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Speaker: Insert Token Here

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  • Russell Brown,

    So it may be that I speak with such an unconscious masculine energy that I don't have a recognisably female voice. And perhaps this is Russell's fiendish plan. "Ha, I'll get that chick who sounds like a dude, that'll fcuk 'em.

    Heh. A-heh heh heh ...

    Yep. It's just like when Mitch Harris at Radio Live said before we started Public Address Radio that he didn't want it to be "Radio Grey Lynn".

    Oh I'll give you a conservative, I said. I'll give you a National Party member. A gay, Maori, Catholic one who writes like a Spectator columnist ...

    This is basically how I get my kicks.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    Greetings Emma or is it Emman? Your link to a reference on ratio lurkers to posters interests me as my wife is doing a research paper on on-line learning. However your links don't work. damn! Do you have any info on ratio?

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    However your links don't work. damn! Do you have any info on ratio?

    They do now. There were curly quotes in the coding, doubtless added by some word processing application that thinks it knows better.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Judi Lapsley Miller,

    Emma said

    When they speak, they want to feel they have something worth saying, and they want to make sure it's exactly right.

    Exactly!

    Judi
    (a semi-lurking PA devotee chick)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 106 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    Well RB, that is Craig but what about the rest of us getting a word in sideways
    Nice post Emma, I have always liked your comments so bring it on

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    The whole question of why more women don't write or comment on political blogs is one I find odd. Pol-blogging is a hobby.

    True. My wifey blogs more than any two PA byliners, and I've never once heard her plaintively wonder why she's never had more than one or two blokes post on her weight-loss or her digital scrapbooking blogs.

    Although, given the 1.368 degrees of separation on the NZ interwebs, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that there's some intersection somewhere between my mrs and one or more of the crafty girls commenting around here.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Don't knock being a token, Emma. I've found it enormous fun - and mildly profitable (hint hint) - being the ethnic/sexual/political minority representation on Public Address Radio. Straight, white, left-leaning middle-class Dorkland males aren't really that bad :)

    And no dis intended, but I don't really have a clue what you mean about "unconscious masculine energy" and not having a "recognisably female voice".

    Perhaps I've spent too much of my life watching Battlestar Galactica, and being around old school dykes, Tory women and farmers' wives but you seem a rather typical woman to me. Less facetiously, that kind of paradigm just leaves me cold; sure it's mildly useful sociological shorthand, but that kind of reductive labeling always seems to leave our what I find most fascinating about human beings. The ragged edges and soft places that don't fit into sociological boxes or trend stories.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    I'm just keeping Speaker warm until they find a lesbian midget.

    Would being a lesbian midget in Second Life count? Just asking. For a friend.

    Anyway, welcome aboard Emma - which seems weird to say, because with your longstanding prolific and interesting input, you're as fully-aboard is anyone here on the System.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    It’s more the times I wonder if I’m the only one here who’s ever sat in a gang house and listened to guys talk about killing people.

    I've sat in a cocaine dealer's trailer and listened to guys howl aggressively at pay-per-view boxing. Does that count?

    Also, to quote David Cassidy, I think I love you.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Greetings Emma or is it Emman

    You can call me whatever you like, luvvie.

    They do now. There were curly quotes in the coding, doubtless added by some word processing application that thinks it knows better.

    Oh balls, I meant to fix that before I sent it off.

    And no dis intended, but I don't really have a clue what you mean about "unconscious masculine energy" and not having a "recognisably female voice".

    Neither do I. No clue. Typical in my experience is that the men sit on the couch and play computer games / watch Bathurst while the women organise every detail of their lives.

    My mum was heavily involved in the Values Party when I was a kid, so I can confirm that it isn't just Tory women where you get the feeling that Death is going to have to do some serious negotiating.

    Would being a lesbian midget in Second Life count? Just asking. For a friend.

    That depends, Mark. What level of commitment does 'your friend' put into really living the emotional experience of their virtual lesbian midget?

    Anyway, welcome aboard Emma - which seems weird to say, because with your longstanding prolific and interesting input, you're as fully-aboard is anyone here on the System.

    Cheers, Mark. This has been a somewhat harrowing but ultimately rewarding experience.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I've sat in a cocaine dealer's trailer and listened to guys howl aggressively at pay-per-view boxing. Does that count?

    I'm saying 'yes'.

    Also, to quote David Cassidy, I think I love you.

    Excellent. That' going to push Russell's Official Diversity Rating right up.

    But then I think we may be required to become members of some sort of cabal? And run the country. Which sounds like way too much effort for a)this time of year, and b)me.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    The Dropkicks aren't after a token as such, we'd like someone just like us but with a "women's perspective". ie. Able to talk bollocks while not possessing any.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    doh
    "woman's perspective" obviously, unless you're Oprah in which case I was correct

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    ...one who writes like a Spectator columnist ...

    When you said that, I hope you were thinking of the glory days when Auberon Waugh, Jeffrey Bernard, Alice Thomas Ellis and Jennifer Patterson were all in the house - spilling red wine and blood on the carpet and refusing to bugger off when they got sacked. Say what you like about Conrad Black, but under his ownership he was a hands-off proprietor on the editorial front, and absorbed some pretty hefty deficits unitl the magazine became (consistently) profitable for the first time in it's 179 year history.

    Anyway, should go scrub the toilet and stop being such a bumptious patriarch. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Gender Genie thinks I'm a man.

    Lovely post, Emma. Tell me you will be writing more, pleeeeease?

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Meh. You may be a bearded drug dealing biker bloke who goes by the name of Emma Hart but that's not the real problem for PA System readers is it!?

    No, the real horror story is that you're a Cantab. And that means you fight in the streets, marry your own children, own a banjo and have just purchased a season ticket at Telstra Stadium.

    Shame on you, Emma Hart, if that is indeed, your real name.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • DPF,

    A really entertaining first post. I hope it isn't the last.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 78 posts Report Reply

  • Kim Wilson,

    Nice work Emma. More please?

    I can only echo Judi, Deborah and DPF's posts.

    Nth Canty • Since Dec 2006 • 28 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Now that's what I'm talking about.

    I want to hear more about the terrifying amounts of porn, or was it the amounts of terrifying porn?

    I'm just keeping Speaker warm until they find a lesbian midget.

    Maybe if you just sort of crouch down a bit? For my money a bisexual midget would be just as good. And a mainlander to boot.

    there might be a whole bunch of you here not talking about it as well

    Hazards informed guess: because you have to be a particular stripe of brave to use your real name for that stuff?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    The Dropkicks aren't after a token as such, we'd like someone just like us but with a "women's perspective". ie. Able to talk bollocks while not possessing any.

    It's true some women do have a different perspective on rugby from most men. We're still trying to work out if the Hurricanes can retain their title of Prettiest Super Rugby Franchise with the departure of Tana Umaga.

    To be very slightly less facetious, Melodie Robinson is fantastic. There must be another one of those somewhere.

    Gender Genie thinks I'm a man.

    Lovely post, Emma. Tell me you will be writing more, pleeeeease?

    GG thinks I'm a man when I write non-fiction and a woman when I write fiction. I'll admit to being a little dubious about its methodology.

    And thank you. I do write all the time, every day. Just normally I use words like 'gasped' more...

    No, the real horror story is that you're a Cantab. And that means you fight in the streets, marry your own children, own a banjo and have just purchased a season ticket at Telstra Stadium.

    I was going to write a blisteringly sarcastic rejoinder to this, then I realised I have been in a couple of street fights. Just not in Chch.

    A really entertaining first post. I hope it isn't the last.

    My mother warned me about men like you. Slip me a twenty and I'll think about it.

    Or, thank you.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I want to hear more about the terrifying amounts of porn, or was it the amounts of terrifying porn?

    A regular pornami. A pornado. Desert Porn. Californipornication.

    Actually, some of it is just... a bit much. Are you familiar with the term 'squick'?

    Maybe if you just sort of crouch down a bit?

    Ha, I hadn't thought of that. I think I was sixteen the last time someone suggested that, when they couldn't find a Gratiano tall enough to play opposite my Nerissa.

    Hazards informed guess: because you have to be a particular stripe of brave to use your real name for that stuff?

    Absolutely. Not that any of the people I knew then can type or have found teh internets, but yes, brave, and also I'd think over it to some degree.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • hamishm,

    Great, first post, Emma.
    Even if you do own a banjo, I am going to read your stuff. It's that multi- skilling thing, to type and play "Rainbow Connection" at the same time.

    Since Nov 2006 • 357 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    But then I think we may be required to become members of some sort of cabal?

    There's a People Who Still Know Partridge Family Songs Cabal? Awesome. Sign me up.

    (I wish a lesbian cabal actually did run the country, just for the entertainment value I'd get from certain people's reactions. Can you imagine the Sir Humphreys/DPF comments getting *frothier*? It's almost inconceivable.)

    (Oh, and Gender Genie thinks I'm a man, too. And my latest blog post, which I used as an example, was practically a gimme: it was all about how I am a bad feminist, for crying out loud! Yeah, I know, it only uses certain words. But still!)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    That Gender Genie, and the articles that it refers to, is an interesting thing. When I write about architecture, it identifies me as male, but when I write about cocktails, it picks me as female!

    I guess that makes some sort of sense when you read:

    Similarly, what the gender-identifying algorithm picks up on is that women are apparently far more likely than men to use personal pronouns -- ''I,'' ''you'' and ''she'' especially. Men, on the other hand, prefer so-called determiners -- ''a,'' ''the,'' ''that,'' ''these'' -- along with numbers and quantifiers like ''more'' and ''some.'' What this suggests ... is that women are more comfortable talking or thinking about people and relationships, while men prefer to contemplate things.

    I write about about architecture and urbanism in a way that is, if not exactly dispassionate, then certainly analytical and about things. My writing about drinks and bars is more likely to refer to my own personal experiences, so that is probably structured in a way that indicates thinking about "people and relationships".

    So, what it boils down to is that (according to the texts they studied) men and women tend to write about different aspects of experience. I wonder whether, given a brief to write about a specific topic, the distinction would be as noticeable? I can certainly imagine my more informal writings (personal emails, discussion board comments, poetry) being much more "feminine" than the things I write that are explicitly much less personal.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    You sure ain't the first 'girl who sounds like a dude' to have popped up here. I must have reviewed three books for Steve Braunias before I figured out that he thought I was a guy because of my 'muscular prose style'.

    The things that... sometimes make me feel jarringly out of step with the flow of System are nothing to do with demographics. ...the times I wonder if I’m the only one here who’s ever sat in a gang house ... Who’s ever been taken captive by an ex-boyfriend, or walked out of home holding the policeman’s hand.

    Class (I'm just guessing) and family/partner violence, aren't related to demographics? Not sure I get it.

    But I don’t want to talk about it.

    It's a shame that you're dangling the possibility of an actually different perspective in front of people, but don't feel up to providing it. Don't you know that's what real tokens do? Dance, girl, dance!

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

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