I just got back from attending a conference in San Francisco dedicated to female bloggers. During the three days, I met lots of great, interesting people, both men and women. The conference was very well attended – much more so than I expected. I had some wonderful conversations and listened in on some great discussions and panels.
But there was something I found a little bizarre and somewhat disturbing about the conference and it happened again and again. I witnessed it at the sessions and in the blogs. Apparently, women have this new found fascination with cussing. Now before I get into this, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am no saint myself in this arena. I’ve been known to have a potty mouth at times, but I do know when to hold it in and when to let loose. There were several times during the sessions when women who had the microphone just let the nasty words fly. These were women who were panelists on stage and women who were in the audience asking questions. One woman, towards the end of the conference, admitted to actually being schnockered during her rant. Go figure!
The first time it happened I was a little stunned, as were some of the people around me. You could see the shocked faces as we darted eye contact with each other. And then, the cussing kept happening over and over again, often times with cheering from small groups in the audience. I don’t get it!
It made me wonder – do women feel empowered by cussing in front of a large group? Does it give their ego a boost? Am I just not “with the times”? Or were these just bitter women with an opportunity to vent? I wonder if they think this is what men do all the time which I certainly don’t find to be the case. (Maybe I’m just hanging out with men of etiquette.)
In talking with some of the other attendees about this, we were all curious about what brings on this behavior. Instead of walking away from the conference feeling a sense of accomplishment and revelation, instead we felt it was a platform for some women to complain about their lives in a very crude vocal fashion. It really brought a negative tone to the conference. If that’s what these women see as the purpose of their blogging, then, so be it. I’m certainly not here to stop them. I just wasn’t raised this way.
As a woman and as a blogger and a conference attendee, I really don’t understand it. I personally feel it takes women a step backwards. I’ve attended many, many conferences over the years and have never been to one where it was appropriate or the norm to stand up and spiel foul language. I don’t proclaim we all need to walk around being “Miss Goody Two Shoes”, but I do believe there is a time and place for everything.
No electricity also means nowhere to plug in my charger for my phone/blackberry which means I will totally be leaving work behind for an entire week. Yippee!
