"But if we dare be more than pretty eyeballs driving the market, we must challenge the deep misogyny pulsing at the heart of the hypertext transfer protocol."

--Melissa Gira, Valleywag, writing about women, sexism and net businesses with true Swiftian sarcasm in a delicious post.

Take a look at my new essay, The End of Innocence and Making It Big: The NYTimes spins yet another lost girl tale of innocence, regret and discreetly hot sex, at BlogHer.
A snippet:
"Is there truly any less foolproof way to sell the Sunday issue that to get huge viral buzz from a damsel in distress story played out in that most modern of locales, the blogsphere?

Call it cynical on my part, but I can just see current NYTMag editor Adam Moss looking back over the upper-middle class waif stories (and media sensations) of Joyce Maynard and later Elizabeth Wurtzel and wondering if Emily Gould's sob story of error and reform would generate the same page views and buzz those two highly manufactured heroines achieved.

While much of the media criticism and the consumer comments have focused on Gould's narcissism and opportunistic use of her beauty, sexuality and position, and the aggressive marketing of her subsequent prettily teared up regret, no one has talked much about the cold-blooded cynicism of the Times in assigning and publishing what is just the latest incarnation in an ongoing series of sensational stories by attractive young women who struggle."

"The Tech Industry is what happens when really smart people get paid to have so much fun that they lose touch with reality."

-- Sarah Dopp, blogger, tweeting away.

Queen of Spain, aka Erin Vest, interviewed Barak Obama this weekend, and did an amazing job. Erin's interview addressed policy questions developed by BlogHer members--congrats to all,this is very cool.

As Lisa Stone says on her blog, Surfette, Obama is the first presidential candidate to a directly address BlogHer's audience of nine million women each month via BlogHer.com and a publishing syndicate of 1,800 blogs.

My favorite poetry writing, gender bending, social cause supporting, product manager organizing, code writing, project planning, great going for a walk and talking friend Sarah Dopp turns 25 today. Happy birthday, Sarah!

If you've never read her blog, start with this:
"I'm 25 years old with 11 years experience building websites and reading poetry at microphones, and four years of self-employment in the tech industry. I've never lied about my age, but I'm done with trying to walk like I'm older than I am. I get to be 25 now. And all of the middle fingers I've been giving social constructions for the last handful of years can relax. I made it. So there."