. I got supportive e-mails and phone calls and talks over tea, but no one ever came out and said, STOP to his guy. And I don't know what to say about that, either. Maybe they were afraid of being targeted themselves. Maybe they didn't know what to do. I don't know.

Bill Hooker of Open Reading Frame - a site with a great blogroll - offers his succinct support:

It should go without saying, but it doesn't, so I'm adding my voice to those who are standing up and saying it today.

A Rose is a Rose of Nutmeg Grater makes a straight-forward call for justice in Today is Take Back the Blog Day:

we are EQUAL citizens of the world. we are your mothers, wives, partners, employers, employees, aunts, teachers, nurturers AND friends.

Aeroman of My Signature Weapon offers his law school grunt's-eye view of Yale Law School, the infamous AutoAdmit defamation controversies and the class implications of the decisions made by that academic community in response:

There's nothing inherently wrong with loyalty. But when we only defend those people to whom we think we owe that loyalty - especially if it's only owed through shared group membership - we effectively sort people into harassables and unharassables along lines of social and economic group power. That's hardly a desirable goal.

Anna McCormack, Editor-in-Chief of Ms. JD, a online magazine for women attorneys and law students, was kind enough to link to TBTB and to provide further links to a commented post regarding how the Yale Law School community addressed the AutoAdmit defamation of its students.

INTERMISSION

I thank the following contributors for their generous support of this TBTB blog. They have blogged about certain issues involving tensions within the more radical end of the feminist blogosphere. This is a topic with which I am simply ignorant, so I wont be offering comments. I don't just appear stupid about this subject; it's real, genuine article stupidity. But thank you for supporting TBTB, and I am open to doing a full, separate post in the future for the full examination of these issues.

Fetch Me My Axe

Herdwatching

END INTERMISSION

Mental Hygiene of Mental Hygine Unit sees beyond the blogosphere in "Take Back the ..."

But please, let's not stop after we get finished typing out our posts. We must speak with our dollars and use our time wisely. We must not be afraid to stand up for ourselves or to challenge something that perpetuates the myths about women that some find entertaining and ego-boosting.

Red Stapler of Me and My Red Stapler distills core equations of the online male troll harasser:

Normal person + Internet Connection + anonymity = raging asshole. (Apologies to the creators of Penny Arcade.)

Throw some male entitlement and rape culture fuels onto the fire, and you have most blogs and forums on the internet.

Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise provides a measured, compelling case for Standing Our Ground:

The good news is that the progressive blogosphere rallied behind these victims and held up the ugliness of their harassers for all to see. I hope we can continue to build on this pattern of mutual support.

So, instead of pledging to take back the blog, let's say loud and clear that women aren't going anywhere. People of good will are going to stand together and force the bullies out.

Crablaw remains greatly indebted to Lindsay Beyerstein's support for this project, which was early, strong and remoralizing in moments of doubt and fatigue.

Ioana Contu of Ladyfest Romania is working to organize the first Take Back the Night march in Bucharest in October 2007. Although readers of most Romance languages may be able to understand much of the flyer at the Ladyfest page, Ioana helpfully describes the content as follows:

The info on the flyer in Romanian is a call to action for people and a little explanation on what is TBTN.

First paragraph explains how violence against women is a big human right problem in Romania as well as in other places in the world. Also that in our country too often the responsibility for change is left in the hands of authorities and NGOs that are slow and inefficient and how we need direct action to happen.

The rest is a few words about what TBTN is, what kind of experience it can make for a woman and how a group of women can make it happen.

Ioana, thank you very kindly, especially re: my error in accidentially removing links to your site; it was accidental during a long night. Best wishes for success in your efforts in Bucharest and mulţumesc!

Kim of Kimbaland describes the fear of violence and the deference to the feelings of males with which many women are instilled from an early age:

My mother also taught me to be afraid, like most mothers do. The lurking danger of being raped was the backdrop of my adolescence; the rationale behind many curfew decisions, the reason a particular activity wouldn’t be allowed, the justification for the irritating differences between what I could do and what my younger brothers could do.

I don’t think these experiences are unique. Nor do I think that rape is an issue that parents of girls shouldn’t be worried about. But teaching daughters that men are emotionally fragile, physically aggressive potential rapists who need to have their needs met no matter what (again, what is the inverse of this?) invites the kind of behavior we see on the internet.

Liz Ditz of I Speak of Dreams has very kindly provided a parallel commentary and blogswarm to this one - many thanks for your hard work, Liz! Her post has a dramatic logo that I like for the blogswarm, but which will not fit easily on this narrow column of mine and is detailed enough that a "shrink" of it won't do it justice. (Though I remain in love with Renee's raised fist logo....) Liz has a very thoughtful prior post linked on her TBTB page regarding nasty troll and defamation issues in various fora, some specific to issues of women bloggers and some not. Thanks, Liz!!!

I never leave the house without incident's Sassywho identifies herself as a 3rd Generation American since her grandmother did not receive full citizenship rights as a voter untilt he passage of the 19th Amendment. But as Sassywho notes, voting is not enough:

Voting alone is not enough of a voice, it takes more engagement than that to fully participate in life. Those who already have a voice and already have representation can not fully understand the concessions and sacrifices made by those aching to be heard. A woman as an authority in any matter is subject to criticism, as anyone is. However, there is readily a laundry list to dismiss her expertise simply because she is a woman. As is tradition in our culture, if that can't shut her up violence and threats have always been incredibly efficient. It's worked on the internet, in the boardroom, on the factory floor, and in homes.

Twisty Faster makes it perfectly clear on the front page masthead: I Blame the Patriarchy. And she is inclined to view this Take Back the Blog event as merely the "Big Whoop of the Week" because dealing with patriarchal violence is the core competence of her blog, day-to-day. But Crablaw remains grateful for her support as well as her characteristically blunt assessment of the limits of what a one-day blogospheric event can do:

Time for a Twisty bromide: Women’s oppression is a global humanitarian crisis. Any so-called political blogger who (a) who does not explicitly, strenuously, and regularly denounce it, and (b) condones an antifeminist commentarian zeitgeist, might as well rename their stupid blog "I Defend the Conviction that Male Abuse of Women Constitutes the Natural Order, Now Where Are the Boobies?"

John Goff of i am jack's non-blog focuses on and links to how misogynists intend and make efforts specifically to silence women in the blogosphere and beyond:

The threats, the hate, the abuse directed towards female bloggers (see see see see see) all involve one end. Female silence. There's other misogynist undercurrents, of course, but in the end, that isn't as important as getting women to not speak up.

Alice Marshall of GOTV has done a massive lot of fantastic work to support this effort both leading up to today and today on her blog. Thank you so much, Alice!!!! In addition to all of the promotional and organizational work she has done/is doing, Alice has posted a Congressional legislative update on eight bills dealing with domestic and international efforts to stop sexual violence, stalking, predation and murder of women, in varying procedural postures to date. Those Crablaw readers who are connected with Capitol Hill or the lobbying efforts on such bills should consider visiting Alice's site and share the wealth of your wisdom.

Focusing on sexual violence outside the blogosphere, Dan of Fitness for the Occasion discusses why we need to discuss rape more openly, opening with a story of a subversive choice of his 12th grade political theory teacher:

Earlier in the week, a student had been raped. A freshman girl had been forced into oral sex by an upperclassman (and member of some sports team). Those in the know had been expressly forbidden from discussing the matter. This wasn’t something that went into the papers, nor something which spread around campus quickly, like when we had our Columbine scare (which fortunately turned out to be a false alarm). What still sticks with me is Ms. F starting the class by closing the door stating this was a topic she was not allowed to bring up, but one we needed to talk about. The chairs were in a circle, and we started to talk. About the rape being covered up. About what we would do if it was us being forced. If it had been a friend in either position. About what rape itself was.

Heather Corinna of Femmerotic provides a detailed, extended counterpoint to the experiences of women bloggers in the large categories of political and tech blogging through her personal and blogging experiences as a blogger on the topic of sexuality:

A handful of years back, I had a brief relationship (far briefer in the actual relationship than in the aftermath, unfortunately) with another blogger which very quickly became emotionally abusive when the limits and boundaries I’d made clear I needed were simply not those he desired, and which from the start, he’d only said were okay because he’d clearly decided for himself he could ignore them completely. What was supposed to be, agreed to be, a temporary stay in my apartment until he found housing of his own very quickly escalated into a long-term cohabitation I incessantly protested, and which became a tool used to manipulate me with daily.

One can only reasonably assume that when someone goes into a forum or blog and contributes in any way to verbal abuse, women-hating and stalking, it is because they enjoy doing so, because they like the veritable masked gang-bang, and because when the invitation to do so is in any way extended, they are happy to accept. I simply do not see any other conclusion to reach from where I’m sitting.

* * *

I’m not sure how I feel about having stayed silent, and even still staying partially silent now, giving only the Cliff’s Notes. Part of me feels like a chicken-shit, and like my silence, like so many silences, enabled the whole culture of silence that I do work to try and dismantle every day.

Jill Filipovic of Feministe has promised a post, and Crablaw remains grateful for her strong and early support of this endeavor.

Greensmile of The Executioners Thong provides several detailed analyses of possible responses to predatory trolls, with an eye towards many of the discussions in the aftermath of the threats of violence and online predation against Kathy Sierra. Greensmile:

The abuse of freedom is really hard to curb without curbing the freedom. The hollaback would be a good thing, but if it really worked, assholes would cover up their real identities faster than they cover their nuts in street fight. and spawning pseudonyms is too cheap these days.

The following post I prepared for this Blogswarm last of all. Divine Lavender of Lavender Squirts, a private blog, offered her compelling 30 Ways I am Thriving, which uses intensely personal and mature language to discuss intensely personal and mature topics. Because Lavender Squirts is a private blog, Crab Media will host 30 Ways I Am Thriving at Ms. Lavender's discretion. Frankly, it was preserving Ms. Lavender's voice - intact, despite my uneven skills at amateur web layout - on this post that made the work worthwhile into the night.

Dante and the Lobster's Medbh offers her brief but warm support to TBTB; thank you, Medbh!

Cara of The Curvature gets to the point with efficiency and fire in defense of Kathy Sierra and all women bloggers:

I have absolutely no criticism for Kathy Sierra and how she handled her situation. I have nothing but sympathy for what she went through. No one should ever be threatened with sexual violence, even if it "wasn't serious." No one should have their social security number posted online. That's not criticism or a game; it's fucking assault. And anyone who tries to tell you that there weren't misogynist motivations behind it is either a liar or an idiot.

But we have to take back the blog for the same reason that our ancestors had to fight for the right to vote; because we will never be given that which we don't demand.

Cap'n Dyke, Lesbian Pirate Queen and Rogue Blogger steps away from ship maintenance and fighting scurvy to provide a defense of the human and civil rights of women on the blogosphere in Gentle Men on th’Ship, Look Away; This Not Be for Ye. From Cap'n Dyke in her original Pirate-ese prose:

Oh, wait, that probably won’t happen, because o’ th’women who’ve been brain-washed t’believe their sole-purpose in life is t’serve ye. Mmmm, I wonder who taught them that? That they aren’t as good as ye… Whoops, somethin’ be amiss here because women live longer, have a higher pain tolerance, have greater endurance an’ better health an’ have higher GPA in education an’ are goin’ t’college in greater numbers than ye are.

It be not only time t’Take Back th’Blog from bullies who couldn’t say th’things they do t’people’s faces (isn’t havin’ a blog wonderful?), but t’take back humanity for women. Women are th’targets o’other people’s lack o’self-confidence in th’bloggin’ community an’ in their everyday lives.

Bubba's Nightmare brings the doom to the "Bubba's" and "duuuuudes of the World" who fail or refuse to call sexism by its name in Blogswarm for us all:

The next time you hear some Bubba leerily harass a woman on the sidewalk, speak up. When you hear about some outrage committed by public officials, write a well-thought-out rational letter (a real paper-and-ink letter) to them. And (most especially) when you see a blog post, or a comment to a blog post, that spews sexual hatred or ignorance or condescension, don’t sit silently.

Fight the good fight, y’all. You’re fighting for all of humanity on this one.

Blue Gal provides a straight-forward defense of her and all bloggers' dignity and freedom in the subtlely titled "You bet your ass we're taking back the blog":

And that loss of anonymity brings with it the whole problem. I'm a woman. Exposure might lead to all kinds of unwanted attention, and I'm pretty good at deflecting that, but watching what happened to a woman who didn't mean to offend anyone....

...just not sure I wanna go there. And folks, it happens. All the time. If I had an extra half hour I could link to six or seven women telling of the time they were threatened physically by an anonymous message. Here's one, found with no effort whatsoever. I know. I know.

In Being Bothered to Help, Sylvia of The Anti-Essentialist Conundrum uses the analogy of solving a jigsaw puzzle to focus on the human dynamics surrounding sexual violence, predation, stalking and the tendency of people to distance themselves from recognizing and empathizing with the targets of such crimes:

In human experience, you’d think this dynamic would play out differently, but I don’t think it does. Sometimes we can’t see the individual pieces for the entire puzzle. We can’t see that overarching clue-bat signaling sexual violence because we’re too busy scoffing at its bruises. We’re too quick to assign the brutality and abuse as mundane, perhaps rightfully and wrongfully for the same reason: it happens more often than we want to admit. We need to stop reducing violence against women to a platitude. We need to destroy the “if and only if” situations in which we choose to act. Even if all we can do is find a treatment number, go to a self-defense class with the person, or stay alert for a sign of the person’s concern, we need to do something. If everyone focused on one different, lesser problem, the bigger problem has a higher chance of being averted. But it takes initiative and willingness to do something. We have to face the abnormal. We have to confront what bothers us and question ourselves about why certain events have become commonplace.

Being Amber Rhea's eponymous blogger discusses "civil discourse" with either regular and "snark" quotes around the term:

Being an eternal optimist, I’m confident that civil discourse is possible - but only if those of us who are interested in it put our collective foot down and refuse to tolerate abuse, hate speech, threats, silencing, and other such bullshit that most certainly does not fall under the umbrella of Free Speech.

Further, this means wishy-washy assholes like Kos who’re showing their true colors in light of the recent discussions about online bullying and such, should continue to be called on their bullshit.

Jen of Academic Pointillism asks directly: Why are there so few women on Digg?:

Since geek culture is predominantly male-dominated, it is not surprising that sites like digg feature quasi-pornographic images on the front page, or that geek conventions feature booths with bikini-clad babes pushing products and computer games that even have female characters generally sexualize the hell out of them.

* * * * * * * *

Crablaw thanks the following additional blogs and bloggers to be listed below who did not per se submit a substantive post for formal inclusion by email to TBTB2007@crablaw.com, but did kindly promote or discuss this effort (if either Technorati or I have negligently omitted you, please email me and I will link to you here.) If you WANT your substantive post listed as part of the TBTB Blogswarm, or I missed you by error, email me and I will do so; just trying to respect the freedom of every blogger to associate or not to associate. This list will be expanding as the day goes on.

Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon.
Jill of Women and Tech News.
Jinja at Webbed Feet, Web Log.
Anja of "Lesen statt Putzen" [German for Reading instead of cleaning]
All sites of all commenters.

UPDATE (4/30): Article in the Washington Post by Ellen Nakamura on recent events along the theme of this blogswarm.