A word on Jezebel.com and Slate’s new “female-oriented” site, DoubleX.com:
I used to read Jezebel for banal news updates and the occasional humorous column. Slowly, I began to realize that the Jezebel commenters (if not the site’s writers themselves) are among the very worst people in the world. Bitchy, unreasonable, vindictive, and shockingly blind to their own shitty logic, these people made the site less and less worth reading. I gave DoubleX a fleeting glance because I’ve enjoyed Slate for years, but it was immediately clear that that the new site was not for me.
These sites are supposed to be for women, or more specifically, for feminists. I don’t identify as a feminist because it’s become a loaded and meaningless word and because I’m lucky enough to live in a society where my gender has never really prevented me from doing anything, aside from having sex with Rufus Wainwright. There used to be a real need for feminism in this country, and there is and will long be a need for it in many other countries. But it comes across as pretty disingenuous to call yourself a feminist just because you took Women’s Studies and refuse to play GTA because of its misogynistic themes.
From what I’ve observed, the bulk of modern American feminism is not about political activism or making the world a more just place, but about reframing issues to suit one’s own failings. If you’re significantly overweight, the problem isn’t your lifestyle, it’s society’s obsession with anorexic models as the ideal of beauty! If you act like an asshole and people subsequently don’t like you, the problem isn’t your personality, it’s that society can’t deal with a strong woman!
Both of the aforementioned sites have recently posted essays on the “withdrawal” method and how “science” (i.e. one particular study) supports it as a totally rational and respectable method of birth control…a feminist method, in fact. Jezebel’s article on withdrawal is titled “Can We Stop Shaming Women Who Practice Withdrawal Now?” No, no we can’t. This is another simple reframing: if you’re too fucking stupid and irresponsible to use birth control, the problem isn’t that you’re fucking stupid and irresponsible, it’s that society unfairly shames women for making choices about their bodies! DoubleX’s article is titled “Why educated young women are using withdrawal instead of condoms”, as if such women have reviewed numerous clinical studies and reached an informed decision, instead of the truth, which is that they’re too fucking stupid and irresponsible to use birth control. If this is feminism, I want no part of it.
A second issue, into which I cannot delve too deeply at the moment, is Jezebel’s stance on abortion. Most pro-choicers would agree that they are not actually pro-abortion, per se…most, except for Jezebel and its commenters. According to them, abortion is always entirely and irrefutably ethical, up to the actual moment of delivery, and any argument against this is an argument against women themselves.
Without really getting into my personal beliefs on abortion, I think there are very few justifications for the actions of adult, educated women who get pregnant by accident. (What could be more feminist and empowering than using an understanding of your body, as well as available resources, to practice safe sex?) I tend to agree with Slate’s health columnist Will Saletan, who feels abortion should be legal, safe, and rare. Speaking of Saletan, Jezebel has specifically called him out for daring to question the mindsets of some women who choose to get abortions. The comments were not a critical analysis of his argument, but instead a bilious stream of nonsense like “He doesn’t have a uterus so abortion is none of his business!” or “Oh, of course a MAN would say something like that!” Again, it’s just reframing: abortion cannot ever be about the life of an unborn fetus (because it’s never an unborn baby or even a human at all with these people), it’s only ever about the woman’s inherent right to have unsafe sex and an emotionless, guilt-free abortion. Will Saletan, you are free to contemplate and comment on my uterus any day of the week as I know you would do so thoughtfully and intelligently, unlike this band of willfully ignorant harpies.
Please understand that I say all of this as a woman who loves being a woman, who acknowledges and appreciates the differences between men and women, who is frequently ashamed and appalled by the actions of men, and who is just as frequently ashamed and appalled by the actions of women.