Does Feministing Present an Intersectional Overview of Feminism Essay

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Feminist Blog Analysis: Feministing

While described in the assignment details 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,"[footnoteRef:1] and instead of offering just the social commentary one might expect going to a blog site, it actually offers 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 provide a way to connect emerging feminists with other activists and organizations. While the blog is not inappropriate for other people, its target audience is young feminists and one of its goals is clearly to help young people understand why feminism is still so critical to social equality, although this is not overtly stated in the blog's promotional materials. It attempts to achieve this intersectional approach by using a broad group of authors from a diverse set of backgrounds, to give the reader an opportunity to incorporate multiple personal perspectives into their understanding of feminism. While the blog appears to be comprehensive, there are some recurrent topics or themes that they consider hot topics: 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 it clear that feminism is a human right's issue. [1: Feministing. About Feministing. Retrieved October 21, 2015 from Feministing website: http://feministing.com/about/]

Even prior to this course, Feministing has been one of my favorite Feminist blogs, in part because it exposes the reader to perspectives that go beyond the traditional upper or middle class white female centered perspective that American feminism has seemed to embrace for such a long time. Yes, the blog does grapple with issues that are known as typically identified as feminist issues, such as reproductive rights, sexual violence, and domestic violence. However, it also seems to offer a more comprehensive analysis of some of these issues than one would expect from a blog.

One way that Feministing embraces an intersectional approach is by looking specifically at how stereotypes and perceptions impact women who do not fall into the dominant group.

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For example, one blog entry focused on Muslim-American women and the issues that they feel are critical to emerging feminist discussion. This is a very significant approach. Anyone with exposure to 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 type of clothing a woman should or should not be able to choose to wear in support of her own religious choices 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 probably have merit. It is undeniable that, in those contexts where women are forced to wear head scarves or face criminal or social sanctions, doing so cannot be considered a free choice. It is equally undeniable that, in those contexts where women are not forced to wear head scarves but choose to do so, and then face criminal or social sanctions for that choice to do so, they are facing discrimination. However, while both sides of that debate may have salient points, the focus on that debate and the exclusion of other issues impacting Muslim-American women has the potential of leaving those women without a voice in the feminist community. Feministing's article directly addresses that issue, not by rehashing the same tired hijab arguments, but by focusing on other issues that impact Muslim-American women. While not an entirely new perspective, it is fresh for a blog to acknowledge that feminists are going to disagree about some fairly significant issues, but that those disagreements should not shut down discussion. This article also helps frame how cultural and religious perspectives can inform a person's view of gender issues.

In fact, Feministing's articles do much to explain the role that culture plays in gender norms. When looking at blog entries, the topics seem to….....

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