Ugh, and I'd almost forgotten about her, too. In her latest post lamenting the existence of women who don't hate themselves as much as she does, titled Why Blogs for Women Are Bad for Women, Breslin starts:
BlogHer. CafeMom.Feministing. At some point, someone decided creating blogs dedicated to women was a good idea. Women blogs are empowering, they said.They’re a safe haven, they claimed. We need these spaces, they proclaimed.The fact of the matter is that blogs for women do more harm than good.
I don't really read any of those blogs, but her examples intrigued me, because later in her rant, she mentions something interesting about why she thinks these blogs are bad:
Once upon a time, the feminist movement was about politics. It was about marching in the streets. It was about making change. It was about being a female superhero. These days, the so-called feminist movement has gone online*, and it’s practitioners greatest political act is writing a blog post. It’s about writing 200 words on that TV show last night that really pissed you off because the way it portrays women is not right in some way you can’t quite articulate. It’s about talking over and over again about how there’s not enough women in [FILL IN THE BLANK]. It’s about reclaiming the word “slut,” and then going on a SlutWalk**, and then having a discussion in which you talk about how you’re not a slut, but people said you were a slut, and that upset you, so you decided to call yourself a slut, because that way, well, at least you own it. The best thing that can be said about the feminist politics of blogs for women is that they are confused.* Has it, really? It just went there? Off the streets, and onto the internet, never to be seen in "the real world" again?
** Aha, no! It's actually, um, in the streets now, isn't it?
Has Susannah even read any of the blogs she listed as examples? Or gone to their web address and so much as glanced at the front pages? As of this very second (5:37pm, Central time in the US), BlogHer is advertising stories about minority children using social media, downsizing in the housing industry, recipes for hamburgers with brie, the Congo rape epidemic, whether weed or Seventeen magazine is a preferable habit for your daughter to get into, and a whole bunch of other categories of items listen under the header that do not include any of the things she is complaining about. CafeMom has a bunch of conversations listed as "popular" that also have nothing to do with any of the things Breslin mentioned. And Feministing's front page is 100% political or related to recent Supreme Court cases.
Breslin's entire career consists of whining about feminists, and how feminists suck, and how most women actually pretty much suck, too, because we are allegedly unfocused and gossipy, among other things. She hates when female bloggers dare to mention anything about women, even thought she writes a blog for Forbes.com called "THE PINK SLIP." Which is about women. And does she ever complain about blogs written for and by men? God, no; men are much cooler than women, obviously, and their issues actually matter, and are relevant, right?
She's one of those women who does that whole "Gawd, I just hate girls so much. I only get along with guys, because they're so drama free. Why do girls have to be so... girlish? Ick, I hate girls. And anyway, I like things that guys like -- you know, cool things. Srsly, fuck girls!" thing. Which I hate. And one of the many reasons I hate that shit is because I was that woman, not all that long ago, and I remember how hateful the whole attitude was. And it's a really stupid, mean-spirited, confused, and self-loathing way to act and feel. Breslin notes, however, the discomfort she feels writing for Forbes under the PINK SLIP title:
I’ve grown to sort of cringe at the idea of this blog being lumped in with ForbesWoman. Working the woman angle is a double-edged sword. Would I have been hired to blog for Forbes.com if I weren’t a woman? I don’t know. Does being put in a female ghetto make my skin crawl? Sometimes.
...Yet, she apparently sees no connection between her being tokenized, and "women's issues" being shoved into one special part of the website, rather than being integrated along with any other article written about anything else, and feminism. She whines about the problems she encounters that feminists on blogs -- and even in person! -- talk about often, and then turns around and complains about how stupid and useless feminists and women-centric blogs are.
Lady, you wish the world were less sexist toward women. You complain about the "Pink Ghetto" you're stuck in. And then you see other women confirming the shittiness of some of your experiences with their own, and your response is to insult them and essentially call them worthless. You are the one who is confused. No one's saying you need to embrace feminism, but seriously, open your fucking eyes. Your painfully obvious self-loathing is making me sad.
Also, Jill wrote about it.
