The following is a Guest Post from Brandy Eddings.
Last school year while at recess my daughter approached a group of boys playing kickball. She asked if she could join, the boy holding the ball told her “only boys can play”. My daughter’s response was “then why are they letting you play” she grabbed the ball and ran onto the field and no one else opposed her joining and the game went on. Her teacher told me that now all the games at recess are now co-ed and they have never had that happen in the years she has taught at that school. Without realizing it she used determination and humor to change the culture of the school.
I get that Blogher is about supporting female bloggers but creating a double standard of not even allowing male speakers at their conferences goes a little too far. Now I’m not against women supporting other women but shouldn’t the focus be people supporting people. We should be striving to fade the line drawn between the sexes not making it bolder.
As a woman in business I face sexism more often then I even like to admit to myself. However, I do make the choice to face it, deal with it and hope to change it one small step at a time. Women in business simply could not succeed if we avoided all men altogether. Even the notion of that is just ridiculous. The online world is still in its infant stages, our present actions and decisions will determine the future of the online culture, even if we don’t realize it yet. Exclusion is discrimination no matter what type of spin you try to put on it.
You don’t have to be anti-man to be pro-woman. ~Jane Galvin Lewis
