The female demographic is the most misunderstood in the era of drill-down, slice-and-dice consumer data. It is evident in the schizophrenic, stereotypic and random efforts to monetize the media and the Net in particular. In the end, it might be more constructive thinking of female consumers as comprising many roles and affinities rather than as a gender category.

Many deal-makers appear to have traded their risk-taking sensibilities for bullying tactics in these opportunistic hard times, enough to prompt the question: Is this any way to do media deals?