Exploitation, Identity and the Internet

I have a new post up at The New Republic:

In 1993, Peter Steiner penned an oft-reproduced cartoon for The New Yorker that has proven to be remarkably prescient time and time again. In it, two dogs sit by a computer and one, turning to the other, explains, “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

Meet the dog of the hour: Tom MacMaster , a 40-year-old white, male graduate student living in Georgia who, for four months now, has been masquerading as Amina Abdallah Arraf, the supposedly Syrian American author of the Gay Girl in Damascus blog. [...]
To add insult to injury, Paula Brooks, editor of the blog Lez Get Real (who, full disclosure, I corresponded with in passing in 2008, when both our blogs were just getting started), admitted a day after MacMaster that “she” is actually a 58-year-old heterosexual, male Air Force veteran named Bill Graber.

[...]

Basically, by taking on the personae of lesbian bloggers, what MacMaster and Graber were saying is this: “I am a white male and, as such, privileged by American society in almost every way. There is, however, one way in which I am not privileged; I don’t have the right to speak for minorities, and that makes me sad. Luckily for me, I’ve found a way that I can simultaneously enjoy all the privileges of being a white American male and all the media attention of being a disenfranchised political/sexual minority.”

Read the complete article here.

Feminism as Realism

Recently, I saw the movie Fucking Amal (aka Show Me Love in the US). It was an enjoyable film, as a whole. It even includes an overt feminist moment: one of the main characters breaks up with her boyfriend - permanently - after he fails to disagree with his friend's hatred of women! But the most interesting feature of the movie was its realism. There's no trite plot, and the characters are remarkably flawed. Not in the theatrical, 'tragic hero' way, mind you - they just do things which are wrong. No more, no less. Early in the film, the main character (who we are supposed to sympathize with) says some insensitive and horrible things to a wheelchair-bound friend. Later she apologizes, but it's too late. There's no Hollywood reconcile-for-free card. She simply did something wrong, learned (or not) and moved on.

It was all rather interesting, and considering the feminist overtones, I found the movie to be a metaphor for modern feminism.

Now, the debate over what feminism is, what feminists believe, and what feminists do wrong has been raging for as long as the movement itself. Perhaps the oldest argument is about race - and as so many feminists were white privileged women, mistakes were made. Serious, important mistakes, in fact. And it continues to the present. In the world of online feminism, it sometimes threatens to overwhelm everything else. (As an example: the recent discussion, and lack thereof, about the rights of trans individuals sparked by the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic issue). It seems that whatever the merits of each individual discussion - which are many - they keep repeating themselves forever. So now, there no consensus, no agreement, and lots and lots of anger. People get alienated. It's difficult for non-feminists to see what it's all even about, so they are reluctant to join and thus do nothing.

So, I want to suggest a new, or rather and additional, definition for feminism: Feminism is realism.

Whatever the faults of this continuous debate, I think there is an explanation. Feminism, at some level, is about trying to find out what the world is really like, what really goes on. It is called 'feminism' only because what really is, is the patriarchy. And when we find out what the world is really like in more detail, we try and challenge it, try to change it. That's what makes it different from most other movements - so many *isms (think of Populism or Marxism or Religious Rightism and so on) start with an agenda, an ideal world, a goal. They try and work toward that goal at all costs. When the world changes, they either die out, or change their goals - and keep pushing, often at the cost of destroying so many other worthwhile goals, and certainly without really considering their actions.

Feminism, then, is far more based on reality, setting goals and agenda solely based on actual, observed inequalities. Hence the near-obsession with point even the littlest things out, from an obvious bias in a politician's speech, to a little detail in a car commercial. And also (for good or ill) the debate of defining feminism. Not because there's a question of what to do, but more a question of what the world is really like. Mistakes are made, to be sure. Real life is just like that.

And perhaps when we're done, even if it's not called feminism anymore, the concept will still remain: Finding out what is, realizing what is wrong with it, and challenging those wrongs.

Just a thought.

She Writes

Just a quick PSA to announce that Deborah Siegel (of Girl W/Pen), Kamy Wicoff, and Nancy Miller just launched a new social/professional networking site for women writers.

Check it out!

Looks awesome so far...and a fantastic idea.

Feminist Flashback #41

Melissa over at Woman and Hollywood wrote a really interesting post the other day in which she weighs the pros and cons of paying to see Sandra Bullock's new film, The Proposal. I totally get where she's coming from as I'm also a huge fan of Sandra Bullock, but I think the previews for the The Proposal make it look mediocre at best and potentially insulting (to women) at worst. That said, Melissa's post--particularly the excerpts she provides from some revealing interviews with Bullock--convinced me that I should give the film a chance. If nothing else, I know that Bullock herself will be good...

...which leads me to my 'catch-up' feminist flashback (a make-up for the one I missed the week of June 7 -- and then I'll do this week's on Wednesday and be all caught up!), the trailer of one of my favorite Sandra Bullock movies, a film decidedly in the genre of 'feminism in surreal places', Miss Congeniality:

A couple announcements

Occasionally people email me with links and press releases and such that they'd like me to post on the blog and while I'm not always the most timely of email correspondents, I do like to try to help out and publicize other blogs and organizations as long as they're relevant. So, here are a couple things that have come my way in the past few weeks.

Feel free to post your own news, links, blogs, etc. in the comments!

1. The All Girl Army is recruiting new young feminists for its network of blogs:

The main part of the All Girl Army site is the individual blogs for no more than 29 girls and women between the ages of 10 and 25 who identify as feminist, and a single, collective blog which highlights entries from the individual blogs, as well as news items pertinent to women and girls and topics given for more writing and discussion.

For more information, check them out!

2. The Fresh Air Fund is looking for volunteer families to host city-area kids so they can have a summer "fresh air experience":

THE FRESH AIR FUND, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2008, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.

And, don't forget, feel free to post your own links below!

R.I.P. Bea Arthur

Bea Arthur, 1922-2009

You're freakin' awesome and will be greatly missed:



From some other memorial posts for Bea Arthur, check out, in no particular order:

Bitch Ph.D.
Alas, A Blog
Women's Media Center
Bitch Magazine
Salon Broadsheet
Shakesville
Women and Hollywood
Hoyden About Town

If you know of any other good memorial posts for the eminent Ms. Arthur or you've written one yourself or you found some great video clips on the interwebs you'd like to share, feel free to post links below!

Presidential Commision on Women

Women Count helped facilitate the introduction of a bill to Congress to form a Presidential Commission on Women. Obviously, we've still got to get the bill passed by both the House and the Senate, but, in the meantime, Women Count wants to know what ideas you have regarding what this Presidential Commission should and could do. Head on over to their blog and let them know!

Fling: chocolate for women?

I've got a new post up at The Hathor Legacy about Mars' new chocolate bar, Fling, which is being specifically marketed towards women as a low-calorie, high-indulgence treat, with a sexy twist. Here's a snippet of my post; feel free to check out the rest and join the discussion over at THL:

The new treat, Fling, is being billed as “chocolate for women,” because it’s low-calorie but highly indulgent. Or, in the words of Fling’s tagline: “Naughty…but not that naughty.” How very clever.

In a promotional video detailing their New Zealand launch, Mars reveals its marketing strategy as one which relies heavily on the idea of guilt-free cheating (in both the adultery and the “cheating on one’s diet” sense). While a number of other products have used this sort of marketing (Jello’s “every diet needs some wiggle room” comes to mind), Mars seems to be very focused on drawing parallels between its product and some pointedly non-gastronomical pleasures of the flesh. For example, the now-defunct New Zealand launch site included virtual men with whom you could have “guiltless” virtual affairs...

Also, check out this heinous Schick Quattro "mow the lawn" ad that everyone's been talking about...

Share your links (travel edition)

Very sorry about the lack of posting. I promise the hiatus is very, very temporary. I've been out of town all week and haven't had oodles of time; however, I will be on a train pretty much all day tomorrow, so I'll look forward to stockpiling a few posts for the next week or so.

In the meantime, what's up in your world? Share links below!

Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnvial, #2

I'm currently in transit to the East coast, probably about the land (that's the magic of scheduled posting), but that's no reason you can't check out the latest installment of the Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnival!

Women's History Month Interviews over at Womanist Musings

Renee over at Womanist Musings did a great series of interviews with womanist, feminist and queer bloggers in honor of Women's History Month and International Women's Day. I've provided a listing of links to her posts below.

Add to that my interview with Renee from last month and the newest installment in FWF's Feminist Blogger Fridays interview series coming up tomorrow...Three cheers for the diversity of women's voices!

Renee's Interviews...
...with Monica of Transgriot
...with Amanda of Pandagon
...with Loryn of Black Girl Blogging
...with Melissa of Shakesville
...with Hexy of Hexpletive
...with Cara of The Curvature
...with Faith of Acts of Faith in Love and Life
...with Holly of Menstrual Poetry
...with Brownfemipower of flip flopping joy
...and, last but not least, with Octagalore of Astarte's Circus

Enjoy!

On the recent community firestorm...

As you may have noticed, there was a bit of an internal fight in the feminist blogging community these last two weeks. It started with this post and ended, as much as it could, anyway, with an apology from the authors. If you missed it (and you very well might have - more proof of how wrong it was!), it was basically an attempt to show how the big feminist blogs exploit little blogs/WOC. A couple of the best analysis/rebuttals can be found here and here.

I really wanted to say something about the whole mess, but just don't feel I have anything to add. I think I'll play a song instead:

Squeeing with the stars

Since I'm in LA for a couple more days--hence the lack of posting--it seems only right that I share with you all some completely uncritical, fangirly squee-age for the day. I promise that this won't happen too often here; I'll go back to being a dour and cranky feminist (joking!) posthaste.

Three relatively-recent blogging ventures by actors I enjoy have sprouted up recently, and while I'm not usually into fan culture in the sense of virtually stalking certain celebrities, I'm actually finding myself fairly excited about the increased interweb exposure of the following lovely ladies...

Firstly, Amber Benson's Official Blog, where she actually posts fairly frequently, is pretty compelling, and she's already introduced me to a great photographer I may not have otherwise discovered and gotten me kind of excited to check out her new fantasy novel, Death's Daughter. She covers a lot of things on her blog, although it's mostly day-to-day life sort of stuff. She did recently write a bit about her experiences in Hollywood--pretty typical expectations for a young female actor, unfortunately, but I like how Benson recounts refusing to conform:

Anyway, I quickly learned that no matter what you do, you can't please everyone all the time. So, I stopped trying to compete with girls that just naturally understood how to dress themselves to extol their boobalicious virtues and concentrated more on the quirkier parts that just felt more like the real me.

And it worked. I just did what made me feel good about myself–and what made me happy–and the work I wanted FOUND ME.

I didn't have an uncle in the business, I never dated anyone famous or powerful and I kept my boobs pretty much where they belonged (for me at least) in my top. I just threw myself into what I wanted–and after a bit of soul-searching–found what suited me most. Then I just persisted. I didn't take the rejection personally and I did stuff for myself.

Secondly, there's Jill Bennett's blog (thanks, Brianna), which is primarily a home for her new web series, We Have to Stop Now, about a couple of lesbian therapists who wrote the book on maintaining a loving marriage but whose own marriage is falling apart. The web series stars Bennett, Cathy DuBuono and comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer, whom I adore. (Along those lines, I should add that my other favorite comedian, Bridget McManus, also has a blog, but it's been around for a while, which is why I didn't feature it here.)

You can watch the pilot of We Have to Stop Now on Jill's site or below:


We Have To Stop Now: Pilot Episode from Jill Bennett on Vimeo.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Kirsten Vangness, who plays my favorite character on my favorite crime show, Criminal Minds, and whom I totally want to be my best friend, just took up blogging again (after her CBS-sponsored blog went permanently missing last year shortly after the Writer's Strike began). You can check out her guest post over at Criminal Minds Fanatic. I'd love it if she started blogging independently again, but I'll take what I can get.

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone!

Feminist Blogger Fridays #2: Interview with Renee of Womanist Musings

Today, I'm pleased to present to Fourth Wave readers the second interview in our Feminist Blogger Fridays interview series (the first can be found here). This month, I interviewed the intrepid and inspiring Renee who writes prodigiously over at Womanist Musings and just began new blog Tell It WOC Speak. As a great admirer of Renee's courage to tackle controversial subjects and articulate way of handling difficult issues, I'm honored to be able to include our interview as part of the series.

And without further ado...


1. Renee, in your very first post on Womanist Musings—your “Womanist Manifesto”—you establish your blog’s premise in relation to Alice Walker’s term “womanist,” which she describes as comparable to “feminist” the way “purple is to lavender.” That said, where do you see your blog fitting within the vast domain of the feminist/womanist blogosphere?

I think that Womanist Musings is unique in that I am fearless in the topics I choose to take on. I don’t specifically look for something controversial; rather I seek topics that allow me to reify one basic theme – all people matter. I think many blogs get caught up in being hip and rely on catch phrases to draw attention, rather than continually affirming a commitment to all of humanity. Womanism to me speaks not only for all WOC [women of color], but for all of those who know the sting of oppression. Instead of arguing about whether or not something is a feminist/womanist issue, I seek to continually point out that these are human issues because someone somewhere is suffering.

2. So, how would you characterize your relationship to feminism? Can you speak to why you prefer the term “womanist”?

I prefer to identify as a Womanist because I don’t find feminism to be inclusive enough. One example of this would be the murder of Sean Bell. Many feminist blogs were slow to cover this because they could not see how this was a woman’s issue. As a mother of two black sons who worries that one day some police officer will cut short the life of my precious child, this was very much my fight.

My relationship with feminism is stormy at best, simply because I find that it continually ignores issues that are important to WOC and to the poor. In a lot of ways it is a white-led elitist movement that is only interested in promoting the needs of a small section of society. There are many blogs written by WOC and yet none of them could be called a large blog. This is not because we do not have something valid to say but simply because of a failure on the part of feminism to engage with our issues and to value our voices. What ends up happening, is that one or two WOC become token spokeswomen and the rest are largely ignored.

3. Along those lines, during this most recent election, there was a lot debate about race and gender as political identity positions, including constant arguments about whether society oppresses women or people of color more. Personally, I found that line of questioning pretty offensive, but it did speak to the way women and POCs are regarded as separate groups by mainstream culture. As a woman of color, how do you negotiate the race/gender dichotomy? Do you feel torn socially or politically between your race and gender positions, or do you find that this divide has only been constructed by the media and doesn’t impact your day-to-day life?

Personally I refuse to play the oppression Olympics. Both my race and gender play a role in how I am treated. My womanhood and blackness are essential parts of my being and to be asked to choose between the two is highly offensive to me. The desire to split the allegiance of WOC does not stem from an altruistic position. White women want us to identify solely as women, to labour to help them achieve equality with the white male patriarchy and black men continually remind us of our blackness in an attempt to enlist our efforts to help them achieve equality with the white male patriarchy. This is a point I touched on in a post entitled Stuck in the Middle. By asking us to choose, what both white women and black men hope, is that we will be blind to the ways in which we are being used. If black women continue to labour in the service of others, we will never rise above the bottom rung of the race and gender hierarchy.

4. Anyone who’s read anything over at WM knows you’re very passionate about a wide array of issues, from poverty and race to sexism and homophobia. What made you decide to start a blog as opposed to some other form of activism? How do you feel blogging allows you to confront/interrogate problems in the world in a way other venues might not?

I decided to start a blog because of my children. When I brought them into this world, I promised both of them that I would do the best that I could to ensure that they had happy and successful lives. As part of keeping this promise I decided to start a blog so that I could be active about issues that I felt would affect them. Over time it quickly evolved into a place where I would speak out in the cause of justice, as I realized that the interconnectivity of the isms worked to hamper the life chances of many. Since racism is connected to sexism, etc., what might not seem readily relevant quickly became so.

Blogging is a format that allows me to engage with various people that I might not otherwise come into contact with. As the busy mother of two little guys, blogging allows me to divide my time between my activism and taking care of my family.

5. In your first post, but also many times since, you’ve used the phrase “my truth may not be your truth.” I find this particularly compelling as it suggests not only that different people perceive the world differently, but also that “different” does not have to mean “untrue.” Can you say a little more about your philosophy of truths? Do you still sometimes find it difficult to accept the opinions of others if they disagree with you? And how can we (or how do you) differentiate between a “different truth” and just plain wrong?

This falls in line with my belief that our binary modernist mode of thought is damaging on many levels. When we only look at things from one perspective we are necessarily ignoring the ways in which privilege has caused us to read certain situations. My truth is only valid as far as I can not only own my privileges but acknowledge the ways in which I have been socialized to believe that certain thoughts and or ideologies are naturally occurring. The wonderful thing about personal truth is that if we are open to hearing the voices of others and learning, it constantly changes as we grow as human beings.

In terms of someone having a different opinion or perspective, I quite encourage it on the blog. If at some time I have been blind to my own privilege, I expect to be called out. Sometimes it hurts and it is uncomfortable but it is in those times that I realize that perhaps I have not considered the valid experience of others. You know truth when you see it, because it acts on an almost instinctual level. We see so little truth in this life that when actually confronted with it, it has the tendency to cut through the bullshit like a knife.

6. On a related note, you’ve written some pretty contentious posts (and I’m thinking in particular of some of the posts directed at the MRA), which have garnered, in return, some pretty nasty comments and malicious responses on other blogs. One of the things I admire about you and your blog, Renee, is your willingness to speak out regardless of the possible fallout. How do your keep your cool, your integrity and your spirit amidst such occasional vitriol?

I don’t always keep my cool. On more than one occasion I have told the unhusband that had I not paid so much money for my laptop, I would have thrown it across the room reading some of the hateful nonsense people post.

I keep going because every once and a while someone will write me an e-mail thanking me for helping them to see something in a new way. I also will get such a passionate response from a reader to some of the hatred expressed by others, that it is downright inspiring. Most of the regular commenters at Womanist Musings are wonderful, bright, engaging people, and though we may not always agree, their dedication to speaking about the difficult issues with honesty warms my heart.

7. To change the subject slightly, you’ve just started a new blog, Tell It WOC Speak. Can you say a little about what your hopes are for this space and its use?

Tell It WOC speak is a blog I created to host what I hope will be a monthly carnival featuring the work of WOC and our allies. As I said earlier, there are no major blogs written by WOC and it is my hope to rectify that over time. Our work simply does not get the attention that it deserves and this is largely due to racism and sexism. It is my belief that if this is going to change, we need to work with each other and support each other. The carnival is my way of offering support to my sisters and allies that are daily working in the cause of justice.

8. That said, what are your hopes for the future of Womanist Musings? You’ve recently opened the space to guest posts; are there any other changes or expansions you’re planning in the near future? Are you happy with the way the blog is progressing? And do you have any aspirations to collect and publish some of your work?

There is a part of me that is very much considering taking on a few co-bloggers, but Womanist Musings is my baby and being the control freak that I am, I am not sure if I am ready to share my space to that degree. That said I hope to see more guest posts in the future to widen the conversations that are happening. I can only present ideas through my lens and different people with a different frame of reference will see a situation from a completely different point of view.

As a perfectionist I believe that I will always want to improve the blog. Right now my next project is to get a new template and make the blog easier to navigate than it currently is. I hope over the next year to see the readership continue to rise and thus have even more heated debate than we already do.

I do have a side project planned for the summer and that is an e-zine. It is my hope to gather some essays from WOC and our allies and publish them. Once again my goal in doing this is to get people thinking and talking. There are so many issues that we never discuss because we are afraid of offending someone and this leads to stagnation.

It is definitely my hope to get published one day. I love to write and it would be great to see my work in print, but, if not, I know that Womanist Musings provides me with an outlet to not only explore my passions but practice a craft that I love.

9. Well, I'll look forward to that e-zine AND to seeing you in print one day! You say you love to write, so what inspires you? Do you sometimes find yourself fishing for topics or do you feel that you always have a backlog of topics on hand? Also, as a woman with an “unhusband” and two small children, when do you find the time to write so prolifically and articulately about such a wide array of topics?

Actually the readers are really great at forwarding topics to me. There are many times when I have so much to write about in one day, I simply cannot cover it all. Often times as well, my inspiration will come from reading the work of other great feminist/womanist bloggers.

Finding the time to blog can be difficult. There are times days later when I read something I wrote, only to find that it is filled with tiny errors and I can only blame that on blogging with Yo Gabba Gabba or Johnny Test in the background. I try to write when the kids are sleeping but often times I am blogging in my jammies while the boys are watching television. The unhusband is extremely supportive about my blogging. He reads everyday and has occasionally commented, even though he has been cussed out on more than one occasion by my commenters. My family realizes that this is important to me and so each of them in their own way has made an effort to allow me the time and the space to pursue my passion.

10. Something a little less serious to finish up: every once and a while you post about your guilty pleasures. Do you have a current guilty pleasure (or more than one) that completely doesn’t meet your womanist/feminist/humanist expectations but that you love nonetheless? If so, what and why?

I would say that my extreme aversion to physical labour is definitely one of them. I have no problem telling people I’m a girl to opt out of doing anything that is going to make me dirty or sweaty. There is also my well known addiction to reality television. Most of these shows are not woman friendly and I know I should not be watching, but I am simply hooked. I try to justify it as junk food for the brain but really I know better.

Well, I think everyone's allowed a little cerebral junk food now and again. Renee, thank you so much for joining us today. As a loyal reader, I guess I'll see you back over at Womanist Musings now and in the future!

(The next interview will be posted on Friday, March 13. Stay tuned.)

Will unemployment help reduce pay equality?

Mild speculation alert!

According to the latest statistics, due to men being laid off at higher rates women now make up almost 50% of the workforce. (Thanks to Girl w/ Pen.) Now, as the Gw/P post pointed out, this is not necessarily a good thing, either for women or society as a whole.

But I do think that something very interesting could happen here. While much of the reason for this gender-unequal decrease is due to an overall decrease in male-dominated sectors (construction, etc.), there are many, many jobs being lost in other areas. Now, we know that women are paid much less on average than men. Furthermore, this pay inequality is not only caused by a larger percentage of men having jobs in higher paying fields, rather, the inequality holds true in almost every field (PDF).

If an employer is forced to lay someone off out of several who hold similar jobs, who are they going to choose - the higher paid person or the lower? Given similar work output (which is reasonable, I believe), most employers should choose the higher paid worker, who is statistically more likely to be male. This, will lead to a decrease in the gendered pay gap, at least temporarily.

The real test will come when the economy improves, pay rises, and unemployment drops. Will the men who were let go for having higher salaries be hired back at similar salaries to the women who remained? Will women's salaries be raised? (increased relative seniority, etc.) In other words, whereas historically women have been entering, at a lower wage, into a male-dominated workforce, at some future point significant numbers of men might be entering into a (slightly) female-dominated workforce. I'm certain pay won't become equal overnight, but hopefully things will improve.

On the other hand, non-whites are being disproportionately affected by rising unemployment. I'm not sure what the causes are, but I imagine it's related to social inequalities. So, it comes down to: a (potential) step forward, and an (immediate) step back.

(Crossposted at Constant Thoughts)

Check out the 71st Carnival of Feminists

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Hop to It! and check out the excellent entries in the 71st Carnival of Feminists!

(Also, if you haven't already, you should also take a gander at the 70th Carnival of Feminists over at Sheffield Fems, which I stupidly forgot to mention a couple weeks ago. Oops!)

Go. Read. And be careful not to land on Park Place or you'll owe the banker your first-born.

The Hathor Legacy's Year in Review

I meant to post about this a week ago, but somehow it slipped my mind. I may have mentioned before that I have a little side gig over at The Hathor Legacy helping out with marketing and PR. Last week, I posted two "year in review" posts over there, rounding up some of the great posts THL contributors wrote in 2008 and compiling a comprehensive list of all the television, film and book reviews posted on the site in the past year. If you have a moment, check it out! Jennifer Kesler and the rest of THL's contributors are fantastic.

Feminist Blogger Friday #1: Interview with Frau Sally Benz

Good morning, everyone! I'm very excited to announce the start of a new feature here at Fourth Wave. The second Friday of every month, we'll be posting an interview with a feminist blogger. I anticipate it will be an excellent opportunity for FWF readers to learn a little bit about another blogger and help us all appreciate, one blog at a time, the great diversity that is the feminist blogosphere.

Without further ado, I present you the very first in a series of Feminist Blogger Friday Interviews. For today, I've interviewed Frau Sally Benz, creator of Jump off the Bridge and contributor at The Feminist Underground and CHICKS ROCK!.


1. Sally, your blog was one of the first feminist blogs I came across when I started researching for Fourth Wave. I’m not sure now entirely how this transpired, what search terms I used, etc., but for this and other reasons I’m very happy to have you here as my first Feminist Blogger Friday interviewee! What drew you to start your own blog? Did you initially imagine Jump off the Bridge as a personal or public endeavor (or some combination of the two)? And how do you feel it’s developed since?

I had been reading blogs for several months and had started commenting a few months before I started my own blog. But I found myself feeling shut out by a lot of the comment threads on blogs. I also wanted to expand on my thoughts, but had no outlet for that. So I decided to just start my own blog where I could say whatever I wanted and engage people in conversation that way.

I always imagined my blog as a combination of the public and private. My passions are feminism, activism, politics, citizen engagement/participation, etc., so I knew that was what I mainly wanted to talk about. But I also love turning my brain off every so often and just listening to music, or finding recipes, or reading, and I wanted to be able to do that on my blog, too. And because I need an outlet just to keep myself sane and to seek solidarity, I also do often lean towards the personal. It’s been hard to keep a balance at times between all of these elements, but I think so far it has been ok. I hope that in finding more time to write, it’ll be easier to balance these things, while still staying true to my focus on feminism, activism and politics, with other fun things thrown in from time to time.

2. You’re also a contributor over at The Feminist Underground and, recently, at CHICKS ROCK!, a blog off-shoot of The Women’s Mosaic. How did you get involved in The Feminist Underground and The Women’s Mosaic, respectively?

The Feminist Underground was one of the first blogs I found (I think through a comment Habladora wrote somewhere) while I was starting to come up with ideas for my own blog. I loved the energy on there and Habladora is just such an awesome writer, so I was a groupie for a while. I wrote a guest post in response to her call for submissions on feminist definitions, and she had been keeping up with my own blog and commenting here and there. One day she asked me if I wanted to be a contributor over there, and I ecstatically agreed.

For CHICKS ROCK!, it’s a much shorter story. I’ve been working with The Women’s Mosaic for a couple of years now and when they came up with the idea of starting a blog, I ended up becoming the head of that project. I knew about the blogosphere and had a strong sense of TWM’s vision and back then I also had the most time (I have much less free time now). So I’m a contributor, as well as the editor/blog mistress, if you will.

3. Do you think of blogging as work or play? And speaking of work, what’s your day job? Do you have aspirations to someday take up blogging or some form of writing or journalism full-time?

This question made me LOL! Blogging is work and play, depending on when you ask me. It is certainly A LOT of work to write, edit, maintain, troubleshoot, moderate, etc. for one blog, let alone keeping track of three, even while sharing responsibilities on two of them. Sometimes posts just come very easily to me – either because I have a lot of free time, something has sparked a reaction inside of me, I’ve found something of interest, etc. But sometimes I’m struggling just to put sentences together. Writer’s block hits hard, and it’s even harder to deal with that when my work schedule is so unpredictable sometimes.

I work for a women’s rights organization at the moment, and volunteer part-time for The Women’s Mosaic. My responsibilities are a bit all over the place for both, but I like it most days. :-)

I’ve always loved writing and editing and anything having to do with either, but I’ve never considered doing it full-time or professionally. Who knows, though… it’s a new year!

4. Are there some days that you just have no interest in blogging? What do you do to inspire yourself to write?

There are plenty of days when I have no interest whatsoever in blogging. If it’s been a while since I posted on Jump off the Bridge, then I try to at least throw up a video or something to have something on there. I feel guilty otherwise!

Sometimes when I set out to write a post, but don’t know what to write about, I just start reading through news websites and react to whatever I find on there. My guy also sends me links every so often when he sees something he thinks I’ll want to write about. This is usually a good way for me to at least write something substantial, but it doesn’t always work.

5. As we both know, a lot of the work involved in maintaining a blog is cultivating and sustaining readership. Do you have any advice for people relatively new to feminist blogging about how to gain readers and encourage comments on their blog? Did anyone give you any great advice when you first got started that you’d be willing to share?

My number one advice for gaining readers is to comment, comment, and then comment some more on a variety of other blogs. I think a lot of people would say the same thing. If people like what you have to say and/or if they keep seeing your name on comment threads all over the place, they’ll get curious.

Aside from that, the advice I always read is to keep a regular schedule, but I struggle with that as I already said.

I’d also say take advantage of places that promote link love! These are posts where you can link to a few of your own posts with a short description to get traffic & comments on your blog. Womanist Musings does it on Saturdays, Feministe on Sundays, Shakesville on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We do it on The Feminist Underground and CHICKS ROCK! from time to time as well.

Taking advantage of social networking sites is also good, depending on how comfortable you are on those to start with. Facebook has a Networked Blogs app and you can also create a group or fan page for your blog. Twitter is great for promoting your posts. I’m not a big MySpace fan, but I’m sure people do it on there too and other places.

As far as encouraging comments, I still need help with that one. If you know of any tips, please share. :-)

6. I would have to agree with you about the advice to comment prodigiously yourself, but if I ever learn some secret comment-boosting formula, I'll be sure to share! Now, less about blogging, but more about feminism: how do you embody your feminism in your day-to-day life and/or how is feminism part of your daily life? Can you recall any specific event in your past that made you decide to identify yourself as a feminist or do you feel that feminism has always been a part of who you are?

I work for a women’s rights organization, so that helps me feel feminist-y. The blogosphere is a great way to incorporate feminism into your daily life. Whether it’s questioning the status quo, taking action on issues around the world, or just learning about things people write about, it’s a great way to really work out your feminist muscles.

I also just have conversations with people whenever the opportunity presents itself. I make people question why they don’t call themselves feminists even though they believe in pretty much everything we believe in. I try to break down oppression/privilege to them, and teach them about the struggles women have dealt with throughout history. I’m also a big proponent of including men in the conversation, so I make them see how feminism helps them too.

7. What do you feel is the most important issue facing contemporary feminism?

More than any one particular issue that feminists fight for, I think there is a lack of inspiration and effective strategy amongst feminists. There is not enough focus on grassroots efforts, not enough communication and partnership with people who don’t call themselves feminists (but have similar goals), etc. I think it’s a shame, for example, that people are still so intimidated by feminism. If you ask them what they believe in, they often agree with you about a lot of things, but refuse to call themselves feminists or to work towards the very things they believe in. I think in the future, we need to focus on addressing these things in addition to the issues already in the feminist agenda.

8. Along those lines, do you have a favorite feminist anecdote?

I do have one! I have several actually, but I’ll use the one from my feminism definition post at TheFU:

My guy's aunt could barely say the word "feminist" without getting a look on her face like she just swallowed sour milk. I started asking her questions:

"Do you have a job?"
"Yes."
"Do you believe you should keep the money you make instead of giving it to your father or husband or brother?"
"Of course."
"So you consider yourself pretty independent?"
"Yes."
"Then, I hate to break it to you, but you're probably a feminist."
"No I'm not, just because I keep my own money?"
"Well, there was a time way back when, when women weren't allowed to keep any money or property. Women had to fight to earn that right."
"Really? I never knew that."
"Just like they had to fight for the right to get divorced from abusive men, keep their own children, make their way to the top at their jobs."
"Well, I knew that, but not everybody wants that."
"You're right, but feminism gives you a choice. We didn't have that choice before and now we do. That's why I'm a feminist. I want to keep fighting for all the choices we should have that we don't."

Somewhere around here, my guy came into the convo and said he's a feminist too. This seemed to boggle her mind. We explained that feminism is about men AND women. Sure, we're different. Some differences are biological, some social, some a mixture of the two. But that doesn't mean that gender stereotypes don't hurt us all.

At the end of our little chat, she said "Well...I guess I'm a little bit of a feminist."

9. That's a great story! And now for something completely different: is there anything that you feel particularly fan-girlish about that you could discuss (or blog about) for hours on end with the right audience (a particular television show, a certain band, puppies, politics, etc.)?

I could do this about Harry Potter (hard-freaking-core!). A few others, to a lesser degree: the Beatles’ or Alanis’ music and Disney movies.

10. Speaking of movies, I noticed on your profile page that When Harry Met Sally is one of your favorite movies. It’s one of my favorites, too! What’s your favorite scene?

Woohoo! When Harry Met Sally!! I love every minute of that movie so this is by far the hardest question in this thing. While the orgasm scene is pretty classic stuff, I love the scene when Sally finds out Joe is getting married. Starting with the teary phone call to Harry right up until the hilarious look on Harry’s face after they’ve slept together – it’s BRILLIANT! A close second would be the scene at the Sharper Image when they sing “Surrey with a Fringe on Top” and Helen finds them there. I have to go watch the movie now...

That's all for now folks (and, for the record, my favorite WHMS scene is also the teary phone call bit!). Sally, thank you so much for granting me this interview. To everyone reading this, tune in February 13th for the next installment in this new interview series. In the meantime, I hope you'll continue to join us here at Fourth Wave for posts on myriad other topics, and, if you have any suggestions for people you'd like to interview or if you yourself would like to author a guest post wherein YOU conduct the interview, please don't hesitate to drop me a line (fourthwave[dot]feminism[at]gmail[dot]com).

Top 100 Gender Studies Blogs

Check out this great list of Top 100 Gender Studies Blogs! I personally think they left a couple out, but there were also quite a few on the list that I didn't know about and look forward to exploring. Also, guess who's in excellent company?!

(H/T The Feminist Underground)

Pledging to post about women in technology

My friend Lauren sent me a link to a PledgeBank sign-up to dedicate FWF on March 24 to blog for Ada Lovelace day, something Suw Charman-Anderson is organizing across the blogosphere to feature women and technology. Check it out and sign up to participate on your own blog! Here's Suw's call:

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.
[...]
Ada Lovelace was one of the world's first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programmes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.