Harassment Driving Out Female Bloggers.

From the Washington Post:

A 2006 University of Maryland study on chat rooms found that female participants received 25 times as many sexually explicit and malicious messages as males. A 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the proportion of Internet users who took part in chats and discussion groups plunged from 28 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2005, entirely because of the exodus of women. The study attributed the trend to "sensitivity to worrisome behavior in chat rooms."

I did a much-maligned post some time ago about the lack of high-profile professional women bloggers in the mold of Kevin Drum or Josh Marshall. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with that. In any event, it's a problem, and one that we should all take responsibility for. Guys, when see this kind of conduct being directed at women as women, it's not OK, and it's OK to say it's not OK.