Dear Class,
In keeping with our course theme of activism, I have chosen this blog (aptly called Feministing) for our first discussion. In an article on the website Take Part, Giulia Rozzi ranked this cite as number one for feminist blogs, saying that this cite gives women a platform to speak about issues on which the media and society normally silence them.
Remember: you are not to focus your comments on what this cite says; rather, you need to analyze HOW this cite presents information (see handout on Carmen).
Please follow this link to the blog: www.feministing.com.
Remember, part of your doing well on this assignment is leaving meaningful posts.
Good luck,
Nick White
From the surface this is less a blog of women expressing their views on the injustices to women and more a blog of women ranting and raving about current pop culture. Very few of their points have any true insight and they fails to elaborate on many points that they make. A majority of posts just seemed to stop short and were unable to make any overwhelming and impacting statements. Yes, it does offer a way for women to vent, but very few of the posts provide anything constructive and are mostly blatant statements of opinion.
ReplyDeleteI am going to address the blog as a whole. This is obviously a feminist blog. Each article addresses some women's rights issue. This implies that women do not receive the same rights as men do. Some articles imply that government in general is run by and for men, not both sexes. The authors utilize the readers' emotions by writing about mistreatment of women, and how no one is helping them. The blog demands sympathy, and uses this to gain support. The goal is to get people to act, and make the world better for women. The blog uses repetition of words, such as "rights," "women," "act," and "demand." These words carry emotion, and that gets people's attention. I would say that this blog is successful because it uses effective tools to motivate people to work towards its agenda.
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ReplyDeleteConsidering the name of this blog, I was very surprised that this site didn't offer opinions only on issues relevant to the feminist movement. While there are many posts about different topics commonly associated with the feminist agenda, there are also random postings covering a wide variety of subjects ranging from protest of racist TV characters to the odd movie review. At first I found it strange that there would be (in my mind) random post like the one entitled “More teens turning to weight loss surgery”. But now I get the sense that Feministing uses these wide subject ranges to break the monotony of the rhetoric usually associated with their activist movement. I’ve found the site to be informative and entertaining because of this fact.
ReplyDeleteThe entire blog seems designed to offer a single stop for news, and opinions on subjects of interest to feminists. In some regards, it succeeds, and in some places it seems to fail. A good example of a legitimate post would be the one on the breast firming cream, and it's use of the feminist legend of bra burning to sell itself. This angers the reader at the company, instantly pulling them to the side of the writer. Thus, it is a good example of a post that helps the blog overall.
ReplyDeleteIt is, however, also a bad example of how to gain support for your movement. Some of the posts do nothing to attempt to incite action, sway the viewer to the movement's side, and are instead just opinions on irrelevant things. An example of this is Katy Perry's Sesame Street rendition of Hot and Cold being pulled because she wore a dress and parents complained. Interesting, but that is more a censorship issue, not a feminist one.
I also found their logo curious. It is a rendition of the reclining silhouetted woman that is commonly found on trucks, windows, and stickers, and portray the kind of unrealistic figure the site readily rails against. It also, it could be argued, represents viewing women as a sex object.
They may have been trying for a ironic contrast, but it doesn't really seem appropriate for a site that takes itself seriously.
Throughout several posts on the blog, I have noticed one of the contributors appeals to the readers for their opinions. These appeals such as in "Let's leave my momma out" by Samhita, try to get the audience to respond to her blog. For example, Samhita asks the reader to try and prove her wrong that a feminist women of color has not been New York Times Bestseller. Thus, she believes her audience is people who believe themselves apart of the feminist movement. They belive the audience values talk about the feminist movement such as how women are not treated equally in our society. The author does position herself as an authority in the topic. She establishes that she is a racial justice advocate and has had academic training. Plus, from the tone of her writing, she talks as if she is knowledgable in the area.
ReplyDeleteWhile reviewing some of the posts to the Feministing blog, I came across one in particular which used a pique tone to deliver the message to the audience, "Lil' Wayne's sexist..." by Rose. Feminists often attack rappers because their vernacular is innately sexist, but this specific criticism seems warranted by the author’s use of ethos and logos. She starts by calling his song by a new name, "Women Aren't Human Beings" then moves to a line of the song that portrays a black sorority in a negative light to immediately tell the audience that Wayne's new song is an attack on women. This also builds the author's ethos with the audience because she is calling out a public figure who has degraded women. Later in the post, the author provides facts backed by sources to discredit some of the claims that Wayne makes in the song. These facts offer solid logos to the author's argument and depict Lil' Wayne as not only ignorant of women, but also to other concerning issues that face the world today.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading some of the articles by Feministing, I was surprised to see some of their blogs. Generally speaking,I would have expected all feminist movement blogs. But, it seems as though they try to be at the fore-front for feminists and have some fun using blogs such as the "Rom Com Review" to maybe add some flair for their audience. They are current, informative, and in all of their articles do recognize in some relevance ways women are affected. I believe feministing does an excellent job appealing to their audience.
ReplyDeleteAfter browsing the site I came across many different articles, each different but with similar ideas. As stated by the blog, the articles were feminist in nature. Some of these articles provided very unique views on controversial issues, such as in “Marriage; Better than getting raped all the time”. These types give a new look into the issues, although some of the ideas are out there. There was also a link to an article called “was Katy Perry too sexy for Sesame Street?” where it talked about how some was allowed a job then fired, believed to because of her outfit. These particular articles fit well into the feministing site, due to their inherent nature.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the layout of the blog I noticed that the logo of the site is purple and white, which are the main colors of feminism. This logo also features the mudflap girl, which probably can be seen as derogatory to some women, who is holding up her middle finger. This makes me feel like they are a bit stand-offish. But I'm not sure about the blue and dark gray, any ideas?
ReplyDeleteOverall, however, the website seems just like a safe haven for feminists to share ideas and news, as it does not seem to be promoting or persuading in nature. But I also see they are interested issues surrounding gays (specifically men) and transgenders.
I also noticed you need an account at the site to post comments. This is probably to cut down on anonymous users' rude and inappropriate comments.
I was especially interested in the post with the review of Going the Distance because it mentioned that it passed the Bechdel test. It is a simple movie test to see if there is (1) more than one woman in the movie (who have names) (2) if the women talk to each other and (3) if they talk to each other about something besides a man. I saw a youtube video about this awhile back and was surprised to see so many blockbusters and other good movies on the list. If you're interested in the video, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s
My feeling on this blog is that it seems like feminist styled entertainment rather than true feminism. I say that because the cornerstones of the feminist movement are equal pay for women and ending stereotypes of women as well as equality in politics. This blog instead focuses on popular culture and tries to tie it in to feminism and while there is sexism in popular culture i feel that the ridiculousness of some of the stories takes away from the true seriousness of the cause.
ReplyDeleteThe blog is, of course, a feminist blog. The majority of the time feminist want to empower women in the world. The women want to be created as equals to men. The only thing with this blog is that there seems to be a vast amount of hate in the writings. The writings takes recent news that is in the world but then almost always analyze it as if the world is out to get every woman on earth. The post are exciting with the way that she writes but the constant anger makes the information harder to understand because it is presented in a one sided argument. Since it is a blog it is understandable.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading several blogs on the website, I decided on a blog about an Australian rugby player being accused of sexual assault. The entire blog can be seen here: http://feministing.com/2010/09/28/answering-fan-mail-and-sexual-assault-whats-the-connection-again/
ReplyDeleteThe main point to this blog that I found intriguing was the difference in opinions in the comments. The original blogger wrote that just because the player answers fan mail doesn't mean he can't be a rapist. The blogger also pointed out other cases of sexual assault in the National Rugby League and it was made very clear to me that she believed the player to be guilty. Although everyone agreed that just because he answers fan mail doesn’t mean he can’t be a racist, a commenter believed that the blogger was “vastly oversimplifying things.” There was a difference of opinion between two different posters on whether the fact that he answers fan mail makes him less or more likely to be a racist. One side of the argument was that if you answer fan mail it is because you enjoy the attention and fame from the fans and as a result are narcisstic. While the other side of the argument said that you answer fan mail because you are a genuine person and don’t hold the capability to sexually assault someone. I think that it was an interesting argument revolving around a little fan mail comment a defendant of the rugby player said.
Before I did some research on the site, my own theory of feminists and the women's movement was that it would be a place for self-righteous women to talk about trying to take over a man's world. Miss Independent preaches about how she is the manager of a major firm after coming from a society that belittled the abilities of women and limited them to domestic chores and marital cheerleading positions. When I opened the feministing site, I perused over three blogs of interest to me. The one I found most interesting was one titled "Let's Leave My Momma Out Of This." I was impressed because it opened my mind to what feminism really is. The author named Samhita describes her mother's attempts to improve her way of life for the sake of creating building blocks for her child to be successful in the future. Her mother was not my former definition of feminist, but an immigrant trying to fufill the coveted American Dream. Samhita reflects that similiar factors are the reason for her success, not engagement in the women's movement. She explains the feminism part of her and other feminists is largely about the involvement of women in worldwide issues. Feminism is not solely about issues with women's injustice, but also injustice within racial groups and sexual orientation. Feminists are reformed women whose goal it is to inform the world of other groups of oppressed peoples. Feminism is not a women's movement, but a feminine movement. The empathy illuminating from feministing.com shines on sub-Saharan Africa and the women there who have HIV; looked over for life-saving medication because they are not in a position to be eligible for trial of eliminating HIV transmission to an unborn child. It shines on the fact that advertising techniques using sobbish appeal exploits "women's desires to live up to gendered and unrealistic beauty standards", thus becoming a possible cause of poor body image and low self esteem. I really enjoyed the blog site and I would recommend it to anyone, namely individuals out of touch with their feminine instincts (lol).
ReplyDeleteI think that the blog’s appearance is a little bland but I think everything is easy to find. There’s video clips, related articles, and the articles they post as well, all being very accessible. I think that the stereotype feminist is very abrasive, “I hate men” kind of attitude, but this blog is softer about their delivery. It seems to me they just post their opinion like the article, “The feministing rom com review: Going the Distance”. But, yes they definitely have their opinions like anyone else, but it’s delivered well. As I was looking at some of the comments from the rom com article everyone seemed to love the review. Even a couple of people who commented said they even want to see it now because of what was posted about the movie, which was how it wasn’t the typical cynical career driven women who will pick her job over anything.
ReplyDeleteAlso i noticed its not like i think feminism should be here in society but, they find things happening in the world and putting their feminist twist on it. I think their blog showcased what they believed well and tastefully.
After searching through this blog, my feeling is that it is a combination of pop culture and feminism. The pop culture of the site is shown through articles such as "Katy Perry gets axed from Sesame Street for being too sexy", which just talks about how Sesame Street reportedly fired Katy Perry because her outfit was a little too revealing,and "The Feministing Rom Com Review: Going the Distance" which is simply a movie review. But the feminism of the blog is shown through articles such as "Answering fan mail and sexual assault – what’s the connection, again?", which talks about an Australian rugby player who is being accused of sexual assault, and "Respecting HIV-Positive Women, Regardless of their Pregnancy Status" which discusses how all HIV positive women should be treated like pregnant HIV positive women who receive proper treatment.
ReplyDeleteFeministing is a very interesting site. Yes, it is a feminist blog as its name suggests, but the way the topics are discussed and criticized by the editors and contributors is slightly inconsistent. In some blog posts, the author would usually criticize something in pop culture, which probably doesn't contribute to their cause. In other posts, they would actually provide well thought out arguments towards topics that are relevant issues for feminists. The final result is sort of a mixed bag of ideals. I like the premise of the blog and the content, but the presentation of the content is somewhat confusing.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I found most interesting about the blogging site, Feministing was that the blogs that left the biggest impact on my memory weren't posted on the actual site. The majority of the blogs that were well organized and written came from other sites such as CNN or other news affiliated webgroups. A key fact that differentiated the good blogs from the poorly written ones was the level of personality displayed. If the author of the blog wrote in a personable fashion it provided for better fluidity and was in turn easier to read.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole, the blog site feministing.com is a well organized site with articles surrounding a feminist's point of view. There are many contributors to the blog and many posts have credibility with the subjects they discuss. I noticed that not all the posts on the blog were strictly about the feminist agenda, but rather some were concerning more general political and social topics. The site is a place for women to view current news and entertainment information that is relevant to them.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through a few blogs and getting a small gist of Feministing, I agree with many of the comments left on this page. This site seems to be a compilation of blogs, videos, and whatever else dealing with current subjects of interest to, not just the modern feminist, but also the interest of many other types of activists. Furthermore, Feministing seeks out to help other activist organizations. It seems like once a person becomes an activist, they do not just support one movement; they support other types of activists and their concerns also.
ReplyDeleteOne particular article caught my attention. It was titled “Bad-ass Women in Fake Beards”. This particular article, written by Chloe, a frequent contributor to Feministing, dealt with “La Barbe”, a French feminist organization. La Barbe means “the beard”, and the members of this organization basically show up to events and conferences, wearing fake beards while protesting the lack of women in positions of power. Chloe’s article was interesting and informative, containing lots of ethos, but, like most of the articles on Feministing, it lacks the pathos and to persuade the audience to “activate”, or to act. My initial thoughts of Feministing were that it was going to be a site for feminists to vent their hearts out. However, to my surprise, this Feministing seems more like a place for young feminists to get together, share, appeal to each other, and, as the title of the site suggests - blog, organize, and kick-ass.