Feministing Blog Analysis: Intersectional Feminist Coverage

Introduction to Feministing

While described as a blog, the website Feministing actually seems to go beyond the expectations of a mere blog. It considers itself an "online community run by and for young feminists,"¹ and instead of offering only the social commentary one might expect from a blog, it provides a significant amount of reporting — or, at least, repackaging — of news, making it easily consumed by potential readers. Its stated goal is to provide an intersectional overview of feminist issues and to connect emerging feminists with other activists and organizations.

While the blog is not inappropriate for other audiences, its primary target is young feminists, and one of its clear goals is to help young people understand why feminism remains so critical to social equality — even if this is not overtly stated in its promotional materials. It attempts to achieve its intersectional approach by drawing on a broad group of authors from diverse backgrounds, giving readers the opportunity to incorporate multiple personal perspectives into their understanding of feminism. Recurring themes include reproductive rights, sexism, activism, and sex. In short, Feministing takes an intersectional approach to feminist issues and frames those issues within the broader context of civil liberties, making clear that feminism is a human rights issue.

Even prior to this course, Feministing has been one of my favorite feminist blogs, in part because it exposes readers to perspectives that go beyond the traditional upper- or middle-class white female-centered viewpoint that American feminism has long seemed to embrace. The blog does grapple with issues typically identified as feminist concerns — reproductive rights, sexual violence, and domestic violence — but it also offers a more comprehensive analysis of many of these issues than one would ordinarily expect from a blog.

Intersectional Coverage of Marginalized Women

One way that Feministing embraces an intersectional approach is by examining specifically how stereotypes and perceptions affect women who do not belong to the dominant group. For example, one blog entry focused on Muslim-American women and the issues they consider critical to emerging feminist discussion. This is a significant contribution. Anyone familiar with the modern feminist movement knows that the wearing of hijab is surprisingly controversial among feminists.

Some feminists believe that wearing hijab is a tangible sign of underlying sexism and misogyny in Muslim culture. Other feminists — many of them hijab-wearing Muslim women — argue that the desire to dictate what clothing a woman should or should not be allowed to choose in support of her own religious convictions is, in and of itself, a sign of the underlying sexism and misogyny in the broader culture, as well as a symbol of racism and religious intolerance. The reality is that both arguments likely have merit. It is undeniable that, in contexts where women are forced to wear head scarves under threat of criminal or social sanction, the act cannot be considered a free choice. It is equally undeniable that, in contexts where women freely choose to wear head scarves and then face criminal or social sanction for that choice, they are facing discrimination.

However, while both sides of that debate may raise salient points, the exclusive focus on the hijab controversy risks leaving Muslim-American women without a voice in the broader feminist community. Feministing's article directly addresses that risk — not by rehashing familiar hijab arguments, but by focusing on other issues that affect Muslim-American women. While not an entirely novel perspective, it is refreshing for a blog to acknowledge that feminists will disagree on some fairly significant issues, but that those disagreements should not shut down discussion. The article also illustrates how cultural and religious perspectives can shape one's understanding of gender issues.

Feminism as a Broad Human Rights Issue

Feministing's articles do much to explain the role that culture plays in shaping gender norms. The blog's topics span a remarkably broad range: teenage female superheroes in animated series, sexual health guides created by people with disabilities, Whole Foods's decision to stop selling food produced by prison labor, and the topic of Indian boys participating in household chores — these represent just a few recent entries. This breadth reflects the blog's understanding that material inequalities, class structure, and social exclusion can reinforce misogynistic behaviors.

This wide focus reinforces the idea that feminism is a human rights issue and that any behavior affecting human rights will, by extension, be a feminist issue, because it will affect women. For example, even behaviors that do not directly target women — such as the excessive incarceration rates among African-American males in the United States — still carry indirect consequences for women. Articles on the blog addressing the for-profit prison structure help readers understand the interconnections among various human rights issues.