Bloggers show new face of feminism
Their blog once prompted a company to pull a shirt that joked about rape.
March 14, 2008
Feministing.com editor Ann Friedman listens as Feministing.com executive editor Jessica Valenti speaks during Wednesday’s ‘Blogging Feminism’ event at Memorial Union. The MU Women’s and Gender Studies department invited Valenti and Friedman to address how contemporary feminists uses the Internet to promote their ideas.
One problem Jessica Valenti, creator of the Feministing.com blog, said she has with mainstream media is their passive description of sexual harassment and attacks.
She said when most media report on an assault, they say “she was raped” instead of putting active fault on the aggressor.
This and “every bullshit story” in mainstream media compelled her to create the blog Feministing.com, Valenti said at Wednesday’s “Blogging Feminism” panel discussion.
Valenti and Ann Friedman, an editor of the site, discussed the media and the characteristics of the Internet that have allowed their fan base to grow to approximately 150,000 readers each month.
Friedman, a 2004 MU graduate, said she worked at newspapers during college and wished she could be able to integrate her own opinion into her work. She said Feministing.com provided her an outlet to do just that.
“We cover mainstream news in a feminist lens,” Valenti said.
Valenti said she not only wanted to serve as a sort of “feminist watchdog,” but also create a community for women and an opportunity for them to become more active and more informed.
Although blogs are normally thought of as “snarky commentary,” Valenti said, Feministing.com once prompted a T-shirt company to pull a shirt that joked about rape. Also, the negative response on Feministing.com to an article in Forbes magazine warning men to not marry “career women” elicited an apology from Steve Forbes, she said.
Valenti said she came up with the title of the Web site by “verbing” the noun “feminism” to encourage activism.
The nature of the Internet encourages this activism, Friedman said.
Internet Web sites allow for a much larger readership than printed media, she said.
She said with magazines such as Bitch Magazine and Ms. Magazine, the scope is limited for readers and blogs have the possibility of reaching more people than a magazine because of their smaller monetary investment.
Friedman said they want readers to be able to hear many different feminist voices on their blog.
“We’re a portal to other corners of feminism on the Internet,” Friedman said. “Young women can come to our site, and they have access to a wide range of feminist opinions on things.”
Valenti said the site is currently going through a redesign to encourage a greater community feeling.
The changes, which Valenti said would be complete next month, will include individual reader profile pages. The readers will be able to start their own blogs on the site.
Freshman Kelsey Hoehn heard about the discussion in her Women’s and Gender Studies course and said she liked the way Valenti and Friedman were able to have fun while promoting feminism.
“They seem like fun, quirky girls,” she said.
Hoehn, who recently started identifying as a feminist, asked them how she should live with her new outlook.
Valenti and Friedman said the way to live as a feminist differs for everyone and encouraged Hoehn to get involved locally.
Hoehn said she plans on attending her first Feminist Student Union meeting next week.
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