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There are good reasons why Girl Shy is one of my favourite films.
For example I can empathise with the lead character... ;-) |
This blogging malarkey, I mean!
This may well turn out to be what I believe in modern parlance is termed a "random" post, but let's see how it goes.
Over the last 4-day weekend here in Britain, which I hope everyone enjoyed, it came to my attention - between all the revelries and enjoyment of the Spring weather - that my unassuming little blog passed the 100 followers mark. I promised that when this milestone was reached I would have a give-away and so I shall. I am, after all, a man of my word. Unfortunately it will have to wait a little while though for, as ever, life has intervened and I shall be away from the blogosphere for a time from this coming weekend. When I return, though, the give-away will happen!
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| "I'm afraid it's a serious case of blogitis!" |
Now, when thinking about all my splendid followers and what to give away, I began to think about an interesting [vintage] blogging anomaly. Others have noticed it too, namely Andrea of
The Deco Devotee, and I shall be interested to read her take on it in due course. It is the dearth of male vintage bloggers. A quick glance at the 90-odd vintage blogs on my blogroll reveals that almost
90% of them are written by women. Of my 103 followers, roughly
75% are female. Where are the chaps?!
Donning my scholarly hat for a moment my own theory, for what it's worth (based solely on a 10-year-old A-level English Language qualification) is this: blogging shares a lot in common with
gossiping. At the risk of alienating the majority of my audience(!) - women like to gossip. Men, less so. ;-) Perhaps it would be more fair to say that women enjoy sharing experiences, are generally more conversational than men, and that quite naturally extends to the vintage world as well. To continue the academic point, another comparison can be drawn between blogging and the use of questions. Men, ever the pragmatists, use questions to elicit information, answers. Women can use questions as conversation starters/extenders. So it is with blogging in a way, I think. If I look at the few blogs, vintage or otherwise, which are written by men then by and large they are simply imparting information and advice. My own blog is a case in point - I am basically saying "look what has happened here", albeit with a vintage bent. A lot of the feminine blogs, I venture to say, are talking about new discoveries, handy hints and day-to-day personal incidents (but then, is that not what blogs are meant for?) - "look at what I found/did, isn't it lovely?" - again in this particular case with a vintage angle. Looked at a certain way, the [vintage] blogosphere is a microcosm of the two gender groups (my goodness, that sounds awfully serious and didactic, doesn't it? Does it even make sense?).
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"Did you see the Royal Wedding on Friday?"
"Yes." |
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"Did you see the Royal Wedding on Friday?"
"Oooh, wasn't it lovely?"
"Yes, didn't Kate look beautiful?"
"Oh, her dress was simply darling, don't you think?"
"And Prince Harry - swoon!" Etc., etc., ad infinitum. :-P |
Quickly, because I can tell you're drifting off (I don't blame you, either!), to focus on the vintage aspect I think it is easier for women to find and to post about vintage or
vintage-inspired fashion than it is for men (and again, fashion tends to be a more feminine interest) but beyond that I can't imagine why there aren't more vintage fellows blogging about their experiences and activities - I'm sure it would make for interesting reading!
So this brings me back to the give-away and something that a certain female family member (who shall remain nameless because she doesn't like the Internet ;-P ) said about it that has given me pause for thought. Without trying to give too much away as to the prizes, it has been suggested that none of them are overly "feminine" and that if a lady were to win - as seems statistically more likely - I ought to include something flowery, pretty or pink (or all the above!). All the prizes are, of course, of a vintage-themed nature and aren't, I would say, particularly "masculine" or "feminine". In fact, the thought never occurred to me and to be honest I still think it is rather redundant. Still, I'll never hear the end of it if I don't check, so should I include a particular gender-defining prize dependent upon the winner, or are you fine ladies and gentlemen more than happy to receive fairly unisex items? Let me know!
