Does blogging about your life necessarily ruin it? What about if you’re a woman? Do professional woman bloggers have a harder time than men? In an effort to answer some of these questions our very own Rebecca Fox will be chairing a Core Conversation along with Rachel Sklar at this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival. Here’s the premise:

Often, it can be violent and bloody to be a woman writing online. While the wounds are virtual, the online conversation frequently sinks to lows surrounding female writers’ personal lives and suspected proclivities — rather than their capabilities, qualifications, and accomplishments — in ways that have negative repercussions for them both professionally and personally. We see this happening to men who write online less frequently. We want to talk about why that is, and what can be done to combat it.

Thoughts? We’d love to hear them. Meanwhile the conversation has already been kickstarted on Tumblr. The panel itself will take place in Sunday, March 15 at 11:30 a.m. in Austin, in the meantime you can keep up with developments here.