The Echo Chamber Of Online Feminism
Former "ladyblogger" (icko term used by the author) Amanda Hess writes at Slate:
Meanwhile, every ladyblogger is placed under an insane expectation to agree with all of the others. "Online feminism has more and more rules lately," Jezebel editor Emma Carmichael told the Longform podcast last year. "There are only so many things you can say." Feminism is an amorphous concept, which can make it seem like a big tent--every feminist defining the movement for herself. But it can also function like an invisible electric fence--nobody knows how far she can stray before she gets zapped. I have been called "bad PR for feminism" by a feminist sympathizer and "a voice of reason inside the feminist movement" by an anti-feminist commentator, but I've come to see "feminist writer" as a dig regardless of the context in which it's lodged. To me, a great writer investigates her subjects with skepticism, reports them with nuance, and delights in surprise. An effective activist succeeds in the opposite way: She flattens complex ideas into slogans, cultivates loyalty to her cause, and skips the inconvenient details. I get why an activist might own feminist, but why would I agree to reduce my worldview to a single word?
My take on that? Appealing to the feminist mob is a career move for those who can't think and write about anything else.
She writes of taking a job in pink ghetto journalism, complains she had to write in a pink ghetto, and spent years wedging everything she wanted to write about in terms of pink ghetto identity issues, finally, she seems to believe she has escaped the pink ghetto.
She has yet to learn she stared into the pink ghetto for too long, and the pink ghetto stared back into her.
jerry at May 31, 2015 10:28 PM
I know what you mean. Even within the narrow confines of Facebook and Twitter, there's pressure and backlash for even the slightest comment outside of unequivocal support. Man-bashing is allowed, but scrutiny of any actions by a woman or women isn't. When it comes to common sense thoughts or actions, women can be given huge leeway, with the rationale being that their actions must be understood in the context of historical oppression. But sometimes people are just acting like damnned fools, and acknowledging that shouldn't bring down censure.
Samm at June 2, 2015 11:10 PM
"An effective activist succeeds in the opposite way: She flattens complex ideas into slogans, cultivates loyalty to her cause, and skips the inconvenient details. "
That, in a nutshell, is why I have an extreme distrust of activism. Most activists don't want reason; they want blind loyalty.
Cousin Dave at June 3, 2015 3:48 PM
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