HJNTIY, Take 309
Just when I think I can’t love Rebecca Traister on Broadsheet any more…
So if anyone else out there has a sentence they want to get off their chest, but especially if it’s about how women should just pull themselves together and stop being so damn crazy, get ready to ride the American Dream Train all the way to movie theaters!
Last night I was forced to admit my obsession with this book to someone I’d actually like to have a little respect for me in the morning. When it came down to it, there was no back-tracking, there was stumbling over words. His reaction was an undeniable what-the-fuck moment.
I’m a woman, I obsess. Maybe the book just isn’t that into me.
Get off my lawn, damn kids
Like many others, I have a love-hate relationship with Jezebel. Several times, the provocative-for-the-sake-of-getting-hits posts have brought me THIS CLOSE to commenting. This time I said, what the hell, and sent off something in response to a gleefully ignorant post in which the editor, after saying that we shouldn’t compare -isms, says that the worst thing that sexist behavior brings a woman is being called foxy while being black could garner you a noose in your doorway (“I think there is kind of a huge difference between remarking on my attractiveness and hanging a noose on someone’s doorway”). Hello? Let’s not compare, but let’s also not pretend that things like rape don’t exist. Or that verbal assault is insignificant.
While writing, however, I realized something else that makes me uncomfortable with the blog — the way they edit the comments. It feels like they’re the popular girls and they want a mix of sychophants and jokesters yipping at their feet. So many of the “worsties” comments go to people who disagree with the editors.
This is all well and good, except it makes me feel shaky about where my idea of feminism fits in with today’s feminists. While not a feminist blog, there is a bit of, ick, girl power vibe running through the Jezebellers posts. I’m all for girl power, but it’s nice when discussions and arguments and disagreements and hatred of the patriarchal institution can coexist with feeling empowered by your cooch.
And because of this, reading the site makes me now feel like an old ninny who is crashing the slumber party, but, on the other hand, the seriousness of overtly feminist blogs don’t allow me to indulge in celebrity gossip (without tarrying the significance, blah blah). Where’s the place for the vapid, pop-cult-loving and sometimes angry (but not for the sake of empty provocation) feminist? And why are those darn kids on my lawn ruining my fun?
I will break up with you via a text message
Honestly, questions like this one and this one make me wonder: how many times can we re-visit the re-definition of connection that comes with technology?
These instrospections never delve into the question of how differently we interact in varied media. Like, am I more likely to start a fight on the internet? Hell yes (seriously, check every message board and list-serv I’ve ever been on). Why? Because I feel less connected or more connected? I honestly don’t know. Is it because I feel safe? Do the insults people hurl at me feel less real?
And, is different necessarily bad?
Snap Judging Snap Judgment
Jezebel, which I love, had this Snap Judgment feature that I still feel ambivalent about. Mostly, it’s pretty innocuous. So why does it bug me?
I can read!
My Google Reader has become a great source of unnecessary information. Some blogs and feeds tend to be more useful than others. One, which I subscribed to almost accidentally, has become one of my favorites — Environmental Graffiti. That got me thinking… what sorts of great blogs or not so great feeds do you subscribe to?
Here’s a peek into my disorganized window to the internet:
- Bougie: Martha Stewart Blog (hilarious stuff)
- Feminism: Feministing, BlogHer (which.. I don’t quite get and will probably unsubscribe soon), Fourth Wave (to which my friend Aviva contributes)
- Film/Media: Bright Lights After Dark, Cinemasparagus, davekehr.com, DinaView (a scholar of balkan film), GreenCine Daily, JohnathanRosenbaum.com (I like his writing, but his feed is too condensed), NYT>Movies (I actually like the condensed form of the feed, since about 85% of the articles don’t interest me), Observations on Film, On Film (Chicago Reader), The House Next Door (They do lists well, condense information)
- Food: bittersweet (vegan sweets), Coconut & Lime, Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen, Rasa Malaysia
- General: BoingBoing, Jezebel, Environmental Graffiti (which I recommend for their interesting photo lists!), io9 (sci fi, a lot of stuff I don’t care for, but some gems slip through), Not Exactly Rocket Science, Tetrapod Zoology, xkcd.com, Zoologix
- Humor: The Onion (their feed is a bit too condensed considering that I rarely click through, but some good stuff!)
- Nature: Ugly Overload (I like when they have ugly dogs and stuff.. but ugly insects.. ick!), Environmental Graffiti
- Social Crit: Stuff White People Like, Assimilated Negro
I put my favorites in bold! Now.. I feel oddly exposed.
