The New Female Voice in Weblogs

Most of the people is not all must have known or at least heard about weblogs. They are commonly known as online journals that discuss topics ranging from the most petty and important things and experiences in a person’s life. These topics range from sandwich recipes to sex advice. The article entitled Women and their Weblogs: Redefining the female Voice in America by Deirdre Clemente talks about the prevalence of blogs and blogging nowadays among women of all ages, social status, background, and education. Even when the idea of blogs and blogging has been around for the past ten years in the cyberworld, it is only recently that laypeople have an access to it, especially women.

The article does not talk about weblogs and blogging in the general sense because it focuses its discussion on the innovative roles of women not only in the web but also the roles that they play in relation to their families, friends, and society. Weblogs have become a new venue for women to engage and involve themselves in their respective concerns. They have created new identities and roles for them to discover more of themselves and what they can do as women. In other words, the Weblog has become a venue for women to air their female voice that has long been suppressed. According to Clemente, there are three main categories of women bloggers which primarily depends on the motivation and purposes of the woman blogger in maintaining a blog.

The first group of bloggers is the prominent group who writes for the sake of expressing. These are women who have long been keeping a journal in their lives but have decided to try this new technology of Weblogs to capture a wide readership. Topics range from personal narratives to creative masterpieces. Dawn admits that she doesn’t want to be an Emily Dickinson writer type. What she wanted most is to be heard by a wide audience. Patricia, another female blogger, sees her blog as a venue to hone her creative instincts and tendencies. This type of bloggers is contended by the mere fact that their thoughts are shared to other people. But more than contentment is the bliss in knowing that their experiences and struggles means something to other people that will either inspire them or affirm their feelings.

The second group of female bloggers is the ones who seek empathy and friendship among people from all over the world. For instance, Natalie confesses that she started blogging to air her sentiments and frustrations as a housewife but also to gain new friends. Tess, on one hand, says that blogging can bring people of the same mind set together. As a matter of fact, some of the bloggers discovered great friendships and love. These bloggers have formed a community where each one of them can freely share their happiness, frustrations, and experiences without fear of rejection. There always one or two or even several who can affirm their feelings or support their actions.

The third group of bloggers is the writers for a cause. This agenda-driven group takes pride in airing their viewpoints in terms of politics and other aspects of life. They hope to impart change among their readers and the world as a whole. For instance, Karen DeCoster says that she like to promote liberty in her website which contains her views as a political writer and scholar. As a matter of fact, there are professional writers who also maintain blogs so as to update the world of their recent books and other scholarly works.

Whatever the reason is for these women to engage in Weblogs, it does not matter. What is notable is the fact that with the advent of new technology such as Weblogs, women has found another venue in expressing their thoughts and feelings that Victorian women