In researching for my last blog post, The Gender of Coffee, I came upon a very interesting looking article blurb on Google that aligned with my topic published by Bitch Media. Unfortunately, I could not access anything more from the article summary due to the website being deleted, but from what I could read, the article could have been very valuable to my research. When I went back to try and find the blurb, I was unable to locate it again even utilizing the same key words in the search.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident of the loss of a single article commenting on how black coffee has been gendered. Many large feminist publications have had to close their doors (and their websites) in the past few years, most recently with the announcement that Jezebel will be closing last month. Other closures include Bitch Media and The Washington Post’s site The Lily which both closed in 2022, as well as Feministing which closed in 2019 and Vice Media’s women-focused Broadly. Additionally, The Hairpin, Lenny Letter, The Establishment and Rookie have closed.
These websites were platforms for all sorts of women-centric content that created online communities around issues affecting women and providing a space for intelligent, funny, and rowdy writing. Communities were built on these platforms and became central to the feminist conversation on the internet. What will this loss mean for feminist culture and community online?
When I first was exposed to feminist ideas on the internet, it was on Pinterest and I was in 5th grade. As I have grown, I have read some articles from these iconic websites over the years but was a bit too young at the time to fully grasp the significance of the community built around what I was reading. Now, at a time when these communities would be so valuable in my life and my seek for further understanding, the internet discourse around feminism has changed. These massive publications have closed or are closing and the internet is becoming much more fractured.
Now, in place of these centralized blogs or publications, individual creators exist on the various platforms, each preaching a different message about feminism and current issues impacting AFAB people. Many individuals have created platforms through newsletters, podcasts, or social media followings to share their messages, and there is no doubt that the space is becoming more diverse due to the accessibility of social media. But, the absence of central community spaces is certainly being felt by me and the up and coming feminists online as we seek to find spaces for open dialogue and discussion. Additionally, with the loss of centralized spaces for the publishing of feminist essays and articles, there is a bit of a loss of credibility. When evaluating the sources of current discourse on various feminist topics, it is much harder now than it has ever been to verify the information being shared by the masses of individuals online, in large part due to the lack of a reputable publication behind the work. Source criticism is becoming much harder, and media literacy is so important now. But, are young feminists (or young people in general) being taught the skills to weed through all of the information online to find credible information? That is not a question I feel equipped to take on in this blog, yet it is something that should be on everyone’s minds when engaging with internet media.
Anna Holmes, the founder of Jezebel, wrote an essay last month for The New Yorker looking back on Jezebel and it’s importance to her and the greater community online titled “Jezebel and the Question of Women’s Anger.” Looking back at her original vision for Jezebel, Anna Holmes writes, “I imagined it as one with a lot of personality, with humor, with edge. I wanted to combine wit, smarts, and anger, providing women – many of whom had been taught ot believe that “feminism” was a bad word or one to be avoided – with a model of critical thinking around gender and race which felt accessible and entertaining.” The world has changed significantly since 2007 when Jezebel was founded, yet, I feel at least, that the goal of providing a “model of critical thinking around gender and race which felt accessible” is still incredibly important. The internet is the go-to tool for almost everyone these days to expand their mind and search for information, yet the loss of these institutions makes it that much harder for individuals to learn from the important work that was done as a part of these sites. How much information and excellent work are we losing from these publications due to their closure from financial difficulties?
There is no lack of interest in feminism, especially in Gen Z. According to a 2020 article published by the Pew Research Center, 68% of women between 18 and 29 identify as feminists, compared to 58% of women between 30 and 49, and 57% of women between 50 and 64. Just this year, the Barbie movie, a film that centered on many basic feminist ideas, made over 1.4 billion at the box office. For a NYT article, Anna Holmes commented, “The ‘Barbie’ movie wouldn’t exist without feminist blogs… A lot of the topics that were covered on sites like Jezebel and Feministing, and a lot of the writers and editors who worked on those sites, have now been absorbed into mainstream media”. These issues are no less interesting to the public and to AFAB people as they were in 2007, but the closure of these sites points to a shift in internet culture and how people consume information now.
In my recollection, I have borne witness to the drastic shift on the internet from the blog culture and almost wholesome community building prior to the commercialization of the web to now. Gen Z is now just accustomed to turning to social media, like Instagram or TikTok, to listen to their favorite creators explain something in 60 seconds instead of subscribing to blog style content. Additionally, the invasion of sponsorships have corrupted so many content creators and caused them to change their message for money, so it really takes individuals with strong morals to stand up for their message and their community online (I am not going to name names here, but there is no doubt that whoever is reading this could think of some examples of creators selling out their audiences for money).
I’m deeply saddened by the news of Jezebel closing. I think the sheer loss of all of the articles and essays from these publications is deeply saddening and makes me worried for the future. The work done by these authors online built the feminist movement we see today, and I feel many individuals take for granted the widespread acceptance of the term and beliefs. Hopefully, the future holds new ways to organize and build community around the topics online, but we shall see.
Additional Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/business/media/jezebel-website-shutdown.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/business/media/jezebel-koa-beck.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/business/feminism-gen-z.html