Come For the Atheism, Stay For the Sex! (Or Come For the Sex, Stay For the Atheism!)

Or come for the atheism AND the sex, and stay for the politics! Or the weird dreams, or the pop culture analysis, or the arcane discussion of the finer points of grammar, or the recipe for grilled peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwiches...

We were talking about my blog at a party a couple of weeks ago, and someone suggested that I split my blog up into two blogs: one about atheism, and one about sex. They said that single-issue blogs are easier to market and publicize, and that I might get more traffic and keep more readers if I had different blogs devoted to my different interests.

It's an idea I've considered before. I sometimes worry that people who find my blog through the porn reviews and blowjob discussions get put off by the lengthy faith/evidence conversations. And vice versa.

But I also think this blog's eclecticism is one of its strengths. I personally enjoy blogs that are largely focused on one or two topics I'm interested in -- sex and politics, politics and literature, science and culture -- but that also surprise me with facts and ideas and news stories I might not have run into.

And even from a purely marketing/publicity standpoint, I think keeping it all together might be a good idea. I don't want to be pigeonholed as just a sex writer, or just an atheism writer, or just an anything writer. I'd like to be recognized as, you know, a writer, who can get her brain and her fingers around a wide variety of topics.

Besides, if I split this into a Sex blog and an Atheism blog, where would I put the political rants? The movie reviews? The dream journal? The grammar debates? The recipes?

So I'm taking a reader poll. Not that it's necessarily going to affect what I do -- I'm probably just going to keep on doing what I want to do -- but I'm curious. What do y'all think? Do you think this blog would be better if it were two blogs, one on Sex and some other stuff and one on Atheism and some other stuff? Or do you like it better the way it is? Inquiring minds want to know.

Comments

[PZ Myers]

Don't split it. I like the mix.

[Steve Caldwell]

Greta,

Actually, I like the mixture of sexuality, atheism, and politics on your blog (which I discovered through reading Susie Bright's blog).

I'm a sexuality educator who works in my church and throughout my denomination as a curriculum trainer.

However, the setting that I work in has many members who are atheist or agnostic.

We also are active involved in many social justice issues (e.g. sexual orientation and gender identity rights, reproductive freedom, civil rights, criminal justice, prison reform, civil liberties, economic justice, environmental issues, religious freedom, etc).

So ... a blog that talks about atheism, sexuality, and politics is something that I want to read. Keep the mix. And thanks for creating it.

[Vanessa]

I vote to keep the mix -- sometimes you'll have frizzy, unruly thoughts that wouldn't fit a single-issue blog but will still compress nicely into an essay. Feel free to surprise us.

[Bill Brent]

My $0.02:

Don't mess with success.

While this proposed division of labor perhaps seems logical, and certainly supports current, pervasive cultural myths about how niche marketing leads to success ... personally, I'm tired of splitting myself up like I'm some sort of amoeba. (Scientifically, I know that's not quite an accurate analogy, but close enough.)

I think boundaries are great for relationships IRL, but sucky when it comes to an individual's creative process.

For many weeks, I've pondered setting aside the sex-blog entries at LitBoy into their own "ghetto," but I'm still not doing it. Let the wankers scratch their heads at all the flower pictures, my analyses of Big Island culture, and the odd, introspective rant on my creative process.

(Even my sex-blogging isn't classic j/o stuff; it tends to be funny "predicament porn.")

Anyhow. Eclectic is well-rounded, IMHO.

--BB

[Rebecca]

Jeez, you couldn't come up with a harder question?

Keep it all together. In fact, mush it up a little more. Once in a while I want to read about atheist sex. Or food-related dreams. Or bad grammar in politics.

In some seriousness, sex-obsessed pervs need to know why they should be in the street marching, philosophers and scientists need plenty of sex, and atheists could always use more recipes.

[Maire]

I came for the sex and stayed because of the writing. Don't split it up.

[Hayley]

Keep it all mixed up. too many things in our society have to be specialized. i can't think of them off the top of my head, but suffice it to say there is something to me more human, timeless and classic about the mix versus for reasons of market competition specializing. you know, it's a renaissance blog.

[Colin]

Keep it as one blog! It's a blog about YOUR interests. Don't worry about marketing; it will market itself.

[c4bl3fl4m3]

Leave it the way it is.

I started blogging back before there were single issue blogs (or when there were few of them). Back before there wasn't such a thing as a political blog, or a sex blog, or an anything else like that blog. Blogs back then were all personal blogs, and people wrote about whatever the hell they wanted to.

And, honestly, I like it better that way. The whole "only blogging about one thing" thing really segments ourselves and breaks ourselves apart and doesn't help with the whole "being a whole person thing".

Also, sometimes perspective can be gained from combining issues. I remember a post I made about how Patrick Califia wrote something that implied that real spiritual connection isn't found through the strict rituals of Catholicism, but rather through something more primal like BDSM. And I commented how, as I was in Mass the other day, the feeling that I felt at the time was basically like subspace. (So there goes that theory, Patrick.)

Thirdly, I like to get to know people as whole people. It's like "hey, all of this politics stuff is great, but how do you feel about sex? Or what's your favorite meal?" Like when you find out that your favorite sex writer also is a transit buff or has a killer latkes recipe.

So... yeah. Keep it together. Write about everything and anything. And those who only want to read about one topic can pick them out by their tags.

[Alana]

Hi Greta,

I like your mixed back of tricks. I enjoy your blog for the same reason I enjoy Susie's, because you're both smart, articulate, courageous women writing about a number of prevalent issues. You both offer me courage and inspiration. Keep writing!

Peace,
A

[Sexposfemme]

I love your blog the way it is. Sex and religion happen to be two of my favorite concepts to reflect upon.

[Greta Christina]

Wow, y'all. Thanks. I kind of figured that would be the consensus, but I didn't think it'd be quite so unanimous. I'm touched. And I'll keep on doing what I've been doing. Thanks again!

[Eclectic]

Yeah, it's late, but I just discovered your blog and I'm browsing the ancestry, so I'll add to the chorus... keep it mixed up! Heck, I encountered you two ways. First via the blowfishies (via Annye, via the White Rats, via Leigh Ann, via Celtic music, via Heather Alexander, via Baycon - typical confusing stuff), then via a link to your impressively eloquent defense of the blasphemy challenge. The combination confirms that you are simply Really Cool People.

[Leigh Ann Hildebrand]

I just checked back on your blog after unsubscribing a while back (when you made snarky comments about my bowing out of a discussion because of a family crisis). I have been a fan of your writing about sex for oh, going more than 10 years now, I think. I had always thought of us as being of similar mind about things like sex and politics. (As an example, I can remember my daughter being very excited to hear that you and Ingrid had wed, in part because she did a school project in support of gay marriage.) That said, I've found the ongoing emphasis on atheism to be disappointing enough that, as I said, I unsubscribed from the blog.

I hesitate to say that it's been very sad for me, because you were unhappy when I mentioned that in the last comment I made, but I have been. To have someone I have previously though very highly become someone I avoid reading has been awkward and difficult. I sort of dread running into you in social spaces again, because of it. (To be fair, I have obsessively vegan friends and vocally child-free friends, and I sometimes find time with them to be wearing, too.)

So I guess I am the lone dissenter. I wish there were more sex, and less atheism -- but then again, I guess it doesn't really matter, because I've already chosen to unsubcribe to the email alerts over it, and have stopped reading regularly. I wonder if the unanimity of your responses is because others have also done the same?

[Buck Fuddy]

Dear Leigh Ann,

I'll second your recommendation for more sex, but probably not for the same reason. My reason is that I just can't get enough of sex, whereas, I see the atheism stuff as pretty much preaching to the choir.

Am I wrong in inferring that your preference arises from your feeling that atheism-talk is more shocking to your sensibilities than sex-talk?

[Greta Christina]

Just an FYI to anyone it matters to: I am going to reply to Leigh Ann, but I'm going to do it in private email, which seems at this point like a more appropriate venue for that discussion.

[Lee Vegas]

Sex is the closest thing I have to religion. The combination is fantastic.

From a marketing standpoint, it's good to be the only one doing what you're doing.