bloog

i'm feeling a little bloogy. however, i bought a new pair of cropped pants over the weekend that i love. i need new shoes for it. now.

but one thing has caught my reluctant attention: i could have sworn people had already pounded this topic into the ground, but i guess not. (i also would have thought that xx blog's rhetorical twist on it would have ended the navel gazing...)

imagine an empty expanse of beach. a row boat nudges the shore. scads of pale, bloviating men jump to the sand. "Ah," they say. "We shall claim this island for ourselves! We shall name this wide open free uninhabited beach Blogosopia!" and the men cheer. from the tree line, a group of women watch them cheer. they watch them light fires and lay down and mark different territories. 'how annoying', they murmur. and so they leave the cover of the trees to move further down the beach.

'hey,' says one layabout guy. 'i think those are women there.'
'no. can't be.'
'yes. there they are.' and he points to the group of women moving down the beach. he waves and the women wave back.
'absolutely not. this is Blogosopia and there are no women here! we are the first! yay for us!'
'uh, i'm pretty sure those are women...'
'well, we'll just pretend they aren't here, then.'
another cheer.

this whole deliberate blindness reminds me of a conversation i had with my father once, about the 'down low' thing. he and i were having drinks with my friend Dr. A and his partner, S--. my father was absolutely floored that there could be 'straight' black men who preferred to have sex with gay men. (the whole DL phenom is another thing i don't have time for right now. maybe later.) Dr. A and i laughed. Dr. A said, 'mr. ding, being on the down low has existed for ages. there were songs written about it during the harlem renaissance.' and he quoted one. and another one. my father gaped like a fish.

he said, 'i never knew this. why haven't i known this?'
i said, 'but gay people have known this.'
he said, 'i'm shocked.'
i said, 'if you really wanted to know about gay history, dad, it's all there. you just have to look.'

so to all those people who find themselves on the side of the hegemony, here's a word of wisdom from me to you: get a fucking clue. step outside of your fucking subject position, for once, and realize the world is wider than the two foot radius surrounding your body.

before you open your fucking mouth to ask 'where are the women [insert current brain fart here]?' stop and think. really really think.

think about why you're asking that particular question. ponder more valuable questions: why aren't i linking to women political bloggers? what am i assuming when i imply female political bloggers don't exist? what does it mean when i implicitly assert female bloggers should model a masculine-defined blogging practice? how have i gotten so far being such a dumbass?