The other day I googled "lesbian blogs" using google blog search, just to see what I might find. The first real link I found, that wasn't porn, was a post called 6 Degrees of Separation, on a blog called Bears Mountain. I started chuckling by the second line of the post when she said

I did an experiment this afternoon.

I googled "lesbian blogs", thinking I would come out with some weird search results. Let's just say I was amazed. -OC, Bears Mountain

I thought, funny, that's how I got to you. Then I read further, finding myself smirking and nodding my head in total agreement.

I googled "lesbian blogs". I came up with all sort's of strange results, many being porn sites. But, there were a few I clicked on, and they were really nice blogs.

 

I started clicking around on their blog rolls, and guess what happened? I found my way back home, to this community. It took many click's, and the randomness of it was what took me by surprise.

Click after click, I hit new blogs I had never heard of, then BAM...all the sudden, there was Lori's blog on someones blog roll. I'm on her blog roll, so it was like coming full circle. -OC, Bears Mountain

As I was reading this post, on a blog I had never heard of and had found by googling "lesbian blogs", I thought, this is so true. I've noticed this exact same thing. Then I clicked on the comments, and I saw comments by several bloggers who I read and who's blog rolls I'm in. So I checked her blog roll. Sure enough, there were two bloggers who's blog rolls I knew I was in, Suburban Lesbian and Just Eat Your Cupcake, giving me 2 degrees of separation from Bears Mountain.

It really struck me as oddly coincidental. I mean, how weird that I would find a post about 6 degrees of separation within the sphere of lesbian bloggers, on a random blog I'd not ever heard of, and then be link back to myself through several people in her blog roll. I've always been intrigued by the notion of 6 degrees of separation, and I would think that the internet connecting people from around globe must be narrowing the number of degrees.

We all know it's a small world: Any one of us is only about six acquaintances away from anyone else. Even in the vast confusion of the World Wide Web, on the average, one page is only about 16 to 20 clicks away from any other. But how, without being able to see the whole map, can we get a message to a person who is only "six degrees of separation" away? -How does 'six degrees of separation' work? from Cornell University, Computer Science

Being the inquisitive type of person that I am, I decided I needed to try this a few times to determine the average number of degrees of separation I am from other lesbian bloggers. Since I don't have a program that will crawl the blog rolls of all lesbian bloggers and build a data base for me, I'll have click my way through and see what I come up with. I'll get my starting blogs by googling "lesbian blogs" since that's what started this whole thing to begin with, and pick ones I've not heard of, or maybe have heard of them but that I don't read. Then I'll look through their blog rolls or list of links to see if there is anyone I know in them, if not I'll just pick one that seems interesting and keep working my way through until I get to someone who has me on their blog roll. It's not all that scientific, but I think it will be fun. And, it will expose me to a lot of new blogs.

Attempt 1: 2 degrees of separation. I started with Your Daily Lesbian Moment, which led me to slogreenx, which led me back to me (gaymo).

Attempt 2: 3 degrees of separation. I started with wAitiNG foR doROthY, then went to Hahn at Home, which led me to Drowning Pisces, Recovering Straight Girl, and a few others who don't have blog rolls but who all lead back to me.

Attempt 3: 3 degrees of separation. I started with Miss Averice speaks her mind, then went Terroni because I knew she would link me to Just Eat Your Cupcake, who goes back to me.

Attempt 4: 2 degrees of separation. I decided to change things up here and go with the lesbian lifestyles 2006 blog of the year, Ham & Cheese on Wry for my starting blog. Which led me to Let's Kill Saturday Night, who led back to me.

Attempt 5: 2 degrees of separation. I started with the lesbian lifestyles 2007 blog of year winner, Dorothy Surrenders. She links to The Lesbian Question, which goes back to me.

I won't even really draw a conclusion here because my experiment really was more about fun than actual science. I'm sure I could find blogs that would take me forever, or maybe never, to link back to me, but I might find some great blogs along the way. I also think the degrees of separation between lesbian bloggers is probably less than for straight blogger, only because there are so many fewer bloggers who are lesbians. But you just never know.

So what about you? How many degrees of separation do you think you are from other bloggers?
Try starting with one of the bloggers I've linked to in this post. If you want to start with a non lesbian blogger, you could try starting with Nucking Futs, Random and Odd, Puck U & the Skates You Came In On, or so the fish said.