I loved Haron’s recent post about “Living on the scene”. One of the joys of blogging together is that we rarely see each other’s posts before they pop up on the site – and it’s such a delight when I get to see what she’s written; this was one of my favourites of hers.
My attention was also caught by a comment she made, in response to some thought-provoking replies that readers had posted:
Can I just say how much it tickles me that all the responses on this thread are from women? (Not to say men aren’t welcome, but I just love female friendships that emerge in the scene.)
I do find it interesting that the majority of the commenters on the blog as a whole *are* women. I’ve often wondered why that is. Is it that the fairer sex perhaps tend more towards literary blogs like ours than to sites that are more photographic (or even pornographic) in nature? It certainly seems that the male – female commenter ratio here is very different to that on Haron’s modelling blog, for example.
Is it simply a case of like-following-like: that female readers see other female commenters, so feel comfortable with contributing? Or is it something that happens more generally across the spankosphere? I’m fascinated to hear any thoughts – from readers of either gender!
“Is it that the fairer sex perhaps tend more towards literary blogs like ours than to sites that are more photographic (or even pornographic) in nature?”
That would be the gender-stereotypical explanation, but it is probably the best one. After all, various studies point to the fact that most viewers of pornographic videos are male while most readers of pornographic / erotic literature are female. Even though exceptions on both sides do, of course, exist.
I haven’t done an actual count on my own blog lately, but my best guess would be that the male-female ratio among my frequent commenters is fifty-fifty, or close to it. Which would mean that I also have more female commenters than the average spanking blog. Perhaps that is because my blog is roughly halfway between yours and the norm in terms of the text-vs-picture ratio? Overall, it is rather text-heavy, but I also have movie reviews and behind-the-scenes reports from movie shoots which seem to attract a fair share of mostly male readers.
Hi Abel,
My readers are about 60/40 male, but my commenters are more like 70/30 female. My content is also mostly text.
I think women tend to be more inclined, as a result of both nature and nurture, to actively build and maintain relationships and communities. Our purpose in leaving a comment on a blog often goes beyond simply expressing an opinion (though we certainly do that!). We also offer support, share feelings, and celebrate successes.
Men’s comments more often seem to address the specific question at hand. I love my male commenters because they consistently offer perspectives I had not considered.
In my experience, both on the internet and IRL, the best conversations are those where the participants are a diverse group. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to comment, but I always hope for a good sample.
I hope you both enjoy a wonderful holiday!
Hugs,
Bonnie
I also pondered about a similar thing a while ago: proportionately, of the scene-folk I know, a significant percentage of them hail from our neck of the woods. Certainly, I can immediately count 5 scene-regulars that come from within a 10-mile or so radius – is there something in the water around here that makes us perverted? Or just something that makes us more vocal about our perversions? Hmm, interesting…
Is there a difference in the ratio for your posts and Haron’s? Perhaps not. It seems to me that men comment more often after yours than after Haron’s, but the good-natured teasing that occasionally follows your posts is usually done by women.
Actually, Bonnie’s explanation sounds right to me, and I’d guess your readership is similar to hers with regard to the M/F split.
A very interesting question, Abel! Hmm, it might not fit to Indy’s observation, but maybe one additional factor which explains the different commenter ratio on this and Haron’s modelling blog is that the two of you write this blog as a couple. To my mind not only having a female author but a male author as well might attract an additional number of women…