emergent chicks?

The old friend I referred to suggested I check out a blog by another old friend who writes a lot on the emerging church. I did, and being who I am, my eyes noticed this entry as I has skimming along: Wanted: Emerging/Missional Chick Bloggers

As the emergent church seems to be largely driven by blogging, it has been noticed by several people that there aren’t a lot of women leaders. I’m still not quite sure how you decide if someone is a leader in a conversation. How many comments they get? Anyhow, he went on to say:

most of the female bloggers I knew of spent a fair bit of time talking about themselves, their kids, and what they did that day. They all have “wonderful” husbands (a description which I doubt that even they believe all the time, though that single word seems to describe all of them without exception in their profiles). It isn’t that we don’t like their kids or anything, and I really don’t want to offend, but for most of us, these are not that interresting to us unless (or until) we know the blogger. For these, even though they may be part of the emerging church, their blogs are not part of the emerging conversation in quite the same way... I’m not saying that personal entries are bad — even I do those from time to time… what I am saying is that when they’re the vast majority, the blog in general takes on a different character, and the emerging conversation becomes somewhat secondary at best.

Well, I’ve definitely noticed that difference, too. As I’m venturing into the emergent conversation, mainly as a lurker, for now, it has come to my attention that almost all the blogs seem to be by men.

I see blogging on a spectrum. At one end, you have all these brainy types, often male, who usually write almost entirely about one subject and almost never anything personal. Family is almost unheard of, it is often almost impossible to tell if they have a wife and kids, never mind what they feel or do. It’s all about ideas, thoughts, beliefs. I find I can lurk on these blogs, but it actually bores me if there’s no connection to life. Example: One of my first thoughts in thinking on the EC is where kids fit into the mix. This topic is very hard to find on blogs of the EC. Ideas are great, but how does it apply to life? How do we do this?

On the other end you have the ones that are all about the blogger and her life, and I say her because they do seem to be mostly female. I don’t find these that interesting either. If it’s someone I know, I stop by every now and again, but how can you converse about someone’s life? You can’t discuss much about going to the grocery store.

The ones I appreciate the most, usually female, seem to be in between. They are able to discuss their thoughts, opinions, and ideas, but also relate it back to the concrete of real life in a real world. They are relational. I don’t trust bloggers who never discuss family and feelings. How can I relate to someone who doesn’t reveal themselves?

Will women assume a leadership role in the emergent conversation? I think if they have to blog like men to do so, the answer will be no. But I wonder if men can learn to appreciate the way that women process, because I think it is a necessity. As I said, ideas are great, but the church is driven by relationship, and that has been unbalanced in recent years, IMO (interestingly enough – so has gender in leadership). I can’t count the number of times I have heard women say that their husbands feel disconnected, like they don’t really have friends, that there is a bit of envy about women’s retreats and the like where we really relate and get to know each other. If that is men’s perceptions of themselves and not just women’s perceptions of them, my guess is that it’s time to show your hearts, guys, and not just your brains.

The other thing for me is, how much time do you have to spend on one subject? Is this a m/f thing? In the last month, the books I've bought (and mostly read) are very diversified:

• the fast food industry, marketing practices and health
• research on the effects of childhood poverty
• a program designed to encourage empathy among school children
• the application of values in the workplace to create joy among employees
• attachment and the parent child relationship
• a novel exploring the Mennonite culture

I don't know how I could possibly blog on one subject continuously when there is so much to read, think, experience and do in the world. How bland.

So although I desire to hear women's voices on the church, this woman in particular does not feel led to limit her blog to intellectual discussions on a single subject. Is this just me, or is it womanhood?