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| Barbara, author of Retire In Style Blog |
When I began blogging, women had their own web sites, blog logs and mommy blogger were everywhere talking about diapers, bad teachers and stuff their husband did that annoyed them. I joined Blogher and Blogsbywomen so I could get a feel for what was out there. Eventually I settled on prompt website like Friday Island, Carry on Tuesday and Sunday Scribblings. Both men and women used these sites. It was really a very genderless world. Poetry and fiction lived in that blogging world.
After I moved over to this blog with retirements issues and interests on my mind, I began to see a real difference. Here boomers, financial advisers and people seeking information on retirement mingle freely. However, if the author of the blog is a man the difference is noticeable. While women are concerned about frugality in retirement, their need for keeping it simple is reflected in the nitty gritty of everyday life. Men bloggers, on the other hand, talked about travel details, financial matters and visits with financial advisers. They spend a certain amount of time talking about hobbies, volunteer work and family. That works to make them real in every one's eyes. Blogs are about appeal to the reader after all, especially if the author is running a money making blog.
One woman blogger I know has a separate twitter page for her Red Hat group. Others, like me, like style, chick flicks/books and discussions on face cream. Like me they subscribe to Fab Over Fifty and keep track of the latest styles in clothing and hair styles. We even have opinions on what looks good on other people. We read Grandparents.com and BlogHer. Many retired women spend a great deal of time talking about spirituality and their church affilliations. Retirement has not changed us much.
On the other hand, women like me are very interested in the men's point of view and people like Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement gets many comments from women. Personally I like Bob's blog and books that he would find interesting. I just finished reading Steve Job's biography and keep Malcolm Gladwell's books close at hand. But I also read a lot of books aimed at women. For example:
- Best Staged Plans
, Clair Cook
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel
, Mary Ann Shaffer
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel
, Jamie Ford
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
, Rebecca Skloot,
- The Help
, Kathryn Stockett
- Tinkers
, Paul Harding
- All Ann Tyler Books
There are books that might appeal to both sexes that I have enjoyed. Here are just a few:
, Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium Trilogy)
, Stieg Larsson
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy)
, Stieg Larsson
- Steve Jobs
, Walter Isaacson
- Coal Black Horse
, Robert Olmstead
- The Lincoln Lawyer: A Novel (Mickey Haller)
, Michael Connelly
- Building a Satisfying Retirement
, Bob Lowry
- Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (Kindle Edition)
, Stephen Ambrose
Blogging is a personal pursuit with an eye to keeping people's interest no matter their sex. I do get a few men to come over when I write a financial blog. I like that a lot. But my world is not a man's world so my posts are very different from those posted by a man. In fact, the majority of almost 50 of my followers are women. And that is a good thing or at least I think so. I am not particularly interested in the sports page or too much news. However, I do know about sports and I have to attribute that to osmosis resulting from living with a man that loves sports. I read the front page of the New York Times online, and watch local/national news in the evenings. It works for me. I can carry on a decent conversation about politics and make reference to current events in posts. Hopefully, I can straddle the line and attract men to be readers occasionally. In the end though, I am a woman blogger and I cannot change that.
I am very interested your take on this blogging life. Leave a comment and share your ideas. How are we different and how are we the same?
Have a wonderful day.
b
Oh, by the way, just when I think I have everyone stuffed in their little boxes, my husband comes to me with a website on hair styling. He was just looking at it and thought I might be interested. Go figure!!!
Firts of all, thank you for the mention and support, for both the blog and the e-book. You may not have a lot of male readers, but you certainly have me!
ReplyDeleteI may be a little odd, but I read more blogs by women than men. I find them more interesting. Most guy bloggers, as you noted, restrict themselves to a few topics. While finances and politics are interesting to me in small doses, there is a lot more going on I care about.
Some female bloggers spend all their time on mommy issues or health and beauty and that is fine. There is a niche and need for that.
But, many more, like you Barbara, take on a wide range of things: books, living during retirement, families, etc. Their focus is more personal, more experience-based, and frankly, more interesting.
I get great ideas for posts for my blog from women bloggers, too. But, mostly, they are just more honest, open, and interesting.
Hi Barbara, good post. Also we added you to blogs we like page.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boomerplaces.com/baby-boomer-blogs/
Glad you all liked the post.
ReplyDeleteb