"I just don’t feel like writing about prostitution, abortion, pornography, FGM, high heels, or shitbag straight dudes anymore. IBTP has been an enormously gratifying and edumuckational endeavor, but let’s face it. Patriarchy is depressing, and I’ve been stinkeye-deep in blaming it for years. It cannot have escaped your notice that I’d started repeating myself. A lot. Like, verbatim sometimes. I’d exhausted the material. Obviously it was time to move on."I know IBTP is polemic, polarizing, and just plain unwelcome in some feminist circles, but I learned quite a bit from her site, even if I didn't always agree with her. I do get it, though. Writing for an audience -- even a small one -- can be stressful, and at times, completely unsatisfying. Being a woman who dares voice her opinion on the internet isn't is big bag o' laughs sometimes. I guess what surprises me is that she's "exhausted the material." Maybe we're all "exhausting the material." I catch myself repeating a lot, too.
When I first started blogging, I didn't know of any female bloggers my age except Heather Armstrong of Dooce fame, and a handful of local parent bloggers. I tried my best to wedge myself into their community, but I could never make the minutiae of my daily life interesting. I thought that's what one had to do to become a successful "ladyblogger," lay bare every part of your life from the silly to the sublime with a healthy does of toilet humor. (Sometimes literally, Lady bloggers really like to talk about poop.) I failed spectacularly. It was only when I found sites like IBTP that I thought, okay, this I can do. And if I can combine my obsession with pop culture? Even better.
I heard a lot about Twisty Faster and her blog. One commenter hated her, of course he was a bit of a troll. He came on my blog to proselytize Equalism. But anyway, she's closing her doors? I always thought that I Blame The Patriarchy was going to be around for a while. I guess some of us take our feminist web logs for granted.
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