Striving for quality versus quantity, Kameron explains why  she finds there are as many scared women as men when it comes to meeting her or discussing certain topics on her blog “Brutal Women.” With her first novel on the way, Kameron talks about her writing experience, the roles for women and why she feels strongly about putting her name and face out there despite any backlash.

Age? 30

Places you have lived in? Battle Ground and Bellingham, Washington; Fairbanks, Alaska; Durban, South Africa; Chicago, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio. I also spent a great deal of time in NYC and Indianapolis for personal and professional reasons. I liked NYC the least – which surprised me too! Too many people trying to claw over each other, I think.

Place you would like to live? Hoping to get back to the Seattle area in my old age. I flirted with living in a lot of foreign cities over the last decade. I’m getting really tired of hauling 30 years worth of National Geographics up and down 3^rd floor walk-ups. I think it may be time to find a permanent home for the books sometime soon that doesn’t involve me shipping them overseas.

What do you do? I’m a copywriter and communications manager for a financial services firm in Ohio. I also make a little money on the side as a freelance writer.

How important is it for you to post about things people are discussing versus new things people may not know about?

It depends on if I feel I can add something to the conversation. If folks are upset about something I’m passionate about or I feel I can add something to the overall discussion, I’ll speak up. That said, I’ve also gotten pretty attuned to when I should just shut up and listen. Too many people think the Internet was made for egotistical rambling (and you can certainly find a fair bit of that on my blog), but it’s also a great way to meet people with different backgrounds and viewpoints.

How much do you monitor comments and how hard is to do so?

When there’s something useless/inflammatory posted, I simply delete it. I’ve gotten my share of hate mail and threats. You just delete it and move on. It comes with the territory. If you’re going to put yourself out there, you’re going to get a certain amount of backlash. Just be prepared for it, and don’t take it personally. These people don’t know you. They’re generally just afraid of everything you stand for. When you look at hate mail as an indication that you’ve freaked somebody out, it’s much more satisfying.

Do you feel there is a lot of competition between women blogs?

This is an odd question. I’m not sure what exactly “women blogs” would be competing for… It’s like saying that boingboing.net is competing with wired.com for readers. To me, a blog is about having a conversation, not about competing for ad revenue. As far as my blog goes, I never sought after a huge audience. My blog is primarily a personal ranting outlet and secondarily a place to discuss the sorts of issues I’m interested in with a wider audience of folks interested in the same stuff.

The great thing about blogs is that you can speak to a niche audience and still have a lot of readers. The level of discourse also tends to be higher on niche blogs with very loyal audiences than on more general readership types of blogs. It’s like comparing the conversations you see on Making Light or I Blame the Patriarchy (when comments were still active) versus YouTube.

I’ll take thoughtful discussions about power feminism with my loyal niche audience over 1,300 mindless YouTube comments about my breasts any day.

Since you use your given name and post personal photos on the blog, do you ever worry that putting yourself out there may be cause you trouble or even be dangerous for you in some way?

Of course it’s possible that some nut job could attack me. Some nut job could attack me crossing the street tomorrow. I could also get hit by a bus. Should I stop crossing the street?

If somebody wants to hunt you down and kill you, they will. Here’s the thing. When you bow to fear and threats, you give your oppressors power. Look at all the death threats against Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Have they shut her up? Hell no. If she shuts up, they win. Fuck that. That said, it’s far more likely I’ll die in a car wreck than getting knifed by some nut job. Also, I have a pretty good right hook, which is far more useful against nut jobs than car wrecks.

I love the inspiring quotes on your site, how do you pick them and is it important that they express female strength or fierceness?
I picked up the quotes over the course of my reading and browsing. I’ve always enjoyed collecting quotes, so when I found a good one, I made a note of it. It was actually a lot harder to find images of strong, vibrant, happy, physically powerful women than it was to find the quotes. Much of the history of feminism is filled with stories of women who’ve been massacred, abused, and brutalized. We often forget that women have fought in wars, served as heads of state, led guerilla armies, been pirates, taken up fighting sports, led gangs, been great writers and philosophers, and brought entire countries to their knees. I think we forget that a lot when we start talking about women’s rights. We want to concentrate on how bad things have been (and are), but by only concentrating on the negative, it paints us as passive victims throughout history. A history of abuse should not be confused with weakness. It’s important to me to show and discuss examples of strong women on my site. It’s something we don’t see enough of.

What tends to be the response when men read or learn about your blog?

This is an odd question. I have a lot of male readers. Lots of friends and relatives and strangers and writing colleagues. I tend to have just as many women terrified of meeting me in person as I do men when they find out my blog is called, “Brutal Women.” Everybody expects me to be a lot scarier in real life.  Most folks are genuinely curious and interested in my blog. I also have several male and female readers who tell me they read regularly but don’t comment because they feel like they’re still struggling with feminism 101 and not ready for the level of engagement that’s often expected on my blog. I really respect them for that self-knowledge, and I love that they read anyway in an effort to understand.

Knowing that you enjoy action films, do you think that roles for women have become more interesting and powerful or are there still too many roles that stereotype women?
Most roles still stereotype women. The end goal of every woman in nearly every film is to please a man/be thought pretty by a man/end up with a man. There are some exceptions to this – most of which are movies with no female characters whatsoever. I actually think you see fewer films with strong female heroines than you did in, say, the 1970s and early 80s (which gave us Ripley, Princess Leia, and Sarah Conner). Watch what happened to these characters as the decades went on. Ripley becomes some kind of alien clone, Leia turns into the boring, insipid Padme, and Sarah Conner completely disappears in T3 and T4. You do see some folks making strides. Directors like Drew Barrymore, Karyn Kusama, and Gurinder Chadha have done some great stuff, in addition to more widely lauded directors like James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens) and Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly).  When it comes to telling stories, we still get stuck in lazy cliché, however. And that means boys will be boys and women will support boys. It’s why shows like HBO’s Rome and shows like Mad Men are so delightfully refreshing (and even with a wonderfully fleshed out ensemble cast, both shows still center around male protagonists!).  It’s tough to find films with strong, powerful women engaged in strong, powerful stories with men as equals or (perish the thought!) supporting characters (a good recent example of this is Drew Barrymore’s Whio It).

What is something you like to do when you are not blogging?

Writing fiction. My first novel, God’s War, will be published by Nightshade Books in 2011.

What is a big challenge for you?

Balancing my need to extinguish all fear with my desire to abide by my own common sense.

What is something you would change about this world or country) if you had the power to do so?

Equality would be awesome.

Tags: backlash on blogs, Brutal Women, Commenting on blogs, God's War, Kameron Hurley, Nighshade Books, power feminism, quality versus quantity, roles of women, Stereotyping women, strong women