*Crickets*

I'm sitting here at 1am just randomly tired and angsty. I moderated over at FacebookSexism today (which I'm down to doing about once a week for reasons of self care and being busy) and after managing a whole bunch of hateful trolls that popped up like they do after every time I post (block, block, blockity block) I remembered that this blog exists.

Oh, this blog. My dear nerdyfeminist.com...what am I to do with you?

It's no secret that my writing has petered off in the past few months. It's not just LESS content: it's (what I would consider) significantly less substantial content.

I didn't happen over night so it's taken me a while to notice that I'm at a point where it's like the wind is out of my damn sails. I've seen a lot of bloggers in many fields reach this spot, or something similar to it. For me it's a real writing block, unlike the others I've had. My brain isn't thinking, "What should I write about?" or "What should be my inspiration?" or "When the heck can I find time to write?" to

"Do I even want to write anymore?"
"Is this thing worth keeping up?"
"Is this what I want?"

As I've mentioned before, my personality type is such that I beat myself up about not producing content. I want to reach the goals I set myself. Since 2009, that has been important to me. But it's just sort of NOT anymore. Where I used to want to write 3 times a week, I now can let weeks slip by without putting a single word on the page.

And I'm not upset about it.

I don't really know where this is going. I'm not announcing that I'm shutting this thing down or anything. I'm immensely proud of (most) everything I've done here and I definitely want to keep it open as a place to come rant if I need, but I'm just letting go of any expectations that I have for myself about it.

I'm just working through it all still and I know, I know, who cares? But yeah, that's where I am right now if anyone is wondering.

Please see the commenting policy before replying to this post.

Traveling

Just a quick note that I am traveling the better part of this week and next so things will be quiet around here for a while.

Please see the commenting policy before replying to this post.

The Selfish White Lady Yoga Debacle

I feel like I'm saying this all the time, but things are incredibly busy for me right now, so I don't have much time to write. 

Long story short, my life is in shambles…in a good way…all things which are positive but require a ton of time and/or mental space right now. Work has mysteriously picked up massively, I made two significant volunteer commitments (that I didn’t realize would suck up so much time and overlap as much as they are) and we’re buying a house/moving. For the next few weeks (months?) I’m going to need to limit my time online. I know that I could just do this and not make a big deal out of it but I like sending my intentions out into the world. It makes me more accountable.

Plus, once I say it, I feel less guilty about blogging only here and there.

OK...all that aside, I need to talk quickly about the selfish white lady yoga debacle which has been unfolding since yesterday when xoJane published this. In it, a self described "skinny white girl" and writer, Jen Carlson, gets all weepy about observing a fat, black woman in her yoga class. It was one of the strangest, most condescending things I've read in a while. And luckily, the people I follow on Twitter took delight in tearing it apart.

BUT THEN my friend Travis passed along a response from another xoJane writer, Pia Glenn. I can't even begin to describe how good it is. READ IT. It's the entire reason I'm posting this. Here's a snippet:

You see, I don’t think either of you have anything but good intentions, and yet you are using them to pave the road to hell. Further enacting a societal ill in your efforts to call it out is the worst kind of white privilege. It is why we need messages of progress but the messenger matters. Otherwise, we’re left with something like this:
Hey, Oppressed Person, I feel bad for you but what’s most important right now is that we make it all about Me, even though it is your time of need. How do I know it is your time of need? Why, because you’re not me, of course! You’re you and that is Less Than Me. But I’m thinking of you! So let’s get back to Me and My Thoughts now…

Please see the commenting policy before replying to this post.

Busy, Busy

If you've read my stuff for even just a year, you might remember that in late October/early November, my workload hits a fever pitch. Even though I have transitioned roles and am not directly responsible for our annual event, I still have just loads of things on my plate right now.

As such, my time to write...or even my mental capacity to think thoughts about anything other than work...is very limited.

I should be back in full swing in mid-November. Hope you all are having a lovely fall and don't miss me too much :)

Please see the commenting policy before replying to this post.

No Jez Here...Still

[Content note: discussions of sexual assault, harassment, and he-who-shall-not-be-named...except I'm naming him, Hugo Schwyzer]

Well over a year ago, I officially gave up Jezebel. Recent controversies involving Hugo Schwyzer brought this discussion up in full force, so I figured I'd share what I wrote on Tumblr here, when I was asked why I'm anti-Jezebel.

It’s been a long string of events for me…I was actually SUPER involved there from 2009-2012, a big time commenter and regular participant. At first I started to be off put by a lot of general rudeness way back before they rolled out their new commenting system, but then that system compounded those problem and cut down on any last remainders of good discussion for me. I started to be attacked by random newcomers who would chew me out for saying things like reminders that not all women have vaginas. 

My official last straw was the incident where they published photos of a women who had been sexually assaulted. I could no longer endorse them. I stopped linking to any of their work at my main blog or visiting the site on principle.Then they continued to hire and publish known abuser, Hugo Schwyzer, only adding to my disdain for them. I could write a novel about Schwyzer but let me summarize it by saying that he once tried to kill his female partner, he regularly harassed, silenced, and abused Women of Color online (and tried to get them fired from their writing gigs), sexted and slept with his young female students, and as of last night before he deleted his Twitter—admitted in his public meltdown that he intentionally manipulated the feminist blogosphere into attempting to being THE one feminist guy so he could get a special place at the table to get a pass on writing things like why jizzing on women’s faces is just grrrrreat. Oh and there are other horrific things. 

Despite all this, big name white “feminism” (like Jezebel but also xoJane, Feministe, Feministing) have at best ignored and not spoken out against him, at worst hired, endorsed, and peddled him as a “redemption story” to their own profit and/or write really crappy non apologies for their outright involvement in his success and shirk their culpability. When feminists still follow Jezebel and give it attention, it just makes me sad because it only further illustrates how abused and marginalized women’s voices are not being heard and the power of their platform prevails. And let’s not forget, Jezebel actively scorns the feminist label—they have said numerous times that while some of their writers are feminist (I like Lindy West) they are NOT a feminist site. ——Discussion about alternative sites, here.

All of this was before the most recent Jezablunder in which the whole #solidarityisforwhitewomen trend was initially covered by Erin Gloria Ryan highlighting her favorite tweets from it, without actually mentioning the woman of color who started it, Mikki Kendall (@karnythia)...OR acknowledging Jezebel's role in why the trend even became a thing in the first place.

So yeah, my policy is NO JEZ and even when some their writers that I do like cover awesome topics, I don't link them and I try to do everything possible to limit the traffic I send their way. They are a monolith of the online world and I realize that my clicks are just a drop in their infinitely large bucket, but given their standards (or lack thereof) I cannot and will not contribute to their success.



UNREALTED: This marks my 500th blog post. YAY MILESTONE :)

[Image text: Gif of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development acting all happy/giddy
(because Gene Parmesan just showed up at her door)]

Please see the commenting policy before replying to this post.

Welcome, Mackenzie!

So in looking for contributors, I realized that a friend of mine, Mackenzie Busch, was looking to write more about feminism. I have been admiring her personal blog for a while, so when she said she'd like to write here, I was more than happy to work with her.

I'm going to publish her first post about LA stereotypes and a horrible "joke" video, in just a moment, but in the meantime, here's a little bit more about Mackenzie!

Mackenzie Busch was born and raised in in the small town of Monticello, Indiana and moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to pursue a career in writing and entertainment. Mackenzie currently works for an Entertainment Advertising Company where she has been lucky enough to explore her writing and to be involved with numerous non-profit charities. Mackenzie runs her own low rent, intelligent, and underrated blog according to five of her closest friends at the self-titled mackenziebusch.blog.com, Fetus Frolic. Mackenzie is a proud 2008 Radio/TV/Film graduate of Indiana State University.

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

Call for Contributors

Hey everyone,

I've been mulling this idea over for a while, but I decided to go ahead and finally make the announcement.

I've been writing here since 2008, but I didn't start taking it seriously until 2010. In the three years following I have poured my brain on to the page 2-5 times a week. Unfortunately, the world is a never ending source of blog material for a culture critiquing feminist.

However, I've recently taken on other time consuming endeavors (like my Tumblr project) and it's become more of a challenge to keep the content at Nerdy Feminist interesting. I don't want to lose the momentum I've built but I also am trying to avoid burning myself out by trying too hard.

So basically, I'd love to add some contributors in order to increase the variety and freshness and to take the burden off of me to blog when I'm not feeling it. Nerdy Feminist is certainly no hot spot of the internet (total transparency: I get about 14-18k hits a month) but if you have a knack for feminism and writing but you've never blogged before and you'd like a forum to start, I'd be happy to partner up.

Here's how you can throw your hat into the ring: Email alynn(at)nerdyfeminist.com with a bio, 2 blog samples of the type of stuff you'd like to contribute, and topics that you consider your "expertise." I consider the tone here to be laid back and informal, but I try to keep things well reasoned and clearly argued. I'm looking for intersectional feminists who can write on a variety of topics but I lean toward pop culture criticism.

My idea is that I'd select 2-3 people to be on a trial basis where you could send me blogs and I'd review/post them, then after a while I would add you as an official contributor to the blog w/ your own log in. I'd ultimately be looking for people who could commit to one solid blog post a week.

This is just a preliminary foray into this process, so I might change it up as we go. I just wanted y'all to be the first to know. Please feel free to share these details with anyone who might be a good fit. Thanks!

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

RANDOM COMPLAINING

WHERE ARE ALL THESE SPAM COMMENTS COMING FROM?

The amount that I receive has increased 500% this week. I don't understand, seeing as how actual, real life people have a really hard time commenting here.

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

Blog Note: OUCH!

I'm really struggling to type today...yesterday I fell and sprained my hand (I think?) I, personally, feel I'm far too young to start having injuries from falling, but that's what happened. I mean, I trip all the time because I had a horrible sprained ankle several years ago and it weakened that one so it turns a lot. So I'm used to stumbling, but this total wipe out was a new, unwelcome experience.

Anyhoo...this one hand typing thing ain't so fun or efficient, so I'm going to hold off on any in depth blogging until my left hand is fully functional. Or at least save the typing I can do for work related purposes.

Have a great rest of your week! Watch your step!

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

Blog note: SXSW!

Happy Monday, everyone!

I just wanted to drop a quick line that I will not be regularly blogging this week. It's SXSW here in Austin! While I've been to some things every other year I've lived here, we now, for the first time, have film badges. So I will be off enjoying it to the fullest without having to wait in so many damn lines. And I took the whole week off work. Wheeeeeee.

Needless to day, I'm very excited about it all...even though it will mean 16 hour days, eating lots of junk, tons and tons of walking, being immersed in early 20 something hipsters and 40 something LA dudes, semi-neglecting my apartment and beloved cats, and very little sleep. Doesn't matter. It's worth it.

I have queued up something for later this week. Otherwise, I'll be back to my regular blogging next week...once I've caught some Z's. Perhaps I'll have a thought or two about the films I'll be catching.

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

We Have a Right to Safe Spaces

Like I alluded to yesterday, I received a comment on my blog recently that went a little something like...

So you you normally not approve any comments you don't agree with? I wasn't offensive or derogatory to feminism in any way. If you don't want to have a real debate with two sides, get out of activism. You are destroying the reputation of the movement you claim to represent by attempting to secure a one-sided debate. 

This came after he had commented on a post of mine and disagreed with my ideas. While I do think that original comment lacked any substantive merit, it was presented respectfully and I had every intention of publishing it and responding to his claims. However, about an hour later when his original comment didn't appear, he added this second accusatory message which made me want to smash things.

Blog Note: Commenting

Hello--just wanted to put up a quick note about commenting, as I've received a few complaints lately. As I say in my FAQs:

I love it when people engage with me here and I welcome all thoughtful participation made in good faith.

You are welcome, of course, to disagree with me so long as you do it respectfully and back up your position. However, I have a ZERO tolerance policy for  trolling and/or harassment. As it turns out, any woman with an opinion is subject to a whole lot of hate, so I've had to go to comment moderation which I manage entirely myself. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay before they are published. Bear with me. I also may or may not publish self promoting things, depending on how I feel and what other merit the comment has.

Again: I am one person with a full time, non blogging job, an active social life, and many off line interests. I try to keep up on moderation using my cell phone when I'm not at a computer, but I frequently cannot publish comments as quickly as some might like (sneak preview: there will be another blog later this week about a specific complaint I received.)

Additionally, I've heard that the log-in process/CAPTCHA process is difficult for some, and for that I apologize. However, I am at the whims of Blogger, and I'm unable to fix any of those things--at least not without removing the comment moderation process entirely, which protects me from some of the regular harassment I receive, so I ask you to please bear with me. 

So just as a heads up, I will also be publishing a new statement at the end of my posts to remind everyone about this. Here it is: 

This blog has strict comment moderation intended to preserve a safe space. Moderation is managed solely by the blog author. As such, even comments made in good faith will be on a short delay, so please do not attempt to resubmit your comment if it does not immediately appear. Discussion and thoughtful participation are encouraged, but abusive comments of any type will never be published. The blog author reserves the right to publish/delete any comments for any reason, at her sole discretion. 

Blog Note

I will be traveling all day tomorrow (18 hour drive...woo...) and then in my hometown until the new year. If I get an idea and a moment, I'll be blogging. Otherwise, things will get back to normal in January.

For those of you who celebrate--I hope you have a safe and merry Christmas. And Happy New Year everyone!