This month's BUST mag has a fabulous article on teen feminists, written by a high school student. It mention the F-Bomb as well as several other teen groups, and really lets the young women use their own voices to tell their stories. It's definitely worth picking up if you want some hope for the future of womankind.
In my job I deal with alot of crying college students. I've realized that I refer to all of them as hon or sweetheart or darlin'. I think this is from my Southern upbringing, but maybe I need to break myself of it, it's not really professional. But when you have a guy crying in your office about how lonely he is without his girlfriend, it's just hard not to say, "Oh honey, it's going to be okay!"
@Jenloveshercurves: I call a lot of people hon and sweetie - boyfriend, girlfriends, random children, etc. Not coworkers, but pretty much everyone else falls under my "hon" category. And I empathize with the "crying college students" thing. I work on campus and come across them every now and then, and my "honeysweetiedarling" comes out.
my dad first said I was a feminist when I was eleven. At the time, I thought it was a solely negative term, but now, a few years later, I'm really grateful he told me this. I'm proud to be a feminist! I just wish that all the other girls my age I know right now would open themselves to feminism rather than regard it as something for "man-haters". When I was eleven years old I was extremely shy with low self-esteem - but after that incident with my dad, I started reading sites like this and my opinion of myself became SO much better. Right now I'm one of the most confident, outspoken people I know, and I know sites like FBomb and Jezebel can help other people of all ages find their voice.
@daffodilly: My family called me a feminist when I was a pre-teen as well, and not in a nice way. It has taken me until now, the age of 30, to really own it and rock it. I'm glad girls and women today have sites like this - I was struggling in the pre-internet age with no access to anything but library books to learn about women's stuff, and there certainly was no easy way to seek out like-minded folks and come together.
I love how curious and thoughtful these young women (and men!) are, and I hope it's representative of a larger trend in teen culture.
My only complaint, and one that doesn't apply solely to teens, is the need a lot of people feel to set up a false dichotomy to advance their argument: And then I realized that the friends I considered beautiful were also the most fucked up. They have perfect body and facial preportions, but they aren't happy.
You can be un-perfect in the body/face and still "fucked up," and you can also be traditionally pretty and turn out fine. It's a lazy way to make an argument, and since this girl was having a cool realization and making a cool point, I was sad.
As a teen feminist and someone who has written for the FBomb before, I just gotta say that I love that damn site. It's really amazing to see girls in my own age group come together and advocate for their rights as women (if that makes sense.) I think a lot of teenagers these days are afraid to call themselves feminist since there's such a stigma attached to it, therefore, sites like Jezebel and the FBomb really help to sort of help to ease the negative connotation of of the word.
In short, I say...KUDOS TO YOU, JULIE ZEILINGER, YOU GO JULIE ZEILINGER.
You know what would make me give them kudos? Actually drop the name fbomb and just go fuck. No cutesy version of it, just plain old "fuck". A raw, instant satisfaction word. It makes me feel better after I've been flash freezed from the very very bitter cold wind. I'm a rather shameless and moraless person, so swearing in public is no qualm for me. So fbomb, please just use fuck. Nonetheless its nice what they're doing, but it makes me glad I'm leaving my teenage years because now I get to snipe at them.
@tiredfairy: Julie said in the Bust interview:
Q: A lot of feminist publications have abrasive names. Why do you think that is necessary?
Julie: I know I chose ‘’the fbomb'’ because it really conveys the tone of my writing and the way I perceive feminism - in your face, unafraid. My blog isn’t cutesy so my name isn’t either. I also think that in a way it’s like these names are like the antithesis of the stereotypical female name, which makes sense for feminism.
"My mother never taught me how to test a guy for closeted sexism or male supremacy. I want to know if any of you younger feminists have a theory on how to address this and if it worked."
Shit, I need this advice and I'm almost 30.
Things like the fbomb give me hope. It's like the intellectual and moral equivalent to cuteoverload.com. Something to give me hope and peace when the world threatens to break me down.
The article in Bust was both heartening and discouraging, in the sense that these girls really are doing something brave and difficult and it's wonderful to see such young women embrace feminism and intelligent discourse.
The discouraging part are the challenges they still face, the ridicule from other students, etc. But the fact that all of them were so determined ultimately gives me hope.
Excuse me, but am I the only one who finds it offensive that the tag for all articles of this type is 'Feminazi Youth'? Not only is the term 'feminazi' horribly insulting, it implies a viciousness that simply isn't present. These girls are standing up for something important and they should be credited accordingly. I am indignant.
@zeyevi: "feminazi" is a term that many commenters on Jezebel use sarcastically to make fun of the people who use the term in all seriousness. Clearly, the editors of Jezebel have nothing but respect for the teens at F-bomb.
@zeyevi: I'm not sure if you're kidding. I see it as a reappropriation of the term, or at the very least, a fun poke at the ridiculousness of the the term. As Lymed says, I think the article speaks to the respect for these teens and nothing but.
@elliebean: I didn't mention it as a reappropriation, because I don't think we want to reappropriate the term. The fact that it encompasses the word Nazi makes it something I don't think any true feminist would want to take back. But we do want to take the power out of it, and make fun of it because it is such a false label.
@Lymed: Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you thought it was a reappropriation, I was pointing out your comment on the editors having respect for the teens at FBomb. I was trying to give alternate examples of why the editors may have tagged it that way, but I see where that's too strong a suggestion. You make a fantastic point, and I didn't think about it in quite that way. Thanks.
@elliebean: No problem. I actually almost typed that people were taking the word back in my initial comment and realized that no, it is different than other groups taking a derogatory word and making it something they use. It's a word that is used here to mock.
@Dallifornia: I probably should have said "identifies as a feminist." I wasn't trying to knock his feminism at all, I was trying to convey that I wasn't labeling his views feminist, he introduced himself as the the only male feminist in his class at school.
Can we have a conversation about this makeup thing? I think people are equally beautiful with/without makeup. And I apply makeup mostly for myself; I feel more professional, less grungy, mostly because I have horrible skin (not because everyone should wear makeup). A perk is that some boys find that attractive, but it's not really the stated goal - and I've met tons of guys who prefer girls sans makeup. But I wear it anyway.
@LovelyHue: I wear makeup - a little bit to even my skin out and make my eyes look more awake - but I do think it's worth asking why men don't feel the need to wear makeup to enhance their appearance. I mean, my husband never looks in the mirror and goes, "God, I look so blotchy," while dabbing concealer on his spots.
I'm not down with making value judgments on a person for wearing makeup, but the questions are worth asking.
@whynotshesaid: You're right about the double standards thing, although I have met guys with bad acne that wear concealer and don't feel like it makes them less masculine. But on the whole, why is eye shadow/other makeup so feminine? It's an interesting question.
@LovelyHue: Many commenters on the FBomb actually pointed out that it's fine to wear makeup if you choose. The writer wasn't saying a feminist shouldn't wear makeup, but that she felt that she and her friends had been too fixated on looking "perfect"
@I fought piranhas: I felt the same way about Smile and Act Nice. It was awesome at first but devolved into an online version of the junior high cafeteria after a while.
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My only complaint, and one that doesn't apply solely to teens, is the need a lot of people feel to set up a false dichotomy to advance their argument: And then I realized that the friends I considered beautiful were also the most fucked up. They have perfect body and facial preportions, but they aren't happy.
You can be un-perfect in the body/face and still "fucked up," and you can also be traditionally pretty and turn out fine. It's a lazy way to make an argument, and since this girl was having a cool realization and making a cool point, I was sad.
/teacher of persuasive writing whining
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In short, I say...KUDOS TO YOU, JULIE ZEILINGER, YOU GO JULIE ZEILINGER.
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Q: A lot of feminist publications have abrasive names. Why do you think that is necessary?
Julie: I know I chose ‘’the fbomb'’ because it really conveys the tone of my writing and the way I perceive feminism - in your face, unafraid. My blog isn’t cutesy so my name isn’t either. I also think that in a way it’s like these names are like the antithesis of the stereotypical female name, which makes sense for feminism.
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Shit, I need this advice and I'm almost 30.
Things like the fbomb give me hope. It's like the intellectual and moral equivalent to cuteoverload.com. Something to give me hope and peace when the world threatens to break me down.
10/12/09
The discouraging part are the challenges they still face, the ridicule from other students, etc. But the fact that all of them were so determined ultimately gives me hope.
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There, fixed that for you.
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I'm not down with making value judgments on a person for wearing makeup, but the questions are worth asking.
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