Legal Commentary

In my last post, I asked Do Women Blog?, and more specifically, do female law professors blog anywhere close to their numbers in the academy. Two comments prompt me to ask another question, which will hopefully generate more discussion. The first comment is from Orin Kerr. The second is from a female law professor who emailed me off-line and who agreed that I could post her comment without attribution. Read on, and you'll see why.

Orin Kerr commented:

I would flip the question and ask, what is it about men that attracts them to blogging? I would think the reason is that men love to hear themselves talk. They think they have something important to say; writing a lot becomes a way of showing off one's importance. Women usually have this baggage less often, so they're less likely to waste their precious few hours of free time in front of a computer blogging.

And this is what a female law professor emailed me off line, with one deletion to conceal identifying information:

Do Women Blog? Yes, as your readers have pointed out. But in numbers disproportionate to
their representation in academe. Why? Jeff Lipshaw is on to something -- there really is no time.
Between teaching, scholarship, and home, those with families (or those who just prefer to have
a life that isn't completely oriented around the job) have a hard time fitting blogging in. I
am amazed that other women -- Orly, Laura, Angela Onwuachi-Willig (who, curiously, your readers
failed to mention in their roundup of women lawprawf bloggers)-- can find the time. Perhaps it
is easier after tenure, or when the kids are old enough to fend for themselves. In any event, it is not something I feel like I could take on now.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. The fact that I didn't post suggests how paranoid I am about
blogging, but there you are.

I think both Orin and the female law professor raise important points. So at bottom, is blogging just another boys' club? Or, based on the comments above, should we be asking more difficult questions about blogging, the academy, and gender?