Comments on: A Perfect Storm

By: jen bekman news » Blog Archive » Bold Tings

jen bekman news » Blog Archive » Bold Tings — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:54:42 +0000

[...] up lately about the under-representation of women in tech, in art and um, rather broadly speaking creativity. Rather than pointlessly bluster, I started (you have to start somewhere) with a List of Women [...]

By: » rainbow dreams

» rainbow dreams — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:33:07 +0000

[...] i had planned on my first post being feminist related (tokion forgets creative women) or more new york/art related (this show! let’s go!) but it’s late and tho this may be a commercial, it is bright and pretty and makes me excited about life in a willy wonka kind of way. [...]

By: Cheryl Oakes

Cheryl Oakes — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 10:53:59 +0000

The fact that we have to have the conversation you started on your blog is an indication that we have to have a group WOW2 and a place for others to see that the conversations matter to women and that women are decision makers on this Internet journey.
We are producers, not just consumers.
Thanks to you!

By: Jen Bekman

Jen Bekman — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:05:17 +0000

Hi Debra

I know that this conversation is a recurring one, and it’s been discussed at length in the tech world for many years. (I worked in tech for many years before starting the gallery.)

With all due respect to BlogHer and its achievements, CreateHer or any other kind of all-female conference or organization is not of interest to me.

What IS of interest to me is organizing a conference with a diverse speaker list that is an a-list must-attend event for creatives, media and technology PEOPLE.

I understand that there are some merits in creating a supportive women-only environment, and I’m sure that it’s a great launching point for ideas, but my personal goal is to not create something that’s exclusively woman-oriented.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

By: Debra

Debra — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:42:24 +0000

Jen,

To continue with your perfect storm analogy:

It was a similar reaction that caused three women in the Silicon Valley to start BlogHer just over 2 years ago. As their Contributing Editor for craft, I wrote about the discussion going on here and at design*sponge. I ended by asking:
Do creative women need to take the step of forming CreateHer… or can the public discussions like this one work as a call to action to conference organizers without a formalized organization to push the issue?

One of the founders of BlogHer included this in her post:
http://workerbeesblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/its-only-fair-to-pick-on-big-dogs-too.html
and answered my question:
I guess my response is why Either/Or? I think we have to keep doing both.

Hence this post. You gotta pick on the big dogs to.

By: Annette Monnier

Annette Monnier — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:36:54 +0000

Hey Jen,

Thanks for bringing Tokion’s exclusion of women to my attention…I write two blogs with an art audience and will post it.