The blights of being a female blogger

Nellie English discusses her difficulties of being a blogger in a male-dominated industry. 

To claw your way into the ruthless arena of online writing you need one of three things: a sob story, a dirty confession, or a penis. “What b*ll*cks,” (pun honestly unintended) I hear you cry. There are plenty of wonderful women writers out there, strong female leaders brandishing their pens, slicing through macho-ism with their acerbic wit.

Possibly. But believe you me, they got there by the seat of their skirt stories! I know this is true, because I am doing exactly this…

Where does your writing come from?

The inspiration for my blog? My life. I pour out anecdotes and administer advice but all through my confessional and conspiratorial style. Silly me – look what I did. Naughty me – look who I did.

These are the prerogatives for any up-and-coming female writer. It is a grisly truth but one I nevertheless want to highlight, at least from my own very real experiences.

Young female writers are using their past to propel their writing into the future. Desperately framing their experiences through humor or pathos to draw the spotlight to their talented writing.

Do you know any men doing the same?

If men wrote how women must write…

Brian Jones, the diary of his shaving nicks and gym routine. Essays by young men chronicling their anxiety as teenagers. Sex confessions by male writers forced to sell their creativity through their crotch. As it were. “Oops! Silly me” – the heart-wrenching tale of the young corporate hire who sails through his career, unimpeded by self-loathing or a bleeding vagina.

So, what issues are facing the creative community?

The answer to this heading is pondered by millions of women around the globe every day. Chewing their fingernails at the keyboard. Agonizing over the implications of their saucy revelations, or snarky gossip column. Yet in a narrow corner of potential subject matter, they are left with no choice. Press “Enter” and wait until you earn your voice – not advice that many male writers seem to have received in their careers. Of course, there are many male writers who write in a confessional style, or who have had to sacrifice some of their privacy in order to be “heard” as serious writers. Yet arguably not to the same extent as their female literary equivalents.

Writing is cathartic, and many of our creative endeavours are not artistic prostitution so much as a healing process. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that within many a light-hearted girly blog, or behind countless witty female columnists, lurks a poet yearning to be heard.

We have a vote. A voice. We stand in people’s parliaments and before lecterns.

So it is time to listen to the silences between the words. Look for the pain bleeding through the “hilarious” confessionals of embarrassing moments. Seek out female writers and give them the platform they need!