Jezebel 
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New York, 9:44 AM
Wed Dec 2
68 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/18/09
Maybe I should get off comic book and movie sites.
11/18/09
I think all the sites have their place. I go occasionally to Gawker, and Kotaku and I09 are right behind Jezebel on lists of places to kill some time, but Jezebel has something special in the setup. Yes there should definitely be a wide variety of unisex sites but there is nothing wrong with a little personalization and someone has to write them.
11/18/09
I would never have openly called myself a feminist before coming to Jezebel - mainly because my (female) friends take offence at the word, (one actively disapproves of it.) However, I was most definitely a feminist in thought and action and it was another friend who recommend I look at the site as she felt it would be, 'right up my street'. She was absolutely correct and I have to say, (hopefully without sounding cheesy) that it encouraged me to be myself and be comfortable asserting that, yeah, actually I am a feminist and I'm quite proud of that. I can't count the number of times I've now said, 'there was this article on Jezebel recently'... I love that the topics are diverse and international and that I get to hear about and become familiar with things that might never have passed over my radar before.
A dedicated site is not about exclusion - it's about a forum for education and a different perspective - long may it continue!
11/18/09
I mean, when I want really mean-but-funny snark, angry debate for the sake of debate, over-the-top silliness I still like to go to Fark (hell, I have a Fark thread open in another tab). (Gawker just doesn't rate IMO)
But, when I want actual intelligent conversation with people I can actually relate to, and when I get to experience actual snippits of other people's lives, and feel like I am part of a community, Jez is it. Fark does have an element of community, but it's not a place where you can discuss your experiences with, say, sexual assault.
Ok you can, but the next posted response will probably a hotlinked image of the 40 pound box of rape.
Not so say Jezzies can't be irreverent or bring the funny - obviously they can, and they do - or that Farkers can't have intelligent conversations - I've learned a lot from Fark discussion threads.
But, in general, like many of the other readers, I consider Jez a place of sanctuary from the rest of the way women are treated - and the way women present themselves - on the internet. (although I think some of it rears its head in the "OMG I am 6' and weigh 120 lbs and am a DD cup and it is IMPOSSIBLE to find clothes!" type discussions) My only real beef is with the system for commenting - but that's neither here nor there, and no one cares what I think about that anyway.
11/18/09
11/17/09
I shuttered at the word feminism until I read this site, even though, I was very feminist without knowing it. Now I proudly say I am a feminist.
Also, I credit Jezebel for changing my views in terms of fat discrimination. I don't think I ever personally discriminated, but I grew up with my mother saying snide things about fat people every now and then, and so it never really hit me how wrong it was when other people did it because I was used to it (one of the last acceptable prejudices indeed!). Thanks to Jezebel, I've become completely aware that this is a form of discrimination and am constantly sending my mother articles and trying to enlighten her (making some headway!), and anyone else I hear make such discriminatory comments.
This site is definitely a good thing. I do think it would be great if Gawker posted a few more Jez articles here and there, to get people not inclined to reading a woman's (and even though it's not tagged as such, feminist) blog to read issues, and maybe more people can be enlightened to our feminist causes.
Finally, on the topic of Double XX, I think finding Slate's links to DoubleXX are what led me to Jezebel! Unless I'm wrong, when Double XX debued, they had a piece criticizing one of the Jez blogger's rape posts (something about being date raped in a foreign country and why she didn't report it), which I read and was like "how could she not report it!" and then I clicked on the link to the Jez article plus the Jez rebuttal and immediately realized that I was on the Jez side of things and did not agree with DoubleXX's writer... and I've been a happy Jezebel reader ever since :) #womensblogs
11/18/09
Oh, and great screen name, btw. I'm assuming you've read Mary Renault's books? Totes amazing. #womensblogs
11/18/09
The "it's unhealthy to be fat" is often a way of saying that the overweight must be lazy because they wouldn't be fat if they ate right and exercised more.
But for some of us with disabilities traditional diet or healthy lifestyle changes don't give us the results we want. We aren't lazy or incapable of taking care of ourselves we just have limitations.
This is partly why I started a Facebook blog about my impending (maybe) bariatric surgery. I wanted a safer place than Jez to discuss it.
Because discussing fat and body image here is not all that safe feeling. #womensblogs
11/18/09
11/18/09
#tips
11/18/09
Here's the other thing that bugs me about people who make "well meaning" comments about those who are overweight - there's such a sense of superiority about it - like "I'm such a responsible person because I eat well and exercise, you should try to be like me." Many, many people have health problems, and (putting aside the issue of whether or not being overweight is *even* a health problem) none of them get so much as a frown for their problems, much less being blamed for causing them through negligence and laziness.
I'm studying Eastern medicine right now, so it has given me a very different, very holistic perspective on health care, and almost every article on why people are overweight really irritates me.
I'd love to read your blog. Where can I find it?
#tips
11/18/09
11/17/09
As for echo chambers, I also tend to think of this as the most conservative site I read. I read more radically feminist sites (some of which are run by commenters here) than Jezebel, and so when I'm here part of me thinks of it as crossing the line into less fringe and more mainstream territory. I guess the fact that I consider this place as mainstream as I ever want to be says something about my own politics. But being around people who do not share my somewhat extreme views has helped me articulate my own beliefs. Has anyone here ever drastically changed my opinion of something I hold dear? No. But the nuances have made a difference. I also think that the writers employed by the site have a variety of views. I can usually tell who's writing what because they do actually have a spectrum of political views. I just don't consider "Obama's an African Terrorist" to be a view worth my time. So when you cut out the crazy part of the conversation, which is usually the explicitly racist sexist homophobic conservative side, the space for reasonable people to have different opinions becomes smaller, and I think the writers here cover lots of space within that "Reasonable" span.
Also sometimes there are threads that make me feel insane. Whenever there's a really long thread about rape, or heterosexual relationships and marriage, and people start telling their stories, it can get so intense. It's often painful and sad (because such is sexual assault) but also weirdly raw and beautiful, because it seems like for the first time in history women can come together from all over the world and share these things, and consciousness raise, and support each other. And so often the responses are touching and wonderful and kind, and several threads have reminded me how much work we have to do. But it's also like--these are the threads that are doing it. The conversations here are women communicating with each other, something that has been discouraged by the western dominant paradigm since the fucking 16th century. I love the TMI posts, because I think they are radically fucking feminist. #womensblogs
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
The same applies to women's blogs, in my opinion. #womensblogs
11/17/09
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11/17/09
I've thought for a long time that those three topics barely skim the surface of what Jezebel covers, but "For Women" is definitely in there. #womensblogs
11/17/09
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11/17/09
For example, I love reading this site, but the times I get disappointed are when I express a more conservative opinion (I'm very slightly left of centre but hold views all over the spectrum) and just get shouted down. It rarely starts an earnest discussion. I often feel like people don't listen to an opinion that differs from theirs in their rush to condemn it, and it often feels like they hardly read the comment at all, as if assuming that a contrasting opinion must be evidence of a troll or a moron. On a site where the intelligence of most commenters is so blantantly high, that's disappointing. If we can't have reasonable disagreements here, where can we?
The second thing would be that many commenters expect us all to have knowledge of feminist theory or experiences etc. I'm a maths and computers person, I hardly know any history at all, let alone feminist history. I actually read this site to broaden my mind on these kinds of issues (well, that and the pictures). So when you get a reply that says, 'Don't you know anything about what X wrote about Y', my response is usually, 'No, and most of the population wouldn't either.' My point is that that person could enlighten rather than just point out my lack of knowledge. We can't all have done liberal arts degrees, you know. Much of the population struggles finishing high school.
Despite the complaints (only made as this article is Jezebel doing some self-examining) I find this place to be compulsive reading, and most commenters are warm, friendly, witty and intelligent (I'd say all, but one at least springs to mind) . I don't think a women's blog has to even bother defending its existance. Keep up the good work. #womensblogs
11/18/09
11/17/09
I like Jezebel for a lot of reasons but one of my favorite is the commenting policy. I love love love that bigoted bullshit is not tolerated, that I will never see someone rant about how Obama is a socialist commie Muslin terrorist and all of the other awful shit you see on 95% of the blogs and news sites out there. Every good online community I've ever been a part of (particularly this, Hissyfit and Fametracker) has had a very tough commenting policy, and it makes for a good place to hang. Lots of people don't like that kind of thing, but they tend to be the kind of people who announce that they are "First!!!!!!!!1eleventy" and there are a million places for them to go where that kind of shit is encouraged. #womensblogs
11/17/09
11/17/09
I couldn't stop myself! #womensblogs
11/17/09
*sigh* #womensblogs
11/17/09
11/17/09
Ok done! That felt good. #womensblogs
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
I kept this page for ages:
[web.archive.org]
I need to put it up again (Geocities shut down recently). #womensblogs
11/18/09
You are officially my Jezebel bestie for sharing this with me. I would leg hug you if I could.
11/18/09