As mentioned earlier, Julie Zeilinger, 16, launched her blog The FBomb last week... and it's basically the blog we wish we had as teens. Unfortunately, Zeilinger has already run into some of the classic attacks on anything deemed "feminist".
Though The FBomb went online in March, it officially launched last week. The site is described as:
"A blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. Young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here."
According to a press release, Zeilinger is a high school sophomore at The Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio. "Thefbomb.org is for girls who have enough social awareness to be angry and who want to verbalize their frustrations about injustice in the world," she said. "It is loud, proud, aggressive, sarcastic...everything teenage feminists are and should be today." Though Zeilinger interned at the National Council for the Research on Women and posted on the organization's blog, the FBomb is an independent project which she created herself. Other bloggers posted today, but, up to this point, almost all of the daily posts have been written by Zeilinger.
The FBomb often links to Jezebel, Feministing, and other sites aimed at adult women, and covers similar topics, organizing the posts into categories including "pop-culture," "feminism," and "awareness." Recent posts range from an interview with Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor, to an essay on Lily Allen's feminist lyrics (despite the fact that she's never applied "the F word" to herself), and a gossip roundup of all the conflicting stories about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Zeilinger concludes that post:
"since none of them are about Robert Pattinson falling in love with a young feminist blogger just by running into her serendipitously on the streets of New York, I can't care too much."
Zeilinger is a witty, engaging writer, and not just "for a 16-year-old." As the press released claims, she probably is the youngest feminist blogger in the country, and though we often write about what teenagers go through, it's interesting to hear the perspective of an actual teen girl. Especially since Zeilinger has a lot more insight into the lies pushed on teenagers than we did at her age.
In her critique of a show aimed at teenagers, she writes:
Because, let's all face it, our lives on average would make a pretty freakin boring t.v. show. WHICH IS ACTUALLY FINE, IT TURNS OUT. I hear all these teens bitching about how boring their lives are, because whether conciously or not they're comparing it to the lives of Gossip Girl and 90210 which just promote irresponsible promiscuity, drug use and other dumbass moves. We watch these shows and we roll our eyes because most of us realize that life isn't like that. But then we go and strive to match it anyway.
And in her post on whether or not girls should date boys who don't call themselves feminists she concludes:
For me, I don't choose friends based on their feminist status, and boyfriends go the same way. It takes people longer than others to see the light, or be secure enough with themselves to use a word that makes so many others uncomfortable. I can only help by teaching them about feminism and sharing my experiences. Maybe one day they'll identify as feminists, then again, maybe they won't. As a feminist, I'm all about choice.
Unfortunately, it seems right now the site's few commenters on the FBomb are adults. Below the post on feminist boyfriends, two adult commenters got into a lengthy argument about the modern meaning of the word "feminist" and, earlier today, something prompted Zeilinger to write on the FBomb's Twitter: "older feminist readers I'm a teen its for teens can't be perfect don't have a degree. get some perspective plz & stop writing mean comments!" But those arguments are bound to come up whenever feminism is mentioned, and even without a high school degree Zeilinger is doing excellent work. Hopefully, now that the site has officially launched younger readers will hear about The FBomb and it can grow into the "community for teenage girls" (emphasis ours) that Zeilinger envisioned.
The FBomb [Official Site]
Related: 16-Year-Old Feminist Launches 'The FBomb' Blog for Teenage Girls [PR Newswire]
Dads, Dudes, and Doing It [The National Council For Research On Women]
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor: Interview [FBomb]
Lily Allen: Closet Feminist? [FBomb]
Robsten? Stewpat? [FBomb]
Another Teen Show Rant [FBomb]
Feminism And Dating [FBomb]
@the_fbomb [Twitter]
Earlier: Teen Feminists Drop "F-Bomb"