One thing I have noticed about bloggers on the web is that at every turn it seems someone is using a pseudonym. I thought the whole medium was supposed to be about being authentic and speaking from your unique voice. I realize in the writing world that pseudonyms have a long history and people have a long list of reasons for adopting them. Heck, I have even used a pseudonym in some of my freelance technical writing because of where I was employed at the time I started that writing gig. What I wonder, though, is why so much secrecy in the blogosphere? There are women out there blogging about lesbian rights and equal treatment and the visibility of lesbians in the media, business, and elsewhere, yet they are hush hush about who they are. Maybe it is just me, but I wonder about the credibility and authenticity of what I’m reading.
Ann Bartow at sivacracy.net recently posted about this very topic in her article “Blogging and Pseudonymity”.
The points she makes that really struck my were:
“…but I dread the inevitable day it is discovered that a seemingly feminist pseudonymous blogger is actually an anti-feminist man, who has been lying profusely and manipulatively about his background…”
and
“…their pseudonymity also precludes them from evolving into the visible, “public intellectual” feminist leaders that they certainly seem to otherwise have the drive and talent to become. Sometimes I wonder how much energy and sleep they lose worrying about having their true identities revealed, or how much trying to avoid identifiable disclosures causes them to self-censor, or even lie about their lives.”
You can read her entire post here.
The immediate question that pops into my authentic coaching oriented head is — are YOU losing energy trying to hide who you really are?