I wrote about a new blog, Jezebel, a couple of posts ago, and after I read this attack on Jezebel on the f-word (via Jezebel) today, I wanted to reply. Finding where to comment was ridiculously difficult, but I did. They receive comments through an email system, and they post all comments on one page, if they deem them “interesting.” I was in a writing mood at the time, so it got a little lengthy. The entry from the f-word and my reply are after the jump.
Imagine taking the very worst of those magazine’s supposedly aimed at women and distilling it in a big vat of misogynist nonsense and then unloading it onto the web. Welcome to Jezebel, the new “women’s” blog from Gawker.
I think the view Gawker has of women is very neatly summed up when they mention “Nebraska” and feel the need to add “(a state)”… I wish I was making this up.
So what is it that us women are interested in then? Mainly relationships – other peoples it seems, a good two-thirds of stories are about celebrity relationships. Personally I am interested in celebrity relationships – I’m interested in how they’re portrayed in the media and how they highlight gender issues that “ordinary” people may be experiencing.
For instance Anne Heche’s divorce – we’re told she’s a poor cook while he looks up internet porn while he’s meant to be looking after their child. Those are some really interesting issues. As a woman – what do you do if you discover your partner uses large amounts of pornography? How does it affect your relationship, how does it make you feel and how do you react if there’s a risk of children finding it? And these days a lot of women and even more men have very limited kitchen skills. The wide availability of pre-prepared food may appear to be making life easier but if it generates a generation who are effectively unable to prepare fresh food from fresh ingredients, then that has serious implications for our health and wellbeing.
Sadly that’s not the Jezebel response. They’ve gone with “Sounds like a normal marriage to us!” Never mind that more men than women admit to poor culinary skills. And remember ladies – all men look at porn, just get used to it.
As for the rest of it, try these extracts for size…
“Does this mean we can stop coloring our hair?”
When were we supposed to start? Did I miss a meeting?
“Guess those fake breasts paid off!”
Since when was cosmetic surgery a business plan?
“You can never be subtle enough when it comes to reminding a guy where his vagina is coming from”
Any sentence with the words ‘his vagina’ needs a re-think doesn’t it?
“Conventional wisdom holds that women’s magazines aren’t as good as men’s magazines.”
At what? And who writes half the crap in so-called women’s magazines? Men! I don’t think the author of this piece has subscribed to BUST yet…
“Males of the species: Now, sadly, even more irrelevant.”
Speak for yourselves, the men in my life are very relevant thanks. Of course the article is about fertility treatment. Because remember ladies – life is about baby-making!
“We thought feminism was supposed to be straightforward.”
Who told you that? It’s as diverse as, erm, the women who definitely WON’T be reading your stupid website!
Re: Jezebel
If Kate Smurthwaite had taken the time to read the “Jezebel Manifesto,” she might not have taken such a ridiculous stance on the new blog.
From the “Manifesto”:
“Jezebel is a blog for women that will attempt to take all the essentially meaningless but sweet stuff directed our way and give it a little more meaning, while taking more the serious stuff and making it more fun, or more personal, or at the very least the subject of our highly sophisticated brand of sex joke.”
They’re not interested in providing in-depth analysis on Ann Heche’s divorce, and I don’t think readers are going to Jezebel to hear it. Smurthwaite seems to assume that any feminism-inspired blog has to stick to her own brand of feminism, one which not everyone may enjoy. Celebrity gossip is a large part of our culture, and as such, we have many blogs about it. We do not, however, have many humorous feminist outlooks on the matter. I enjoy Jezebel because of it’s subtle sass. I’m saddened that Smurthwaite cannot understand the humor in “We thought feminism was supposed to be straightforward,” or “Guess those fake breasts paid off!”
Her responses to the quotes (which are, of course, taken out of context) are generally summaries of the ideas Jezebel was trying to get across (“Since when was cosmetic surgery a business plan?”). Smurthwaite’s final response, however, was the most hysterical. In reference to: “We thought feminism was supposed to be straightforward,” she replied, “Who told you that? It’s as diverse as, erm, the women who definitely WON’T be reading your stupid website!” This one sentence is dripping with so much irony and hypocrisy, I found myself laughing aloud. It’s apparent she missed the sarcasm in Jezebel’s remark, but to angrily reply that feminism is diverse – oh, that takes the cake. Your entire piece was raving about how wrong Jezebel’s take on feminism is, yet you decide to lecture them on the complexity of feminism.
I quite enjoy reading feminist analyses of the cultural affect celebrity relationships have on society, but I get plenty of that. I read Jezebel for the intelligent sarcasm and subtle humor. It’s too bad that Jezebel is just too clever for Kate Smurthwaite.
