Advice to Feminist Bloggers? Don't Be a Feminist Blogger

Advice for young feminists? Do something else besides feminism. I’m serious. The feminist blogosphere is oversaturated in my opinion. Please, find something else you love and take feminist theory there. It gets lonely over here in tech and video games – I have a great crew of other feminists but we are a little island in a vast sea. We need more feminist minded business bloggers, feminist theory wielding finance bloggers. Labor organizers with a feminist lens blogging. Can you imagine what Deadspin (the sports blog) would look like with a feminist on staff? Restructure writes about science, tech and feminism – join her! Publish a blog doing literary criticism with a feminist lens! Take on the NYT! Talk about class issues and feminism. Whatever it is, apply your feminism in a different space. -- Latoya Peterson from whereisyourline.org  

I think what Latoya is suggesting is actually going on. There are quite a few bloggers who look at literature, music, and technology through a feminist lens, but because they fall under the umbrella of "feminist," they remain unknown to the world at large.

In the course of a year, my blog has evolved from a "womyn's" music blog to a pop culture blog that's informed by feminism. I'm not political enough to be a social justice blogger, but writing about pop culture without examining the problematic behavior of those creating it feels disingenuous. I know what I do is not unique (actually, there are several sites that do it much better than I ever could), but in a blogosphere focused on branding or creating a niche, not really knowing where you fit in definitely has its disadvantages. The thing is, if you're a feminist or a womanist, your writing will be filtered through that lens. I sometimes write for another pop culture site that isn't explicitly political, and I find it hard to write "objectively." (Read: no ladystuff) It starts to feel like straddling two worlds, neither feeling completely authentic.

This is why we need feminist writers in mainstream blogs. I'd love to see a feminist on staff at Deadspin, but I can't imagine that happening anytime soon. I'd love to see smaller blogs whose feminism is stealthily snuck in as part of the larger, "Big F" feminist blogosphere, which doesn't happen nearly enough either.