This is my article about women and blogging which I contributed for Iain Dale’s 2007 Guide to Political Blogging, which will be published this week.

I’ve been writing my blog for 18 months and I have never had so much fun. I have also discovered that it is not for the faint hearted.

Women bloggers still make headline news in a way that their male counterparts don’t. Women bloggers arouse public interest, the inference being that it is a male dominated place.

But why is that? I cannot think of any reason why women bloggers should be singled out for special attention. At the end of the day, it is the content and personality behind it that counts – this applies equally to male and female bloggers.

Yet it is perceived by some to be a male domain, particularly in the political arena. I suspect the ratio of female bloggers is similar to that of female MPs and councillors, that women are not as politically motivated through personal choice and will link up with sites where they feel comfortable and welcomed.

And blogging is most certainly not just a boys’ game, it’s one that the girls can feel equally at ease in. Blogging is known as the “naked conversation�, it’s about being transparent and honest so readers learn about the “real� person. There’s no place to hide if you fake it or fib, your lies will be discovered and word will pass round virally at an astounding pace.

Thanks to the ease of free blogging software, women need not be deterred by the technology needed to set up a site. The general rule of thumb is if you can book airline tickets on the Internet, then you should have sufficient expertise to set up and run your own blog.

For the record, I regard myself, first and foremost, as a blogger. The fact that I have breasts does not, or should not, come into it. I enjoy researching and writing posts and interacting with visitors on news and political issues, as well sharing insights into my personal life and interests.

I am fortunate in having regular readers who post genuine comments on wide ranging subjects, from domestic violence and divorce, to climate change and the EU. Readers have become “virtual� friends, several of whom I have even met, and we exchange emails and Christmas cards. If I appeal for information on my blog, they readily respond and help out and have been a godsend.

But I have also had my moments of misery, been targeted by a cyber bully as well as attracting abusive comments from the odd nutter. I’ve also written the odd post I’ve regretted. There is never a stone large enough for you to crawl under in blogosphere. Any insults, humiliation, regrets and taunts are all played out publicly for the world to see. This is what makes it tough for women, why we sometimes need thick skin. It happens to men too, but maybe they can laugh it off in their macho way while women take it more personally. It is not a pleasant experience, but this is when the tribal network and your “virtual� friends come up trumps and rally to your aid, supporting you through what seems to be your worst nightmare.

It is crucial that women retain their confidence and humour during these dark days if they seriously enjoy blogging. It’s all part of a steep learning curve and, in my case, they are infrequent enough to forget about. Others though have not been so lucky.

Rachel from North London. http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com started a weblog to record her experiences as a July 7 bombing survivor and found herself stalked mercilessly by a woman who was sentenced to six months in jail (appeal pending) for a “vicious, vitriolic and vindictive� harassment campaign against her.

And a highly regarded American blogger, Kathy Sierra, http://headrush.typepad.com/

was so shattered following a series of death threats on her site that she stopped writing her blog.

I wonder how many women are blogging anonymously, particularly if they feel men will not take them seriously. When Penelope Trunk http://blog.penelopetrunk.com writes on Yahoo Finance, she finds inane comments posted every week about her sex life.

What I would advise Penelope to do and is set out a few ground rules clearly stating that visitors to your site should regarded it as a conversation that is taking place in your living room where swearing and inappropriate comments are not allowed. They should realise that while they are entitled to disagree, they should not do so in an abusive way.

However, I believe women bloggers do have the last laugh because they can end up with the great book deals which men do not, to my knowledge. Former Sunday Times journalist Judith O’Reilly cashed in earlier this year with her blog, Wife in the North, http://www.wifeinthenorth.com. She writes poignantly about her move from London to rural Northumberland with three young children, two elderly parents and an absentee husband and it has made her £70,000 richer.

A book deal also landed straight into the lap of Catherine Sanderson, whose alter ego is Petite Anglaise, http://www.petiteanglaise.com. The bilingual secretary was fired by an English firm of accountants in Paris on the grounds that her site, though anonymous and never identifying her employers, somehow brought them into disrepute. She not only won her appeal against unfair dismissal, but also a book deal.

Zoe Margolis hasn’t looked back since starting her erotic weblog, Girl With A One Track Mind, http://girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com under the pseudonym Abby Lee. A media frenzy followed when Zoe’s real identity was revealed as an assistant director in the film industry and she was forced into hiding.

The danger for me is how addictive and time consuming blogging can be, how it can eat into a large chunk of my day as I am willingly lured from one link to another. This requires a discipline that I have not yet mastered, as my family will confirm by their occasional burnt dinners caused by my need to reply to a comment .

For me, there is no doubt that the positives far outweigh the negatives. 99.9% of the people I have “met� in blogosphere I would happily invite into my living room for a real conversation; they are decent, clever people who enjoy an intelligent debate with some light-hearted banter. Blogging is great fun, a constant source of amusement and stimulation, and the day it becomes a chore is the day when I give it up.

As another taster, yYou can read Nadine Dorries’ insights about MPs and blogging here.