Pitchfork, the music site "often compared to Rolling Stone in its prime," can, they say, make or break an album. But rarely do we get to see the men behind the curtain. Men, you say? Oh yes, we say. Our Intern Sheila checked genders on 10 business days of Pitchfork's bylined reviews from each of the last two months, as well as from March, 2007 and from September, 2006. In each of those periods, reviews by men named Mark appeared at least twice as frequently than any reviews by women. The good news: Pitchfork appears to have doubled its contributions by women in the last year—their lady-numbers have jumped from 4% to 8% of all bylines! Wowza!

September 2007
 50 reviews sampled
4 by women - 8%
7 by dudes named Mark - 14%


August 2007
 50 reviews sampled
3 by women - 6%
6 by dudes named Mark - 12%


March 2007
 50 reviews sampled
2 by women - 4%
10 by dudes named Mark - 20%


September 2006
 50 reviews total
2 by women - 4%
9 by dudes named Mark - 18%


I trust we've all learned something here?