Women's Glib bloggers Silvia and Phoebe
When I was a junior in high school, I was pretty sure the only other feminist in my small town was my AAUW card-carrying mother. I also thought that a dial up modem was the height of technology.
Since then, technology has made it possible for teenaged feminists to do much more to connect with each other and the world.
Miranda, a soon-to-be high school senior, is the brains behind Women’s Glib, a feminist community blog made up of self-proclaimed “nerdy foul-mouthed youth.” Since starting the blog this winter, she has already been featured as a guest blogger on long-running blog Feministe.
The fantasticly titled FBomb was started by 16-year-old founder Julie Zeilinger and has been highlighted by Feministing and other feminist blogs, and caught like wildfire after being highlighted on Jezebel.
Both blogs are at once accessible and enlightening, wittily covering everything from the gendered implications of high school popularity and dating to Sonia Sotomayor‘s nomination. But not all attention has been positive. A week after the online media blitz, F-Bomb founder Zeilinger Tweeted:
“older feminist readers I’m a teen its for teens can’t be perfect don’t have a degree. get some perspective plz & stop writing mean comments!”
Miranda ended her Feministe guest blogging stint with remorse for a post that asked for the community’s advice on being a womanist ally.
Here at Mother Jones, we’ve had our own share of contentious conversation on generational feminism. But these young women also point out other rifts contemporary feminism is working to untangle.
Not only are these young women actively working to expand their political viewpoint—and the tools they need to work within their communities—they are negotiating their personal and online identities in real time for the world to see. As both of the blogs note, simply claiming the title “feminist” is a powerful act, for both teenagers and adults (there is a reason Julie Z. called her blog The FBomb), and these bloggers are actively working to ensure more people claim it, grapple with its meaning, and work towards achieving its goals.
As Julie Z’s twitter bio screams: “badass teenage feminists who give a shit unite!”
