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I think that it is time that we have an honest conversation about the world of blogging. It seems every few months, a blog run by a woman erupts in some form of controversy due to advertising or remuneration. Most reasonable people are aware that bloggers aren’t living at home, typing away in their mother's basement, but the mendacious myth that we are all financially well-off seems to just want to stick around.
I was reading Amanda over at the Washington City Paper recently and she had to explain why she had what a reader viewed to be a sexist advertisement on her blog. Feministing’s readers have complained about fat-phobic ads and Feministe had to give a breakdown of their finances last year to satisfy reader curiosity. In an effort to make her space safe, Liss over at Shakesville canceled her advertising and is now dependent upon reader donations to support her work. Every two months, she puts up a reminder post and inevitably some pain in the ass will show up to complain.
I feel the need to say that blogging is hard work. I know it may simply seem like bloggers are living the life of Riley, but I am here to tell you first hand, that some days my stress level is incredibly high. From the hate mail to the drive to always find interesting subjects to write about, each day brings a lot of stress. This is not to say that I don’t like what I do, but that it is very unrecognized and often filled with conflict.
I know that people believe that -- because there are ads on my blog -- that I am making a significant amount of money, but don’t let that fool you. Advertisement does not come close to offering me equitable reward for what I do. Like many women before me, I have had to find separate ways to finance my urge to communicate and explore this world through the written word.
I had no idea until recently how many people were reading my blog using Google Reader. This may be very convenient for you as a reader, but it means that you are not landing on my blog. This means that you are not giving me pageviews, which is how I get paid through advertising. To change this, I have altered my feed so that it will no longer provide full posts. I am working on getting snippets to appear so that you can get a sense of what each piece is about, but that may take some time, as I am not technologically savvy.
Whenever I can, I try to support the work of women writers because I know first-hand how hard it is: I know about the rejection letters, the hate mail, and what it's like presiding over epic blog wars. I know about the stress and the high standards that we are held to. I know about the courage it takes to lay yourself naked before the world in the hope of making some change. I know what it is to see your good intentions spit upon.I know what it is to learn publicly -- and to challenge yourself to unlearn -- all of the privileges that you have spent a lifetime learning. I also know that despite the challenges, someone will always show up to tell you that you missed something, or how wrong you are doing something, even as they often lack the courage to do what you do every single day.
Blogging is work. What's more -- it is unpaid labor for most of us that do it. This may not mean much to you, but I ask you to consider that most of the work women do in this world is unpaid and this largely contributes to the economic gender imbalance. So when I see yet another blogger having to explain why she has ads that are questionable, it makes me upset.
Each day of our lives we make compromises. We have to because we live in the world as it is and not as we want it to be. This does
