Monday, July 03, 2006

An Uppity Opinionated Ho Bag* Writes...

UPDATE: Spinny has had a (mystifying) reply from Mary Dejevsky, see here!


UPDATE 2: I've put my original post up on Digg.com (actually, is that a terrible breach of netiquette?), so if you fancy digging it, go here. May as well test this 'citizen journalism' malarky to its limits...

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Well I don't know about Tim or Spinny, but I certainly haven't had a reply from the now-infamous Mary Dejevsky to the email I sent her à propos of her article in last Thursday's Independent (see post below).

So here for the record, before we move on to nicer, more frivolous things, is the email I sent:
Hello Mary,

I read your article in the Independent on Thursday. Please let me introduce myself. I'm a woman, and I have been writing a blog for four years. I'm 35, married but divorcing, I have no children, I run a company that has 15 employees and I am taking a part time Master's degree with the Open University.

I would like to invite you to visit my blog. It's at http://quinquireme.blogspot.com. If you do come along, and you are most welcome, please look at the list of links on the right-hand side. This is called a blogroll - it's a list of links to other blogs I read. It's divided into two sections: 'Meatspace' (people I know in real life) and 'Cyberspace' (people I know on the internet).

I link to 44 other blogs. Two of them are written by the same person, so that's a total of 43 other bloggers. Twenty of them are women, and 23 of them are men. This does not suggest to me that female bloggers are 'few and far between'.

If you click on any one of these links, you will arrive at another blog with another blogroll on the right-hand side. Here again you will find a fairly even distribution between male and female bloggers.

I have no children and no husband at home, but plenty of my female blogger friends do. You might like to look at the following, for example:

http://urbanchickadee.blogspot.com
http://dflatchimebar.blogspot.com
http://www.smat.biz
http://taigathefox.blogspot.com

You might also like to consider the number of female bloggers who are too young to be married and have children. Having a blog is just a normal part of life for today's teenage girls and young women.

Although I do not have children or a husband at home, this does not mean I have plenty of time on my hands. I work 12 hours a day, and at the weekends I am studying for my postgraduate degree. However, I love blogging. I make time to blog. I get up at between 3.30am and 5.30am most days, so I have time to do all the things that I like doing as well as the things that I have to do - and that includes blogging.

Blogging gives women - and men - an opportunity to voice their own opinions and tell their own stories, which on the whole are not dull and tedious, but fantastically varied, intelligent, funny, moving and fascinating. It also gives women - and men - an opportunity to reach out and find new friends, chat to them, support them and be supported by them. For women - and men - who spend a lot of time at home every day with young children, blogging is a way of socialising without leaving the house. It's fun, it's healthy, it's interesting, and millions of women are doing it. I'd really like it if you came and saw for yourself.

Well, Mary, you had your chance.

Meanwhile, here in the Land of Make-Believe, the La Redoute catalogue has just arrived, featuring the most loveliest raspberry floral-print Princesse Tam-Tam** underwear, which will be mine forthwith, oh yes...

And in other news (lest anyone think I'm going a bit girly and might start writing about gynaecology at any moment), peerless independent music outfit Boomkat is having a Summer Bargain Clearance sale on everything ever released on the matchless Morr record label!

Morr is home to a ton of achingly cool, ethereal, Scandinavian, German and Japanese electronica, and much fey indie goodness besides. I shall be taking this opportunity to stock up on Lali Puna and Múm, and, ooh, who knows what else. Go to it, good readers!

As a taster, here's Lali Puna covering 'Together In Electric Dreams', which I found at Music Is Art, one of the most beautiful blogs I've ever seen. Must learn web design skills immediately.


Lali Puna - Together In Electric Dreams (mp3)

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* Thanks to First Nations for this fine designation.

** Warning: Flash, scantily-clad women, music.


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41 comments:

Anonymous said...

So horrified, by the whole Mary article, will ponder and return with a more suitable response.
How many uninformed middle class bitches do I have to read on a daily basis?

Anonymous said...

excellent email to the "journalist".

Annie said...

It's Mary's loss. I love Princesse Tam-Tam too, but the Flash... just show me the knickers, already.

patroclus said...

Quite, when will these people learn not to use Flash? It's soooo annoying. We want to see knickers, dammit!

patroclus said...

Oo, and hello lovely S - down with uninformed middle class bitches! Especially Kate Muir, for whom I reserve a special irrational loathing.

Anon - thank you. I think it's an awful email, makes me sound like a right jumped-up cow, but needs must...

Smat said...

You go girl!
(sorry, should spend more time blogging and less time watching trashy TV).

Billy said...

I like the music.

I'm not going to comment on the knickers though, as that is likely to make me sound like a terrible perv.

In the Guardian I've noticed you can get a right of reply column, if only the Indy did the same...

GreatSheElephant said...

uninformed - bad, bitch - bad. Nothing wrong with being middle class.

Urban Chick said...

i think you were remarkably measured - i fancy my language might have been considerably more flowery

still, if she clicks through to my blog (ain't seen her yet on statcounter), i wonder: will it help or hinder the cause when she reads a post about my breasts (complete with photo of my bra)?

hmmmmm

patroclus said...

She probably doesn't know how to use the internet, it being a gadgetty thing for men who like the sound of their own voice echoing off a plate of lovingly prepared dinner.

Clearly a common reaction to being told we don't exist is to start talking about underwear. Could almost be Pavlovian (not you, IP).

h said...

You go girl.

Although, saying that, the whole thing between the two of them does seem like an attempt to start a popular public spat, intermingling common stereotypes of a female left wing liberal journalist and a male right wing no-nonsense, says it like it is, politician - both wanting the fight to happen, playing to the crowd and hoping it continues as long as plausible for the publicity and the polarisation of a passive audience.

It is classic politic technique but weirdly they are trying it in a medium that is no longer convenient to stadium flame wars.

Because the audience is no longer silent or cheering.

Blogging doesn't need heroes.

PS - I don't remember you doing *any* of the tidying up ;o)

Fraudulent Little Tart said...

This twaddle has only just been brought to my attention and the first thing that stands out to me is the title of her article. Sorry to be an utter pedant but my major bug bear with the English language is the overuse of the term 'reason why' - the reason is why, this is just not good grammar. And this woman writes for the Independent? Not only does she write from a completely misguided viewpoint, she doesn't even do it with good grammar.
And rant over!

rockmother said...

I liked your ever-so polite and patient style. It was actually a great 'putting into place' as it felt as if you were talking to someone very stupid and very deaf ie: loud and having to explain things very carefully due to their feebleness and simplicity of mind.

Tim F said...

I bet Mary Dejevksy doesn't wear nice pants like that.

Maybe we should have a day when we all blog in our most seductive undies.

FirstNations said...

i wonder if she'll enjoy my recent post on fist fucking? its not gynaecology, but it is buttal.

and you are welcome. now this ho bag's off to wash some dishes and hope desparately that some man comes along and gives meaning to her child-centered, shallow life.

patroclus said...

Hen: Ah well, back to writing about underwear and electronica for me, then. Hurrah! And grrr, I did lots of tidying.

FLT: Welcome! There's always a home for grammar pedants here - maybe you should write to Ms Dejevsky to point this out?

Rockmother: Heh heh, it was no less than she deserved, with her feeble and simple (and wrong) 'arguments'.

Tim: One day? I *always* have my best pants on. Blogging may not need heroes, but it does need nice knickers. And bras.

FN: Quite right. No good can come of you writing your diary on your internet. Someone's dinner might get cold, or worse, not made. Also people might learn about Judith and Holofernes, or Chaucer and Dante (and their weapons of choice). And we wouldn't want that.

Dave said...

Ahem. Putting a warning sign at the foot of the page, rather than immediately alongside the item to which it refers might result in an innocent man accidentally visiting a site he really shouldn't.

patroclus said...

Dave, that item was adequately footnoted according to Nordic Bar Manifesto guidelines. I can't take responsibility for your wanton clicking.

GreatSheElephant said...

Dave, it said 'underwear' right next to the link. What were you expecting?

Dave said...

Did I say I had actually visited the site? I was clearly speaking theoretically, and wanting to protect the innocent.

Say, for instance, someone immediately clicked on links in blogs because they often take one to interesting new places, before reading the remainder of the post, it would be quite possible (theoretically, of course) to find oneself at this site before one's eyes had spotted the word underwear.

patroclus said...

Nowt wrong with that. One of my missions in life is to rescue fancy underwear, which is a fine category of apparel in its own right, from the enormous condescension (sorry EPT) of lads' mags and soft porn.

Spinsterella said...

I've had a reply from Mary.

Cc-ing in the boss is clearly the way forward.

patroclus said...

Fantastic! Are you going to post it up? What did she say?

Anonymous said...

Caipirinha - good, if you like your drinks strong and sour. If you can't stand Margaritas then probably not your cup of tea / glass of alcoholic lime & sugar slushy.

prolix said...

"Blogging doesn't need heroes."

That really spoke to me. Really. We (bloggers) should make it our communal statement or something. I think bloggers are in fact the anti-heroes, just standing up as an everyman/everywoman (don't want to get in to Dejevksy territory) and speaking the truth.

I'm making very little sense here and going off on tangents aplenty. Clearly I need to focus more.

Moominmama said...

nice letter.

OMG lingerie for women with tiny tits!!!!! died and gone to heaven.

hey, my word veri starts with "cb!" good omen.

Anonymous said...

Where else are you going to find the juxtaposition of grammar-related pedantry, French existentialists and funky underwear but in the world of the blog (often in the same entry)

DavetheF said...

I am very very impressed. You get up at 3.30am, BY CHOICE. I HAVE to get up at 5.15am to go to work, I loathe it and I still doze off at lunchtime after 10 years of it.

On the point, Mary has found bloggers bite yer bum, as I predicted. I'm not surprised she hasn't replied, she must be lying down with a cold compress on her battered ego.

DavetheF said...

Thanks for the wonderful link. Those really are most alluring. The undies are pretty good too. And "Loading Corsetry" is the best screen message ever.

DavetheF said...

Thanks for the wonderful link. Those really are most alluring. The undies are pretty good too. And "Loading Corsetry" is the best screen message ever.

DavetheF said...

IP, the juxtaposition of Princesse Tam-Tam and J Arthur was particularly poignant.

I think I'm getting overexcited.

patroclus said...

Four posts in a row, two of them the same? I should say so. Stay focused, DavetheF, we have a media revolution to wage! (Can one 'wage' a revolution?)

Actually I'm quite overexcited myself (not for the same reasons). I just found myself sitting at my desk, eating a plate of buffalo mozzarella, tomato and rocket salad, and thinking 'I must move to San Francisco immediately and study information flows!'.

Usually when I get thoughts like that it's either a) over 40 degrees, or b) the middle of one of those crazy technology booms. At the moment it would appear to be both. Woo!

And to realdoc's point: that would be, like, the greatest magazine ever! Let's do it right here, in the barn! Hurrah!

*goes to lie down before becoming completely incoherent*

*fears it's too late*

music is art said...

thankyou so much for the kind compliments, it truly means so much. morr music truly is one of my favorite labels full of amazing music. have you heard of ms. john soda? ... if not you need to :)

patroclus said...

I hadn't, but I've just downloaded your three songs, and am listening now. Sounds good, thank you!

h said...

Nothing has the mild wrath of bloggers spurned.

but as Homer said: "Instead of one big-shot controlling all the media, now there's a thousand freaks Xeroxing their worthless opinions"

Del said...

Ah, The Simpsons. A quote for every occasion.

Anonymous said...

Well done on the calm, rational, reasoned email to the journalist (who probably deserved a much more shouty missive!). It upsets me so much that people write such tosh - I hope she deigns to reply to you, if she's not too busy getting her husband's dinner on the table, that is. Grr.

Nice bras too, but sadly not for my ample bosom...

Ceridwen Devi said...

I just counted. We link to 13 women bloggers and 14 men plus a lot of group efforts. Does that mean we need to find one more woman. I don't think I want to pay a pound to read this tosh, so thanks Patroclus for the cut and paste job. You get up between 3 and 5am? I thought only monks and bakers did that. Respect.

ScroobiousScrivener said...

Late breaking news: I got a (punctuation challenged) reply.

patroclus said...

Wow, I just looked in Googlemail, and so did I - with proper spelling and grammar and everything, and taking it all back!!! Coming up, just as soon as I've got some work out of the way...

cello said...

I see Private Eye has picked up on Mary D's Cameron cock-up, though not her overall idiocy,