The blogosphere is supposed to be a brave new world of almost limitless freedom of communication. But its combative forums can be cold places for women, writes Fionola Meredith

The blogosphere is getting louder. That vast network of opinion, comment, rant and debate is proliferating at an astonishing rate; in fact, it's thought that by 2010, there will be more than 500 million blogs. And it seems that it's men who are at the forefront of this growth in so-called "citizen journalism", especially when it comes to the political sector. The scantiest inspection of political cyberspace uncovers scores of male bloggers pumping torrents of impassioned argument into the ether. Forensically detailed analyses vie for space with crude and bumptious one-liners, and the unruly, point-scoring "back of the bus" atmosphere often descends into heated online scuffles, with participants piling in on each other, virtual fists flying.

It's hardly surprising, then, that female bloggers are relatively thin on the ground, especially when they are singled out for dismissive, belittling or downright hostile comments on certain blogs. Cultural commentator Catherine Bennett says that the political blogosphere gives a fascinating insight into the psyche of outwardly respectable middle-aged men. "It is obvious," she writes, "from the prevailing tone of the entries to political weblogs, that most members of the Grand Order of Bloggers believe themselves . . . to be addressing male members of a male-dominated community. Even the most respectable blogs, operated by professional, award-winning progressives, like to show commitment to this mission with devil-may-care asides about porn, notes on the ugliness of women commentators, the beauty of young waitresses, or remarks . . . on the 'totty situation'."

The case of Kathy Sierra, a prominent US blogger who recently went into hiding after receiving death threats on other blogs, has once more raised the question of how women bloggers are treated online. While Sierra's experience is unusually extreme, many believe in the existence of a "culture of abuse" often directed at women. Zoe Margolis, author of the erotic blog, Girl with a One Track Mind, says that many of the posts on her own site have been "extremely hateful, and purely based on me being female". She believes the anonymity afforded by online forums enables users to be liberal with the vitriol in a way they never would in reality. "It's much easier for people to do something anonymously, and post at two in the morning and run away like a coward, than to go up to somebody on the street". And since the letters section of online magazine Salon was automated over a year ago, editor-in-chief Joan Walsh admits, "It's been hard to ignore that the criticisms of women writers are much more brutal and vicious than those about men".

So it seems that the intrepid female blogger who does venture on to rambunctious male-dominated sites needs the heart of a lioness. "Miss Fitz", the only female member of the blogging team on popular Northern politics weblog Slugger O'Toole, admits that she has weathered a number of vitriolic personal attacks. But although she stopped blogging for a while as a result of the abuse, she returned with a renewed determination, absolutely convinced that the opportunity for robust and challenging interchange outweighed the nasty side of the blogosphere.

"Put it this way, I would have stopped long ago if not for the support I received. I got lots of e-mails from female lurkers who wanted to offer me support. That made a real difference." (In internet parlance, a lurker is a person who reads discussions but rarely participates.) Miss Fitz's experience suggests that women are not absent from politics sites, but some may be wary about putting their views forward, or about taking the lead. (Of course, due to the widespread use of name tags, it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether the contributor is male or female.) "There are a lot of female 'commenters' on the site, but just one female who blogs [ posts content on the site]. There is certainly a level of awareness and involvement, if not leadership, in the area.

"Perhaps there is an issue of safety and security. You can make an offhand comment in a bar or public space, or indeed a private space that can be forgotten, reattributed or kept confidential. But in this new arena, things are neither fully private or fully public, and I imagine there is still a great reticence to make pronouncements of the sort people were well advised to keep to themselves in years past. I doubt that it is a coincidence, and I imagine that there is something about the way women view communicating and sharing information that drives this trend."

Well-known Irish blogger and newspaper columnist, Sarah Carey, says she isn't aware that women come in for a particularly rough ride. "Debate on all internet sites can easily descend into abuse. Just look at Godwin's Law [ as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler grows higher]! The people who invoke sex as part of a stream of invective would be the kind to invoke homosexuality when they were abusing a man. It's just part of their arsenal of abuse. Ninety per cent of comments on my blog are genuine political argument, and any time it has gotten personal, others rush in with support. Actually, the worse thing is the patronising comments - I am repeatedly accused of being a daddy's girl!"

Damien Mulley, organiser of the Irish Blog Awards, says that Irish blogs in general are "fairly civil, balanced and respectful", and he points out that, at the most recent awards, there were more women than men nominated in more categories.

So why the outbreaks of macho one-upmanship? Lindsay Whitcroft, a research student and political activist who lives near Belfast, says, "There is a tendency, especially in Northern Ireland, for politics to be confrontational and adversarial. The aggressive nature of the discussion has put a lot of women off, and it's only now that that's beginning to change."

Whitcroft is a self-confessed lurker, who admits she will only post a message on a site if she feels particularly strongly about the issue. She posts using her own full name. "Politics blogs are a good way to test public opinion, and I often agree with a lot of the points made. But I have a "one post" rule: I sit and think, and then I write a post - but one post only! It's tempting to get into a back and forth argument, but I don't enjoy confrontation. And to be honest I just don't have the time to do umpteen posts, between working, studying and bringing up children."

Whitcroft's succinct single-entry posts may be suggestive of a more definably female mode of blogging. Columnist Mary Dejevsky certainly thinks that women take a radically different approach to their online lives. She writes, "We tend to be less confident than men that the rest of the world wants the benefit of our opinion. Men seem to take it for granted not only that they have something to say, but that the rest of us should find it worth hearing - or, in the case of the blogosphere, reading."

Blogophiles are convinced that the internet offers a revolutionary space for no-holds-barred debate, a genuinely democratic arena where anybody can make their voice heard. One occasional contributor to Irish political weblogs likens online debate to a visit to a discount designer clothes shop: "You come across the odd gem, but you have to sort through all kinds of rubbish to find it". That's the nature of the blogosphere: it's raw, neat and unfiltered, alternating moments of scintillating insight with dull prolixity and crude abuse.

But Whitcroft wonders about its fundamental value. "How valid is any time spent there? The expectation is that someone out there will listen. But many people already have their minds made up."