Tag Archives: feministing

Feminist Blogger Reveals Eating Disorder, Apologizes To Readers

Jessica WakemanMarch 22, 2013 //

Katie struggled for an eating disorder in high school and college. Read More »

Feminist Joins WW

Jessica joined Weight Watchers, but felt kinda guilty about it. Read More »

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

One woman's experience battling this disorder. Read More »

Living one’s values are difficult for any human. Living one’s values when those values are idealistic, compassionate, and come from a deep and open heart can be extremely difficult. Life throws “life” at you and you seek to respond in the way that would make you feel proud of yourself.

That doesn’t always work.

This morning, an editor from Feministing.com Chloe Angyal published an essay confessing that she’s been starving herself. You can read the whole essay here. The tl;dr is that Chloe (I’m calling her Chloe because I’ve known her socially for years and it feels weird to refer to her in the formal “Angyal”) became interested in eating disorders awareness after she became artistic director of her all-girls dance company in college. She made a mandate within the company to stop with negative body-talk and then became involved in a campus eating disorders awareness and prevention group. (Through that group, she met the lovely Courtney E. Martin, who brought her to Feministing.) She’s been reading, blogging and editing Feministing for several years.

And for the past two years, she’s also been starving herself. Keep reading »

New York Magazine Acknowledges The Feminist Blogosphere

Jessica WakemanNovember 1, 2011 //

Growing up in the suburban Northeast, I didn’t fit in. At my large, mostly-white, upper-middle-class high school, I wasn’t the funniest, the smartest, the most charming, or the prettiest: therefore, I didn’t really exist. Other kids cared about their Abercrombie & Fitch polos, what went down at the last Dave Matthews Band concert, and the Jettas they would pick out on their 16th birthday. That wasn’t me at all. I had tons of books on my shelves, a stud in my tongue, and every single Ani Di Franco album in existence. For three whole years, I mostly just rattled around in my own head.

Then, in the year 2000, when I was 16 and in junior year, my dad put the computer in our family room on the Internet. (This was back in the the Dark Ages when a family usually had one computer, it was shared by everyone, and it was usually a desktop.) I don’t know how I found my way there, exactly, but I soon discovered gURL.com, “a teen site and community for teen girls.” On gURL.com I could read about dating and sex and birth control (not that I had use for much of that information just yet) and talk with other teen girls in the site’s chat rooms. And through links on gURL.com, I found my way to other websites that interested me. Pretty soon, my budding-feminist-self read all about things they didn’t discuss in school — abortion rights and the Taliban — on Salon.com and websites for the Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. Magazine. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Kate Middleton Removed “Obey” From Her Vows

Jessica WakemanApril 29, 2011 //

We’ve got a quickie Today’s Lady News column today because Amelia and I were up at — yaaaawn — 4:45 a.m. liveblogging the royal wedding and we’re both pooped. Feel free to include your own news articles and blog posts for Today’s Lady News in the comments!

Kate Middleton removed the word “obey” from her marriage vows today. Feministing’s Samhita Mukhopadhyay explains why — surprise! — that doesn’t really matter. [Guardian UK]
The U.S. Department of Labor has included gender identity and pregnancy as protections under the department’s “equal opportunity” policy. [Pams House Blend]
Are black women actually more likely than white women to be bulimics — despite the stereotypes of what we think a bulimic “looks like”? [The Root]
Women would be held in handcuffs or otherwise restrained while giving birth in prison or jail, the Florida’s state Senate has decided. Jailed women can only be physically restrained if they pose a security risk. [Miami Herald]
Women filmmakers and screenwriters took home big prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival! [Indie Wire]

Keep reading »

Are Ladyblogs Like The Frisky Bad For Women?

Jessica WakemanJuly 1, 2010 //

We love a lot of stuff here at The Frisky — shoe porn, hunky photos of Taylor Lautner — but what we love most are the ladies. Any old news outlet, like ABC or The New York Times, will tell you about the Gulf oil spill or Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But you know if there’s a news story relating specifically to women — whether it’s a new birth control method or new insights into the male mind — we’ve got you covered. We have tons of male readers, too, which is cool. But we’d like to think the news and stories we bring you is especially and fun for women.

However, some women’s studies experts who examine media for a living say that blogs for women (“ladyblogs”) like The Frisky are troublesome. UC Berkeley history professor Ruth Rosen recently spoke to National Public Radio about a recent blog post she wrote for the news site, Talking Points Memo. Her concern is that ladyblogs have become like the “woman’s pages” in newspapers, segregated sections for “women’s news,” and fluffier content like recipes and gardening tips, which men typically don’t read. Do “ladyblogs” amount, she asks, to “gender apartheid” online> Keep reading »

Jessica Valenti Of Feministing Proves Feminists Can Get Hitched, Too

Jessica WakemanOctober 16, 2009 //

If you call yourself a “feminist“—which basically means you believe women deserve the dignity, rights and respect afforded to men—then you can relate to how peeps come out of the woodwork to tell you you’re either being “too feminist” or “not feminist” enough. Some people think feminism should be a spartan existence where there’s no frivolity allowed, on principle: no makeup, no “Sex & The City, and definitely no getting married!

The dumbest criticism of feminists we’ve ever seen happened when some people freaked out over the engagement of Jessica Valenti, co-founder of Feministing (and one-time Frisky blog!) to her boyfriend, Andrew Golis, deputy publisher of the politics blog, Talking Points Memo. Gettin’ hitched, apparently, is “antithetical” to feminism. Keep reading »

Female Football Players Clad In Underwear Want To Be Taken Seriously

Annika HarrisSeptember 4, 2009 //

Sex can sell almost anything in our culture, so football shouldn’t be any different. At least, that’s what the Lingerie Football League, LFL, is banking on. The idea for the LFL was hatched from the “Lingerie Bowl,” a half-time show featuring scantily dressed women that is broadcast during the Super Bowl. The league, which opens its debut season Sept. 4, has 10 teams (with names like San Diego Seduction, Dallas Desire, and Los Angeles Temptation) competing in seven-a-side, full-contact football. The players want to be respected even though they wear sports bras, tiny boyshorts, and protective gear. They say they’re playing real football, regardless of their attire, and those who tried out and couldn’t play didn’t make the cut. Keep reading »

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Is Rebranding Its Message

Jessica WakemanJune 23, 2009 //

If you’re wondering who thought it was a good idea for Bristol Palin, pregnant at 17, to warn America’s teens not to have sex until they’re married, you’re not alone.

But it’s hard to figure out what, exactly, the well-meaning adults who preach “no sex until marriage” to teenagers are thinking, considering a 2007 study confirmed abstinence-only education does not work.

Jessica Valenti, editor of Feminsting.com and author of The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession With Virginity Is Hurting Young Women, has written a piece for The Nation about how the groups that comprise what Valenti calls “the virginity movement” have finally realized they need new PR.

Unfortunately, the abstinence preachers’ ideas for discouraging teens from having sex still don’t make any sense. Keep reading »

Which Celebs Should Asexuals Look Up To?

Jessica WakemanJune 8, 2009 //

It’s like a word association game. Say the word “asexual” and the first thing people say is Clay Aiken. Poor Clay got stuck as the poster boy for asexuality when he told New York magazine that he had no libido.

“I just don’t have an interest in … any of that at all. I have got too much on my plate. I’d rather focus on one thing and do that when I can devote time to it, and right now, I just don’t have any desire. I think maybe I don’t [have sexual urges]! I mean, not really. I’ve just kind of shut it off, maybe. Is that bad?”

Now we know Clay is actually a gay man and the only thing he had “shut off” were his homosexual desires.

But with such confusing messages about asexuality, is it any wonder that “Awkward,” a 19-year-old woman who wrote to Professor Foxy, Feministing’s sex advice expert, was really confused by her complete lack of a libido? “Awkward” thinks she is asexual, but wondered how do you actually know?

Keep reading »

Don’t Miss Feministing’s Five Year Anniversary Party

Jessica WakemanMay 28, 2009 //

Sigh. We remember back when Feministing was just Jessica Valenti’s small third wave feminist blog with a couple of her friends. But now one of our favorite blogs rolls nine bloggers deep and is turning five years old!

The anniversary bash will be held on June 12 in New York City. If you’re not in the NYC area but still love Feministing, you can buy a ticket that the bloggers will donate to a partier who can’t afford to go.

If a night of debauchery with folks who aren’t afraid to use the F-word (feminist, duh) isn’t enough to bring you out, the party will even host a special guest appearance from Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre and Bikini Kill! So get your tickets now, alright? [Feministing] Keep reading »

Should Feminism Be Taught In School?

Jessica ValentiAugust 25, 2008 //

A UK based academic says feminism should be taught in schools. As a feminist blogger, I couldn’t agree more. Dr. Jessica Ringrose at the Institute of Education in London has made the rounds recently, suggesting that feminism should be taught in schools to combat the increased sexualization of girls in the media and to give girls role models outside of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Ringrose suggests teaching girls about historic feminist leaders, like suffragists, to balance out all the tripe they’re getting through pop culture. While I’m all about teaching feminism to younger girls (hell, start them in kindergarten!), as others have noted, I think we’re better off showing girls what kinds of amazing feminist action is happening right now. Keep reading »