Why women don’t leave comments online

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[Commentary] Statistician Emma Pierson observed that commenters on the New York Times' website are overwhelmingly male, except in certain highly gendered areas. In an effort to explain the mind-blowing inequity, Pierson links it to a whole bunch of institutional and social influences, all of which are totally valid.

But in the comments section, many readers disagreed with her framing, as readers so frequently do. Why, several asked, are we talking about comments sections as if they were inherently good? Why do we assume commenting is a behavior that should be encouraged? “Maybe,” one female commenter suggested, “women are sensible enough to realize that all this commenting -- whoever is doing it -- is just a waste of time.” That may just be one of the most sensible alternate commenter theories of our time.

I don’t comment on websites for the same reason I don’t watch wrestling, or go to strip clubs, or do any number of other things that men statistically do far more than women: I think it’s stupid, and I’m not into it.


Why women don’t leave comments online