The Guardian explores the fracas in "Sex, drink and fashion. Is this the new face of American feminism?"
The Story, in a Nutshell
To grab readers, newcomer Double X went after its competition. Contributor Linda Hirshman, who regularly comes out swinging and has been involved in many online battles, penned "The Trouble With Jezebel" and tried to reignite a year-old controversy -- a live interview with a couple of Jezebel staffers who were obviously drunk and said some troubling words about rape. (I wrote about this disturbing incident when it happened last July.)
Fight of the Waves
Hirshman's piece rips the scab off a sensitive issue that has made feminism a dirty word and enraged many who could stand together under the umbrella of a contemporary women's movement...but don't. That issue is the generational divide between the older second-wave Gloria Steinem feminists and the sexually provocative and raunchy twentysomethings who are one aspect of the many-faceted approach known as third-wave feminism.
Sexy Smart or Sexy Stupid
Sex sells, and Double X banked on that. So Hirshman's critique of whether or not unfettered sexual exploration and fearless promiscuity are the bold acts of modern feminists -- or the deluded actions of young women who lack a long view on the situation -- is bringing readers to the Double X site.
One Jezebel staffer (who at the time was listed on the site's masthead as Tracie "Slut Machine" Egan) has been criticized for trivializing rape and for her personal behavior; some observers felt that as a writer for a site popular with young women, she is a role model and should behave more responsibly so that fans don't emulate her actions.
Female Chauvinist Pigs
Hirshman bring up this and more, and asks:
How can women supposedly acting freely and powerfully keep turning up tales of vulnerability—repulsive sexual partners, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, even rape? Conservatives have long argued against feminism by saying women are vulnerable, and we need to take care of them. Liberals say there’s no justification for repressing sexual behavior....Jezebel is outraged by the Guardian article. As of this writing, no comment from Double X.Women can pretend they’re female chauvinist pigs, but it’s still women who are more sexually vulnerable to stronger men, due to the possibilities of physical abuse and pregnancy. These Jezebel writers are a symptom of the weaknesses in the model of perfect egalitarian sexual freedom; in fact, it’s the supposed concern with feminism that makes the site so problematic....
[T]he offense that arouses the liberated Jezebels to real political fury is the suggestion that women like them might be made responsible for the consequences of their own acts, or that there might be general standards that define basic feminist behavior. Suggest that women report the men who rape them for the sake of future victims, say, or that women should be asked why they stay with the men who abuse them, or urged to leave them, and the Jezebels go ballistic. Judgmental, judgmental!
Doing what feels good to you is the only standard that is allowed. The problem is that no one really wants to admit that some things feel bad, because that admission would threaten the whole system of unlimited individual action.
Thanks to O/Siris who originally included a link to the article from the Women's Issues Forum.
If you found this post interesting:
Add to my Technorati favorites
Follow me on Twitter
Bookmark or Share
Comments
It surely reeks of manufactured, but the increasing insignificance of Jezebel, their decreasing readership, as young women with brains who base their decisions on situations rather than issue, as well as the more than likely future insignificance of Double X make this really a moot point.
Interesting, Linda. I didn’t realize this was a behind-the-scenes movement.
It seems to me that both sides have valid ideas, and it looks like a whole lot of arrested teenage development. . .teenagers challenging their parents’ values.
What troubles me is the devisive cat-fights that have always undermined the women’s movement. We don’t get anywhere because we don’t find common ground. And, we’re more prone to putting each other down than lifting each other up.
In a sense, it leaves us all where we don’t want to be ~ men control our lives. And, I am deeply troubled that misogamy is becoming a popular indoor sport for both sexes.