Digby is a woman!

[BurtWorm]

Wow! That was a very well kept secret! (I assumed Digby looked like Howard Beal from Network.)

:applause:

Greenwald's latest has these graphs:



Before I began blogging in October, 2005, I was an avid reader of blogs. What motivated me to being blogging was that the most insightful and informed political analysis was to be found, far away, on blogs, and I wanted to be part of that discussion. And, as is true for thousands of people, I believed (and still do) that the most insightful political analysis of all came from the keyboard of Digby, who -- until now -- has shielded all parts of her identity, including her gender, behind her pseudonym.

Yesterday, Digby unmasked herself. Appearing at the Take Back America Conference in Washington, she accepted an award on behalf of all liberal bloggers and gave a truly superb speech about the blogosphere, which can be viewed here.

Unfortunately, Greenwald's link doesn't work for me. Does anyone have a working link to digby's video?

[librechik]

1. Video of Digby's excellent speech here

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=860546376283859020&q=digby+%22take+back+america%22&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0



damn, I was planning on leaving my husband and running away with him.

[BurtWorm]

2. Thank you!

I can't wait to get home to hear it!

:toast:

[wicket]

3. Awesome!

Thanks! :)

[Duppers]

10. BRAVO! BRAVO!!! nt.

:applause:

[bunkerbuster1]

43. Everyone on DU needs to see that speech

and forward the link to at least one intellectually honest person to the right of them, who has preconceived notions about "crazy left-wing bloggers."

Hers was easily the most clear-voiced, consistent, sane expressions of what holds the online community together that I've ever heard. Listen to her list of common stands on issues and ask, as Glenn Greenwald did: "Is there a single one of those views which can remotely be described as fringe, radical, extreme, out of the mainstream, or even rigidly ideological?"

[librechik]

45. Greenwald's anaysis of the speech was also excellent

He's my second fave, after Digby!

[lonestarnot]

4. WOW.

[Marie26]

5. Why is that a shock?

50% of people are, after all.

[noamnety]

7. Because the default setting for humanity

is straight white male, even though that reflects a minority of the world's population.

It's the message we get (in this country) from history books, from people hired in the media, from roles actors play in television and in the movies, and from people in politics.

[hfojvt]

11. It's a majority of the USA

at least the straight, white part, and that is where we are. "Digby" sounds like a male name to me, unlike the fairly obvious 'wonkette', although it sounds more like a surname, and surnames do not have genders, except surnames like 'Thomas'.

These days we see minorities on TV in higher proportions than in society. I was surprised to find out how white this country is, and even more so at the fact that most poor people in this country are white.

[noamnety]

12. The majority in the US is female

The assumption should be that a random person is female, unless otherwise stated. :)

We don't make that assumption because media presents women disproportionately as decorative and sexual beings, not as working intellectuals.

That fact that it's an issue doesn't exactly surprise me, but it leaves me with the same feeling as what one of my colleagues described, when he talks to someone on the phone or emails them, then meets them in person, and the first thing they say to him is "Oh, I thought you were white."

What is he supposed to make of that statement?

[BurtWorm]

13. It's also a viral thing.

When bloggers are referring to digby as "he," you have no reason to assume they're mistaken if you don't know "he's" a she yourself. In fact it deepens the surprise to find out the truth. That's kind of a big attribute for so many to be mistaken about.

[Tsiyu]

46. This is a sensitive subject everywhere so I will tread lightly

but why, really, is gender a "big attribute?" It's just gender.

Indoor plumbing/outdoor plumbing: neither makes a writer.

[BurtWorm]

48. Some of the respondents in this thread, while proclaiming it's no big deal,

then procede to miss the point or make another one entirely from the one I am making, in effect making a big deal of it. Digby's writing is *not* what made me think she was a male. Maybe I should phrase that another way to reinforce it: I did *not* assume Digby was a male because of her writing. I did not pick up any gender cues from it at all. I assumed she was a "he" because other bloggers, when writing about her, referred to her as a "he."

Now can you seriously tell me, with a straight face, that if you make a mistake about the gender of someone (not just in the moment, but over time) and are corrected, your discovery has no more impact on you than if you had mistaken her brown eyes for blue ones? Is gender, in other words, no more of a frame for how we perceive someone or even ourselves than the length of one's finger nails, for example, or the shape of one's nose?

[Tsiyu]

49. If eye color were that important to me

I suppose I might see your point a bit more clearly. "Shocked" is not what I would call my reaction to learning someone had different eye color than what I had once perceived. It's just not that valuable of an asset to me. To you, eye coloring may be a key to personality or breeding or background but to me it's no more defining a characteristic than gender.

When I read someone's writing I do often imagine what they might look like, but I don't grow so attached to my own imaginings that I would be shocked to have the workings of my mind challenged by reality.

[BurtWorm]

50. Well, bully for you.

:applause:

PS: It's very clear that you didn't read my post very carefully, but that's all right. I'm just getting a little weary of explaining myself to people who can't seem to hear me.

[Tsiyu]

55. I think you've defended yourself well

and I read your post carefully, just didn't respond too carefully, but no need.

We all have our moments of irrational response.

You've explained yours.

[BurtWorm]

58. Thank you for saying that.

:toast:

Sorry for being snippy. I *hate* being snippy!

[BlooInBloo]

59. If she had been a he, would the appropriate counterpart to this thread exist?

[BurtWorm]

60. If he had been referred to as "she" by most people, then yes.

:patriot:

[BlooInBloo]

63. Ah - gotcha.

[hfojvt]

15. I don't make that assumption

probably because I am male. In some circles, such as professors and graduate students, at least in the 1990s, the vast majority were male.

The 'I thought you were ...' seems like an odd comment to make upon first seeing somebody. Maybe he could see how they react if he said 'and I thought you were black.' But the first comment, although it reveals a degree of racial bias, is not meant to be mean-spirited or derogatory.

[Recursion]

35. I get "I thought you were black" a lot from people who know me only online

Because of my name, which is weird because though I guess it does "sound black" both the first name and the surname are of 100% European origin.

[Bucky]

40. I didn't think you were black

I thought you were a puffer fish.

And you don't even sound like a puffer fish over the phone!
.

[Recursion]

47. I wonder what a pufferfish sounds like over the phone?

*glub glub glub*
*PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT*

[BurtWorm]

8. Of course, but I had misled myself into thinking she was a he,

and I was not the only one:

http://hughesforamerica.typepad.com/hughes_for_america/2005/12/support_digby.html

Digby's Hullabaloo is one of - if not the - best destinations in the progressive blogosphere. He is a tireless researcher and talented writer. In fact, his work inspired me to frequently buck the trend of short posts and wade into the waters of longer-form writing. So for that, and for so much more, it's worth your time to visit his site. One of the best things we can do as a collective is support each other and each other's work. It appears he could use your help around the holidays, so I suggest you stop by. If you haven't read Hullabaloo before, visit simply to see one of the true masters at work. If you appreciate what he does - and it's rather easy to do so - think about sending a few bucks his way. If you'd pay to subscribe to a magazine, consider donating to Digby. He's one of the best voices we have.


PS: I'm more delighted than shocked to find out who digby really is, not because she's a woman, but because the revelation that she is a woman represents to me how well kept the secret of her identity was. I never heard or saw anyone even begin to speculate about her identity. Despite how almost universally well regarded her posts are, not very many stopped to wonder who this brilliant blogger was. To me, this is almost reassuring, in that it seems to imply that privacy is not quite dead--the line between the public-private split is not quite erased--even in the age of the Net.

[Robbien]

9. I saw her at Yearly dKos last year. Yeah, it was a surprise

Prior to that for all these years the Digby voice in my head was male.

[Marie26]

25. Seems like it

I just assumed she was a woman; most female bloggers take greater steps to conceal their identity. And women are more than half the population, after all, so I don't see why it would be a surprise. I don't think you'd have started a thread entitled "Wow, Digby is an accountant!", so I don't really buy the reason you've given, no offense. You weren't surprised by Digby's ability to conceal her identity, but by her gender.

I don't mean to criticize you specifically, but the widespread misattribution seems to reflect gender stereotypes, in that people will assume someone is male until proven otherwise. Also, it seems like people especially assume this when someone expresses intellectual thoughts or political ideology. It's like, people have got so used to only seeing women as models, actresses, sex objects, that they're shocked that women can actually think.

[BurtWorm]

31. Think what you want.

But if I hear several different sources referring to someone I've never seen as "he," is it irrational to start thinking that person is male? Or do you *that* is a sexist assumption to make based on those few cues?

:shrug:

But the rest of your points are well taken. <Except that I can name a bunch of female bloggers (Jane Hamsher, Jessica Valenti, Jeralyn Merrit, Lindsay Bayerstein, Ann Althouse) so your point about "most women bloggers" concealing their identities is a little dubious. But other than that, your points are well taken.>

[eridani]

34. Yes, good sign.

I like it that people found what was in the blog more important than who wrote it.

[TahitiNut]

6. Strange ... I never thought otherwise.

:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

16. What made you assume female, I wonder?

What were the signs?

[TahitiNut]

18. I dunno. Marcy and Jane both have strong voices ...

... and I have always had strong-voiced women as close friends. So, I never really thought about it. I really don't tend to think of people that much in terms of gender, actually ... unless they do. I tend to tune into whatever attributes that people themselves project. Hell, I don't really think about what gender nearly half of DUers are. Dunno. :shrug:

[BurtWorm]

19. You are to gender, then, what Colbert is to race?

;)

I dunno either. If someone had said years ago when I first started reading digby that she was a she, it wouldn't have caused a hiccup on my seismograph. But after years of seeing her referred to as "he," my mistake just kept getting reinforced. Hence, the mind-blowing.

[TahitiNut]

23. (lol!) Well, not quite.

It's more that I "out-focus" on the person ... and form my understanding of WHO they are based on their own priorities. Since I haven't done enough reading/study of what 3rd parties have said, I get all my impressions of her/them based on reading them, not others.

It's NOT that I don't see male/female ... I ain't dead yet. :evilgrin: It's just that the Internet is intrinsically asexual and can be far, far more message-based than messenger-based. It's about content. The 'cues' are what people themselves project far more than me looking at their clothing, grooming, and physiology and forming some independent profile.

[Recursion]

52. I remember reading Middlemarch in college

and knowing nothing about George Eliot, thinking "is this George Eliot a woman or something?" about 3 pages into it, asking that out loud, and having various objects thrown at me for my stupidity. I don't think it's going too far down the road of biological determinism to say that, for the most part, we "think differently" from each other.

[BurtWorm]

53. I would be very surprised if most people in heterosexual relationships

didn't agree with that statement: We "think differently" from each other. That's what makes for a lot of the fun and agony of the heterosexual relationship, isn't it?

[FloridaJudy]

14. Kicking to watch the other speeches later.

Recommended.

[mhatrw]

17. Three cheers for Digby! n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

20. Not Only Am I Unaware Of Who Digby Is, But I'm Also Unaware Of Why Gender Would Be A Shock.

Since I don't know who she is, can someone explain why her writings were done in such a way as to have the end result be shocking that she wasn't a man? I'm a bit confused here as to premise for surprise.

[BurtWorm]

21. She was one of the first really influential progressive bloggers.

This is her site:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

She's been around for years writing brilliant little analyses on all things political. For the same amount of time, she has been cited and linked to by all sorts of blog, many of whom would refer to her as "he." The fact that Howard Beale is Hullabaloo's avatar, for me at least, added to the illusion that the person behind the handle was male.

Of course it is not a shock that a woman wrote those brilliant analyses. The shock comes from a mistaken assumption about someone's identity being shown to be completely wrong.

Is that so difficult to grasp, really?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

22. Take A Breath. I Was Asking With Sincerity.

I've never heard of her, so therefore knew nothing about her or her back story. You've explained it well and I appreciate it. But there was no real need for your defensive question at the end.

But with all the threads I've seen on DU, I can't recall ever seeing anything referenced by her. How come she isn't talked about here more often?

[BurtWorm]

24. I've cited her a bunch of times.

Glenn Greenwald, Down with Tyranny, FireDogLake always cite her.

And I apologize for my crabby closing. It wasn't directed at you, per se. :hi:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. I Guess My Problem With Exposure Is That I Don't Read Blogs Too Often. I Only Read DU LOL

But firedoglake was invaluable to me during the libby trial and sentencing. I'll catch a few blogs when links to them are posted here for some relevant story, but I didn't recall a Digby. I've gotta be honest: As laughable and ignorant as it sounds, at first when trying to recall 'digby', my mind thought about the comic strip character 'dilbert'. Don't know why. I was thinking "holy shit, that was a woman?". God how stupid I can be sometimes LOL

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. That explains a lot, actually

:rofl:

[Skittles]

56. don't feed the f***ing troll, Burt

:o

[BurtWorm]

62. Skittles!

:spank:

(Please don't kick my ass.)

;-)

[BlooInBloo]

33. The best non-pro writer I can think of.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

Keep in mind that there are mebbe 3 or 4 folks who post on the blog, though.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

27. I have an excuse for being surprised!

When I first found the blog, I stupidly thought that person yelling in the corner was Digby. I found out many months later that it's from the movie Network, but my framework was already established by that time.

[senseandsensibility]

28. Doesn't Digby sound like a male name?

It does to me. Am I the only one?:shrug:

[benny05]

51. Not necessarily anymore than Pat

I think what threw me off was the pic she has on her site. She has done a very good job keeping posts genderless.

[Cha]

29. I knew that!

:) but not at first..years ago.

[BlooInBloo]

32. (shrug) I've mentioned it about 10 times in the last 6 months, after someone here...

... was nice enough to inform me.

[Polemicist]

36. Digby is the best progressive blogger in the netroots...

That I've ever had the pleasure to encounter. It's mandatory daily reading for me. Her comments are insightful, timely, logical, and very well written. She is often first with a perspective on events that is picked up and circulated widely in the blogosphere. I can't count the times I've read her posts and thought "well, now that you've pointed this out, it's obvious, but I really didn't see it before".

And I had no idea she was a woman. Her writing is "gender neutral" if there is such a thing. And the name "Digby" sounds masculine, so you just automatically assume it's a man. I don't know how it would effect her perspective, "coming out" as it were. It likely will attract misogynistic attacks from the radical right wing. Perhaps preventing those was the reason for her gender neutrality in the past. Perhaps she realized that there is an inherent bias in society against women who speak out and she felt she was more effective being perceived as a man. Or maybe she could care less.

I certainly could care less. She's still mandatory reading for me. And should be for everyone who believes in progressive ideals.

[ProfessorPlum]

37. I also think Digby is the best writer on the net. And I also

assumed she was a male. The way she writes about her relationship with her father always reminds me of my relationship with mine, and I projected my feelings onto her and assumed she was male. But damn, that human being is smart and can write the eyes out of a target at 50 yards.

[BurtWorm]

39. Have you seen her speech?

See post #1. The language is so clear and direct. No bullshit. Right on the money. Speaking for many more than just herself.

[ProfessorPlum]

54. yes, it was a great speech

hit many of the points she emphasizes on the blog. Terrific stuff.

[shadowknows69]

38. Women. Is there anything they can't do?

Besides pee standing up. Well ok, they can but it's not recommended. Shit, I guess you're the total package ladies.B-)

[Bucky]

41. Yep, I once teased a GF about her not being able to pee off a balcony

and damned if she didn't just up and prove me wrong right there.

[shadowknows69]

42. My Gods!

There are more creative challenges you can propose to your lady. IM me if you need ideas. ;-)

[Nikki Stone1]

44. It's amazing how gender assumptions still run rampant.

Not to take anything away from Digby, but Jesus Christ! We need to move the fuck on from this strict gender divide.

[wellst0nev0ter]

57. They've Already Revealed Digby's Gender A Year And A Half Ago

Too bad it was the wrong one ;)

I sent Digby the Times review and he asked if he could mention it. I said it was fine with me.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/on-internet-no-one-knows-youre-singing.html

[BurtWorm]

61. Now wouldn't you think tristero would know digby's gender?

Was that a purposeful obfuscation? An accidental dropping of an "s"?

Weird.

:crazy: