“…every guy who’s talked with me about Bloggercon has talked about how *I* was fierce and scary on the IRC channel – because I pointed out sexism – and even then I hear how they’re surprised that they consider me nice-looking, or that I’m smiling at them, or they even flirt and tell me that they wonder why they are always attracted to fierce scary feminist women: they make sure to let me know that even my empowerment and anger, to them, is a sexual commodity.
There is a subtext in what Dave says that if women aren’t sexy, flirty, smiling, glad to see him, and good-natured, then they’re not worth listening to, or they’re not going to be listened to. There is a message for women in that pervasive societal message. I feel sure he didn’t mean that – but honest to god that’s how it comes off to me. ”
-Liz Henry, taking a jab at regendering post-BlogHer comments and aligning them to a larger perspective of how men’s expectations sometimes trivialize women (and singleing out one blogger to make her point is a way that probably isn’t totally fair…)