Way To Help The Wimmins Become Gainfully Employed, Duke U!
I love this blog, mostly because of the comments of all of you. And I could live off the proceeds -- if it were the year 1614. But, really blogging -- feminist blogging -- as a way to make those college dollars pay off? How out-of-your-mind high do you have to be to think that's a good idea? (Or is this just for those "smash the state!" type feminists who grew up in the best parts of Beverly Hills and Chappaqua?)
Katie J.M. Baker blogs at Jezebel, "Duke University Will Train Feminist Bloggers":
Duke University's Women's Center is launching a new media activism program called Write(H)ers that will help "create a community of feminist-oriented writers," according to the Duke Chronicle: program members will participate in personal blogging and workshops with professional journalists (including Jill Filipovic, Heather Havrilesky, Rebecca Traister, and former Jezebel writer Irin Carmon) and write at least three blog posts over the course of the semester.We'll save the snarky bloggery comments re: output (three blog posts a semester?!?) because this is awesome news for the 22 women and 1 dude who got into the program.
"This will be such a positive experience because it gives me a small window into the perspectives of several women involved in fields that still deal with huge gender disparities," said senior Nathan Nye, the aforementioned lone male student. "I am fascinated by how women are portrayed [by the media] and how different this portrayal is from the women I've known my entire life."
Oh, hurl.
And the title: "Write(H)ers"? Seriously?
From the bitch section, uh, comments, on Jezzie:
transanon
I don't understand how Jill Filipovic is going to teach feminist blogging, given her blog's famously inadequate moderation and her very narrow perspective. She doesn't have the ability to write well about people of color or people who aren't (upper-)middle class, and I've called her out multiple times on her lack of understanding of "how to write about queer and trans people 101" (like her insistence on calling gay people "gays"), only to be shrugged off with incoherent attempts at snark.
I dunno, I've read a femme blogger or two, who when asked about that whole 'supporting.yourself' thing have a plan. They speak of certain parts of their femenist world view that they consider 'quite traditional' in that they are planning to find the 'right' guy and settle down and marry him. Interestingly enough, the dude will be fully supportive of her writing career, and will be more than happy to pay all the bills, to support her... struggle? artistic vision? something like that.
He'll treat her like an equal, of course, and pay for everything.
...including the divorce.
SwissArmyD at February 18, 2013 10:48 PM
What's wrong with calling a gay person gay? I mean, that's what they are right? What are we supposed to call them?
BunnyGirl at February 18, 2013 11:53 PM
All they need to do is read Grace Undressed.
All done!
Radwaste at February 19, 2013 2:19 AM
I think the difference is between calling people "gays" and using gay as an adjective describing a person. People are people first, with a descriptor coming next if you want to be PC. A person with red hair, a person who is deaf, a person who is gay (homosexual, etc.) I hope that I haven't missed the point here.
Jen at February 19, 2013 4:52 AM
I looked these professional journalists up and they are all upper middle class attractive white women.
The only way to prove yourself in the so called mans world is by working hard in male dominated fields not by writing about how hard it is to be working in said fields.
All these women had connections during and out of college that let them have careers. It's not like they worked themselves out of the ghetto and proved themselves as writers.
And in a so called diversity field why isn't there more diversity?
Finally I wish these women would stop insisting on blaming the media for all our problems. There are bigger demons in life than the media.
Ppen at February 19, 2013 5:30 AM
As I asked myself at the height of the dot com hysteria, this makes money, how?
If you can't answer that question, you've got a hobby, not a job.
MarkD at February 19, 2013 5:46 AM
Senior Nathan Nye thinks this will get him laid but he's wrong.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at February 19, 2013 6:18 AM
and 1 dude who got into the program
Will he be required to put his nut sack in a jar? or is he already a pre-neutered beta male feminist?
I R A Darth Aggie at February 19, 2013 6:47 AM
> given her blog's famously inadequate
> moderation and
That is a fascinating sentence fragment.
Blogs must be MODERATED!
Otherwise they will be IMMODERATE.
And if a blog becomes famous for not being moderate, well...
?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 19, 2013 6:51 AM
Imagine having a blog that was well-known for not being moderated.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 19, 2013 6:52 AM
"I think the difference is between calling people 'gays' and using gay as an adjective describing a person. People are people first, with a descriptor coming next if you want to be PC. "
Black flag; stop-and-go penalty for excessive language nannying. The English transforms adjectives into nouns all the time, e.g., redhead.
Cousin Dave at February 19, 2013 6:58 AM
And Crid, when I first read that bit about the moderation, my first thought was that the blog must be having a lot of problems with spam in the comments section. Then it dawned on me that that's not what the commenter was talking about.
Cousin Dave at February 19, 2013 7:00 AM
Feminism isn't about courage anymore. It's about control, in a scientology-type way. Venues for sincere expression must be moderated, else they'll become infamous...
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 19, 2013 7:05 AM
@Crid: "Imagine having a blog that was well-known for not being moderated."
Imagine having a blog that was moderately well-known for being moderately moderated.
Well, you started it!
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at February 19, 2013 7:19 AM
Okay, imagine that there was one person who'd heard about a guy who casually perused a tepid blog with tepid comment by a timid commenter who didn't want any trouble and was just trying to get along, but that one person, the first one, wasn't even offended.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 19, 2013 7:32 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/02/19/way_to_help_the.html#comment-3612211">comment from Crid [CridComment at gmail]I'm for free speech. If you can't deal, go work on yourself and come back when you can.
On a positive note, I met one of my best friends after she read (and very much agreed with) my blog item, "Rebecca Solnit Is A Sniveling Idiot," about how women are supposedly silenced by men.
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/04/14/rebecca_solnit.html
I have yet to be "silenced" by anyone, but I do encourage the ambitious to keep trying, as it helps me stay sharp.
Amy Alkon at February 19, 2013 8:11 AM
What's wrong with calling a gay person gay? I mean, that's what they are right? What are we supposed to call them?
No you are supposed to call them cis-gendered homosexuals. cis = not trans, or normal so why a new word was created to label something already accurately labeled is beyond me
I have a rule - anyone who uses the word cis-gendered in a non sarcastic manner gets put on my permanent ignore list
lujlp at February 19, 2013 8:42 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/02/19/way_to_help_the.html#comment-3612230">comment from lujlpOh, "cis" is the biggest pile of bullshit. It's like a decoder ring PC people can show off to each other to indicate that they buy into the same bullshit.
I am a straight person. Because most people are straight, this is unremarkable. I am a redhead. Because few people are redheads, it makes sense to describe me as a redhead, as it's a distinguishing characteristic.
Period.
The same goes for gay people. Most people are not gay, so it's relevant as a descriptor. Also, it's probably reassuring to Gregg if he learns that the tall, hunky man I talking to at some party enjoys getting blow jobs from other men in a bathroom stall.
Amy Alkon at February 19, 2013 8:56 AM
I'm willing to bet roughly half the population has, at some point, considered what it's like to be a woman.
Conan the Grammarian at February 19, 2013 10:28 AM
How clueless can one be when unaware of how much their own words are indistinguishable from parody?
lsomber at February 19, 2013 10:56 AM
Conan: "I'm willing to bet roughly half the population has, at some point, considered what it's like to be a woman."
I'm willing to bet there are a lot of men who've considered what it's like to be a woman before asking one they love - wife, daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter - to please "be on the watch when you're walking home by yourself, or watch what you're drinking and wearing when you go out."
Ken R at February 19, 2013 10:57 AM
"There are a lot of people here who have never considered what it's like to be a woman in that you're constantly told that you have to be on the watch when you're walking home by yourself, or watch what you're drinking and wearing when you go out," said senior Sarah Van Name....
By the same logic there are a lot of people who have never considered what it's like to be a man in that you're constantly told that you have to be in order to get a woman, provide for family, how every thought deed and action is ultimatly wrong for no other reason than you have a penis
lujlp at February 19, 2013 11:02 AM
There are a lot of PARENTS here who have never considered what it's like to be a CHILD, in that you're constantly told that you have to be on the watch when you're walking home by yourself, or that you have to sit up straight and eat your vegetables, or that you can't stay up all night on a school night"... said a frustrated boy while kicking the reporter in the shins... "Parents! They just DON'T understand!"
SwissArmyD at February 19, 2013 1:50 PM
Okay, they are teaching 23 more people how to setup a blog? And it is only costing them about $1,322 per credit hour (in-state)? Figure it is 4 credit hours so that is $5,288. Or the college is going to get about $121,624. And the students are going to have to pay to setup the blog area as additional class costs.
I was able to setup my blog as follows:
My ability to tell the world to go fuck off: Priceless!
I do IT work for a living. I used to run my own website in the 90's that was quite famous. Any amateur can create a blog or webpage that has three brain cells and can log into any of the major provider such as Wordpress, Big Daddy, AOHeLl, Yahoo, or Google.
Even hiring an IT web consultant should be only about a $100 an hour. Finding a friend's teenage geek brother that can do it would probably be about $50.
So this just proves that colleges are homes for unthinking, doctrinaire, stupid fools.
Jim P. at February 19, 2013 7:49 PM
"I have yet to be "silenced" by anyone, but I do encourage the ambitious to keep trying, as it helps me stay sharp."
This reminds me nicely of the Addams Family Motto:
"We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."
Radwaste at February 20, 2013 8:28 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/02/19/way_to_help_the.html#comment-3613534">comment from RadwasteLove that, Raddy.
Amy Alkon at February 20, 2013 8:53 AM
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