Lowering the Standards
Posted by Raven on September 19th, 2006
A couple weeks ago I did an experiment. At my personal site, I posted a picture of my cleavage. Just to see what would happen with the stats. There has been a lot of talk about Tits=Hits among the Cotillion gals. We’ve had a lot of talks about this; we have written about it before…I wanted to see if it was true. That personal site has been around for about 5 weeks now…and averages 20 visits a day that last more than 5 minutes. Once the boobie shot went up, the stats went up as well- to 250, 290, and 240…you get the picture. This post also received the most comments of all my posts there. I think there were 13 or 14…all from friends who didn’t say anything degrading or nasty. In fact most of the comments were from women who are friends and who just wanted to see.
That post has been removed. The experiment is over. It proved a lot.
Now along comes John Hawkins. A man who I have respected since his first days blogging- who is intelligent and articulate. Who got the RightRoots movement MOVING.
I don’t respect him anymore.
Why? Because of this shit:
If you’re a female blogger and one of your strengths is your looks, there’s nothing wrong with trying to look sexy to entice guys over to your page. Nothing. At. All. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, and enjoy the increased traffic.
Yeah. Sure. So old and lonely men like John can masturbate, either physically or mentally, whenever they visit these sites? Rather than read what might be an excellent post?
No. I think not. If men want to do that stuff, they should go to the Porn Blogs (of which there are millions).
If John had mentioned just using looks for increased traffic, this would be different. But he had to bring in the SEXY part. And the word ENTICE. Mixed together with GUYS, and one can only assume men are reading blogs for one reason and one reason alone. To get a glance of some body part on a woman. This also pushes the age old thought that women use their bodies to attract men, which many DO…but not all of us. Some of us are better than that. Some of us hold ourselves and the men in our lives to a higher standard. Sorry John. You’re beneath me now. I have no respect for you anymore. You have just lumped all men into a category where they don’t all wish to be.
Beth, the strong and opinionated woman of the right, has a sharp word to say as well:
You know, I don’t get emotional often–in fact, it’s an extremely rare thing for me to be “emotional” about anything other than being pissed off about the usual shit (leftards, Islamotards, punditards, the usual).
I’m tired of being told that women’s emotions have no place. That our emotional states are not important, not worthwhile and are to be ignored and disregarded. I’m sick to death of hearing that men don’t like to hear the emotional stuff. All humans are emotional. It’s part of what makes us HUMAN. I agree that women’s emotions sometimes get in our way to see things clearly. But the other side of this argument is this: Without our emotions we would be cold objects of no affection. There would be no love and warmth in this world.
I don’t know why I bother with this shit. You know, I don’t plaster my fucking mugshot all over this blog because I don’t want the kind of readers that only come here for the fucking human decoration. I suppose if I were a whore, as apparently women are expected to be, I would use my face and body for a payoff. But I don’t. Maybe that’s acceptable in your world, but it isn’t in mine. Frankly, I find the constant objectification of women at RWN and a couple other blogs sleazy and creepy, not to mention out of place on what is supposedly a political site. Apparently you think women have so little to say of import that we SHOULD show some skin to boost our traffic–that no matter what we actually have to SAY, our looks trump (tramp) it.
Beth brings out the feelings many of us women bloggers have: Should we lower our own standards and allow our bodies to be used for the benefit of some who seem to think that is all we are good for? Should we exploit our looks to get site hits? And if we chose to do that, will anyone even read what we write? Some of us ask: Should be just sit and look pretty and keep our mouths shut? And stop blogging because after all, we’re just women?
Hawkins then chooses to write another post about Beth, basically attacking her for her opinion:
The rule is: You’re not supposed to acknowledge in any way, shape, or form that you admire a woman’s looks. If you do, it somehow means that what she says is valueless and that you think of her as some sort of gutter trawling prostitute.
Of course, that makes no sense whatsoever.
Uh huh. Words like Sexy, Entice and Guys are the words prostitutes live by. I know.
Does John bother to read his comments? The ones left by people who rudely called Beth fat, ugly, feminist ect etc? Does John engage these commentors with thoughtful discussion about the issue? No. He allows the rudeness and crudeness to rule.
It’s his site and he should set a standard. But he doesn’t. It’s not about feminism John. It’s about respect. If a woman puts up a picture of herself and she isn’t a perfect 10, she will be ridiculed and called names and insulted- by mostly men I hate to say. If the non-beautiful people of this world stood a chance of getting some respect they would not have an issue with this. Beth is not ugly. She is not fat. She is not a feminist. She is a beautiful woman who has a brain AND emotions.
John claims a higher ground by stating that he never said women HAVE to post pictures of themselves…and that’s its perfectly ok for us NOT to do so. But…But…
But, if you’re a woman who wants to use her looks to draw in readers in an effort to hopefully keep them coming back with your commentary, there’s not a thing in the world wrong with it.
I’m no 10. Hardly. But I’m not ugly either. I don’t need to boob VBlog for readers, because I don’t want to be judged, rudely and with no class, by people like John and his commentors who attacked Beth. No thanks.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
You nailed it. Especially this:
Should we lower our own standards and allow our bodies to be used for the benefit of some who seem to think that is all we are good for?
Spot on. Spot fucking on. The whole post.
Thanks for saying all this, ’cause you know how the sewer rats will react. I think it’s important for more than just one pipsqueak like me to say this stuff, because I can easily be written off if I’m the only one saying it…as though I have “issues.” They just don’t seem to understand at ALL that most women expect to be treated with respect, and then recoil when one of us dares(!) to object to disrespect.
Their cluelessness is staggering. Don’t they at least have mothers?
September 19th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Shocking Truth Revealed! Attractive Women Can Use Their Looks To Get Traffic
Beth over at My Vast Wing Conspiracy, (a blog that I like, by the way) took great offense at part…
September 19th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
You preach it girl.
My conclusions after years of working in a man’s world is that, when men think and express to be sexy to achieve something they are very insecure in their manly skin themselves.
They only men I have ever met that feels that way are not comfortable with an intelligent women. I would rather be referred to as a stand up ole gal than sexy any day.:P
September 19th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
hey……I rather like coming to your blog just for the intellectual stimulation…it gets me all hot and bothered
Thats a joke
September 19th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Beth- this isn’t fun to do. But dammit all to hell.
Nailing on the head shouldn’t be something we have to do here but appearently it is. Hawkins is too chicken shit to leave a comment here. Instead he links up and bashes you me at his site. So typical of a fucking wimp ass man. He’s no man…not at all.
You know, many millions of people think Conservative men are hung up with sex…this shit proves that point to the nail. It’s not true but one would never know it reading a leading conservative male blog that mentions this shit.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Patty- I hear you. I am not a feminist. I love men. More than I can tell you. Most of my friends are guys.
I know how they can think…and I know more than most how they are when it comes to this “Man’s world”– trust me…it isn’t always pretty. I’m not about that- I could care less. I just hate to see guys encouraging women to lower their standards. That’s all. And that is exactly what Hawkins has done.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Dennis– I’m not a prude for the love of GAWD. People who know me KNOW THAT is the lasr damn thing I am.
I’m not a equal opportunity bycth either.
Nor I am a feminist.
I just think women deserve better than what Hawkins thinks we deserve. Thatisall.
If it makes me a bad person, a naughty girl who doesn’t do as she is told, or who just sits and looks pretty- then
BITE ME. LOL.
I don’t care. If I offend anyone, tough shit. Get over it. Cause I am who I am and if something isn’t right I will speak up.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:17 am
To Boobie Blog or Not To Boobie Blog
Well, I have to weigh in on this blog battle thats going on. Ive always enjoyed studying history and I strongly feel its important to keep an accurate record of historical events.
Therefore, I will try to summarize the goings-on in the boobie b…
September 20th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Well said Raven!! I also agree with what Patty said. That is exactly right
September 20th, 2006 at 6:07 am
I did consider recently trying to start a Blog Porn Day - a syncronised posting of topless photos and explicit artwork across many blogs - in protest of all those people who are rediculously oversensetive about such things. I abandoned the idea, deciding I am not well-connected enough to have anyone else follow up.
Personally, I dont have much of a view on this. Sexual imagry of the type most would think of just doesn’t hold any appeal to me - and nor do I disapprove. If someone wants to show them, that is their business. If someone wants to look, same. I am not going to attack a women for somehow degrading all the women of the world with her behavior.
But I cant stand the pornophobes - all those people who are campaigning for cencorship of the media, or making dodgy claims about porn ruining lives, damaging children and corrupting society. Puritans, all of them - they dont like porn, and so they will use whatever excuses they can to ensure everyone else lives to their own standards.
Its just pictures. Its not going to pervert everyone who sees it. It isn’t an attack on women for making it. It isn’t an attack on men for wanting to see it. It doesn’t turn people into rapists or wife-beaters. It is not as addictive as crack. If it leads to the breakup of a marriage, it is a symptom, not the cause. Nothing but pictures. Really, I cant understand what all the fuss is about.
(*If you are curious, the image I was considering posting on my blog is http://sharedserv.no-ip.org/bluebirdka7.jpg - NSFW, of course, so dont say I didn’t warn you.)
September 20th, 2006 at 7:08 am
Beth I loved your post. You put it spot on with regards to “The kind of traffic” I don’t want. I need to compile a list of comments at these vblog/boobie fest sites for examples. It’s degrading as hell. I spend good amounts of time pushing men away from me who want one thing and nothing else. I also spend little time trying get their attention in my life- I’m not about to start doing that here.
September 20th, 2006 at 7:13 am
SR- you don’t get it. At all. Yes- they are just pictures or in some cases, video blog posts of stupid women fondling themselves as they comment on politics.
The two don’t go hand in hand (pardon the pun). The men leave comments about the fondling and boobage but not about the commentary. Does this surprise me? No.
I am bashing men? No. It’s the way of it- I’m not dumb. I just refuse to be a part of that. I don’t need this degrading attention- which is what I would get. I’m more than a body. More than a pair of boobies. If this makes me a liberal feminsit-nazi- then fucking so be it. I’m not, I know it and thats all that counts.
September 20th, 2006 at 7:56 am
I’ll tell you — the first boobie vblog that started all this was, well, just not right. Splashing around in the water while flashing boobs and trying to make serious commentary just doesn’t work. Men are visual. We react to things we SEE more than what we hear. We can read without any problems, but when distracted by other things, it very much takes away from any attempt to communication otherwise.
So yes, pick one. Either be a porn place and flash boobies, or try and make serious commentary. Don’t expect people to take you seriously if you use your boobs to attract them and then attempt to have a deep philosophical or political position.
Nicely done, Raven.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Ogre: You are my hero. Really. YOU see this for what it is and it takes a real man to speak to it.
There is nothing wrong with men being “visual”- most of us know this. In fact some of us appreciate this more than is known. Women have used this knowledge for yrs to attract men. My beef comes when some endorse political blogging mixed with booby blogging- it doesn’t work. And my other beef is about respect. Women who flash their flesh the way some of these bikini bloggers do– don’t get the same level of respect that I not only get, but EXPECT.
Thank you Ogre. You’re comment has made my day.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:45 am
Bobby blogging is akin to wearing slutty clothes to work, yes its within our rights and yes it works, but no body takes you seriously.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Oh, yes, mixing boobie-flashing and politics is a bad idea. I didn’t see any reason to state that - I assumed it would be obvious to anyone who is seriously thinking about politics.
If someone wants to try it, let them - its their credability as a political commentator they are throwing out the window. My post was refering to sexual images in general, not to political blogs specificly.
And conducting a little experiement of my own… wondering how many would click the link at the end of my post. Which points to my own webserver, so I have a count of viewers in the log.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Oh, and in case anyone here is worried… no, its not real porn. I was just curious how many people would click a link they think points to some.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:06 am
I have nothing against those who choose to flash their boobies in a blog. Nothing. It’s a free country and women can do as they please (even though there is almost always a price to pay…) Just don’t TELL me I NEED to do that HERE, at a poltical (mostly) blog in order to be a high hitting (AKA popular) blog!
Jane- women know how to dress for success as well as dress for sex. It’s pretty straightforward. LOL.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Thanks for clearing that up SR. I thought you were…smarter than that. LOL
September 20th, 2006 at 11:03 am
*shrugs*
Sex grabs attention. But it doesn’t leave the grabed in any mood for perfectly reasoned thought. The advertising industry caught onto that one long ago. Its a very powerful tool for manipulating people. Particually men.
I understand perfectly when people object to manipulation. Its the porn-is-evil people who I disagree with, the ones who believe sexual imagery is itsself greatly immoral regardless of its intended use.
The link is proving quite popular, even after I admitted it was being monitored :> I was planning to let it wait for a day, but then decided that spying on people was impolite, even though I have no usable information other than a count of individuals.
September 20th, 2006 at 11:43 am
This sounds a bit holier than thou…
I don’t know what’s worse. Watching female bloggers implode from the truth in reality or watching them taking turns nailing eachother to a cross or righteousness.
I’ve seen women comment about a blogger’s self-portrait containing the female anatomy before a man could. Even the male said that if he had made the comment, it wouldn’t be in a playful way but as a sign of “degrading” the blogger.
Ladies, I’ve always enjoyed your blogs WAAAAAAY before…and I the hate the term, “Boobieblogging” came to light. Even the terms “sexy”, “entice”, etc. are used to articulate the point with the assistance of a vocabulary. I liked the pictures regarding the article and I usually never goto the About section unless there’s a demographic curiousity. But, the venom spewed and the deplorable remarks made about John and the attacks on men is quite unbecoming of intellectual women. These comments will have an ill affect on your fans, like me, that were reading before the female form came into play. You have a right to say anything you want on YOUR blog and by all means, SPEAK OUT!
I’m nobody. So, I doubt you’ll care if I visit or not. I just wish there was a less intense dialect and more of an nonchalant, “Do whatever you want” attitude.
September 20th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
To Booby Or Not To Booby?
Interesting discussiong going on (still) regarding Boobygate. You remember the whole thing about the Pammy video? Well, there is an interesting, um, well, war going on between some of my favorite posters, with John Hawkins of Right Wing News on one sid…
September 20th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Wow, GREAT post, Raven, and very on-point, and spot-on comment, Ogre.
Though I will say that generally speaking, conservative women are much more physically attractive (I don’t know why, they just are) than those on the left there is, as they say, a time and a place for everything.
When that porn actress was running for governor in California when we fired Gray Davis, even if she had been running on an intelligent platform and making constructive, viable points(she wasn’t), the focus of male voters — okay, droves of females as well, it being California and all — would have been on several of her attributes, her political prowess and ability to manage the state not among them.
This is why successful professional women and female politicians who are serious about being taken seriously dress conservatively and keep their private lives (and other private items) private.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Butt Blogging
Time to join in the latest blog-war!
September 21st, 2006 at 9:04 am
Haggling Over The Price
You know the old joke. Supposedly told about George Bernard Shaw (some attribute it to Sir Winston Churchill).
Aristocratic lady and Shaw are talking at a party. Shaw asks if she would sleep with him for 1-million pounds. She agrees.
Then Shaw asks if …
September 21st, 2006 at 9:48 am
Raven sayeth:
: Without our emotions we would be cold objects of no
: affection.
Without your emotions you wouldn’t be women.
September 21st, 2006 at 10:38 am
What’s the big deal? I use my looks to drive traffic to my site every damned day.
In fact, I’ve got the “Women who are into middle-aged unattractive fat guys” demographic just about sewn up.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Chris G.- you have some good points there. Really. The issue here is pretty simple: Hawkins promotes women using their bodies to entice men to their sites. Poltics and sex don’t mix well in the current political element. If you’re a woman and you want site hits, then be a good writer, promote your writings via Real Clear Politics and other sites that allow users to share their stories. Work at it. Don’t flop your boobs for it because no one is going to read. They will look though.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:39 pm
SR- LOL- sex does sell as I found out with the booby shot of me. Good thing I didn’t let it go to my head though.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Seth, this is one of those things that I just HAD to speak up about. Even when it meant I would be on some people’s shit list. I would rather be there then be sqaure with these people, that is for sure.
Interesting about the looks of women from the parties.
I think there are some VERY good looking women in Hollywood- who are certainly liberal. DO we allow our politics to tamper with how we see people? I know I do. Sad. But true.
ANyone else??
September 21st, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Weebs: go wobble til you fall down.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Tony- you are a true gentleman. Thank you.
September 22nd, 2006 at 6:42 am
For the sake of openness: Sixteen unique IPs here followed a link they believed contained some form of soft-porn
Two of those looked twice.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Thank you for the response, Raven. In my opinion, sex and politics mix very well, though most “sex politics” in recent years have been wrapped in scandal. But, JFK looked dynamite on TV and did in fact help his win. Though, it’s not everything, esthetics do help candidates. I do understand your point and it’s valid, I just didn’t see Hawkins as promoting it as much as it seemed that he was more in a side of indifference. If it works, then do it. I’m a young, single male that’s interested in world opinion…so, I look and I read. I just think men can’t comment on both a good-looking woman and an interesting article.
I’ll admit that with your thoughtful and witty articles, I still like to come here.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
The really sad thing is, I came here to check out the cleavage.
September 28th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Chris, LOL, no one ever said we all have to agree with anything or everything. Men and women see these things differently, I realize that. Being a woman who happens to have a little self respect, I had to speak my peace about this. My friend Beth was attacked too, and when that happens I ACT.
Steve- go to PamEEla’s site to see her latest booby shots. Get excited over there.