Women in Web 2.0: You Can’t Have It Both Ways

Ah, Playboy. The American institution that's made a fortune based on the objectification of women has invaded the blogosphere in a way I didn't think they were capable of any longer. In an era when every possible permutation of porn is available at a mouse click, who'd have thought that Playboy, a publication that's considered by many to be about as racy as Marilyn Monroe's dress billowing over a grate, could still cause controversy?

It all started with a letter that went out to several female bloggers requesting photos for a feature that Playboy was planning featuring the "sexiest female bloggers." Various versions of the story exist, depending on which of those bloggers is talking about i, but the long story short is that they submitted photos, later discovering it was a popularity contest, with Playboy planning to ask the "winner" to pose nude for the magazine.

Several of the women in the poll have claimed they had no idea what they were getting into by submitting their photos, and at least one (Pop17's Sarah Austin) have since asked to be removed. I'm guessing at this point, many of them have discovered the downside of using every last method of gaining pageviews.

Playboy may have excellent articles, but its reputation has never been that of promoting women's intelligence over beauty, of professionalism over women as objects. Don't get me wrong; I fully support any woman's choice to pose for the magazine. But posing for the magazine takes ownership of what it's all about.

It's situations like this that make me very happy to be who I am. I'd never in a million years have been considered as part of any "sexiest bloggers" group, so I'd never in a million years have to make that kind of decision. I can, however, be reasonably sure that there is a line I'd never cross when it came to promoting myself. Being a woman in a male-dominated field is tough enough without using the "sex sells" mantra as a means of self-promotion. The Madonna-whore complex is alive and well in the tech universe. We can't be both. And based on many of the comments found on discussion of the Playboy feature, only those fitting into one of those roles will be taken seriously.