BLOGOSPHERIC SEGREGATION.

One of the things I love about TAPPED is that it's a general progressive politics blog, a health care blog, a feminist blog, an education policy blog, a foreign policy blog, an election blog, and a legal blog all in one, due to the personalities and predilections of its contributors. There's no ghettoization of "women's issues" here, and as a feminst writer who also covers a lot of other topics, I appreciate that.

Salon went in another direction with its fantastic Broadsheet, a women's-only blogging space. And now the ladies of Slate have joined in, launching "The XX Factor:" "Slate women blog about politics, etc." Considering the move away from pure political coverage at Slate, I won't be surprised if "The XX Factor" is more "etc." than anything else; a smart, wide-ranging conversation on cultural issues through a feminist lens. I look forward to reading it.

Yet I'm discouraged that another mainstream publication has put its feminist blogging in a separate space. The XX Factor launched just a few weeks after another new Slate blog, Trailhead, which covers the 2008 election and is written by Christopher Beam, and occasionally other male contributors. "Safe spaces" to talk among other feminists are very important online -- that's why I keep my own blog, where the comment arena is decidedly more sympathetic to gender analysis. But if we want feminism to penetrate into broader conversations about politics, especially during such a crucial election year with a female front-runner, we need to also encourage mixed spaces. So many male bloggers and journalists I know have never heard of Broadsheet, or rarely visit Feministing, but are totally clued in to the feminst debates taking place at TAPPED and other integrated blogs. I think high-traffic sites like Slate have an important role to play, not in doubling down on "no boys allowed!" blogs (that's the tagline on Slate's front page right now), but in showing that feminist anlysis is mainstream political analysis.

All that said, women-only blogging is a lot of fun. So women of Slate, I totally understand why you're looking forward to this project, and I'll certainly be tuning in.

--Dana Goldstein