BlogHer - Day One

So far the Blog Her conference is terrific. The theme of this years event is "A World of Difference" -- and how true that is. As bloggers we can make a world of difference, and there is also a world of difference among some bloggers -- but I'll talk about that later.

I arrived a bit late, so missed the "speed dating" session -- darn -- but I did attend a workshop titled "Privacy, Exposure, Risk: Can you maintain safer spaces online?" The discussion on Blue Gal's blog prompted me to want to hear what other women had to say.

I was pleased to learn that the overwhelming sentiment was to encourage women to not let fear prevent you from tell your story, or sharing your truth. The panelists acknowledged that there are times when it's prudent to do what you need to do to protect yourself, but that most of the threats that are leveled at women bloggers are just that -- threats. The people who spend there days harassing women, are more than likely too afraid to actually confront someone -- and are likely doing it for the attention. If you don't engage, they lose interest and move on.

What I took away from the session was that we should never let the threat or fear of violence stop us from claiming our power.

It's late ... I'm tired ... so will write more tomorrow.