Jessica Valenti for NY Times
NY Times did an interesting interview with Jessica Valenti, founder and editor of the blog Feministing.com. I’ve cut and paste the entire interview below.
**Interview has been condensed and edited.
“NY Times: As the founder and editor of the blog Feministing.com, how would you rate the effectiveness of online activism compared to old-style models of political engagement like rallies and marches and displays of bra-burning?
Valenti:Bra-burning never happened. It was completely made up by the media. A couple of women protesting a Miss America pageant threw some bras into a garbage can, and somehow that became this longstanding idea of feminists as bra-burners.
NY Times: You’re referring to the generation known as second-wave feminists. Do you consider yourself a third-wave feminist?
Valenti: I don’t much like the terminology, because it never seems very accurate to me. I know people who are considered third-wave feminists who are 20 years older than me.
NY Times: Maybe we’re onto the fourth wave now.
Valenti: Maybe the fourth wave is online.
NY Times: How large is your readership?
Valenti: This past month we had over 600,000 readers. Unless there’s some feminist publication I’m unaware of, we’re the most widely read feminist publication that there is.
NY Times: What publications are you comparing yourself with?
Valenti: There’s Ms. magazine and there’s Bitch. Bust used to be a feminist magazine, but now it’s more crafty and about making things out of yarn. I’m not a D.I.Y. feminist. I once tried knitting a scarf but threw it away after 15 minutes.
NY Times: Why is your site called Feministing.com?
Valenti: I wanted to verb the noun.
NY Times: Verb the noun? Why would you use such ungainly language, especially as a veteran writer whose third book, “The Purity Myth,” is about to come out in paperback?
Valenti: I think talking is as casual as blogging, and sometimes writing can be as casual as talking. My informal writing style is a political choice, because I want feminism to be more accessible.
NY Times: What do you make of the glorification of male vulgarity in pop culture? Whenever I walk into my living room and find my sons watching “Entourage” or “Family Guy,” I think feminism has been a complete failure.
Valenti: The rape jokes on ‘‘Family Guy’’ make me nauseous. About three years ago, Lakshmi Chaudhry wrote this great piece called ‘‘Men Growing Up to Be Boys.’’ It’s about how the new model of masculinity is perpetual adolescence.
NY Times: What can you tell us about your childhood?
Valenti: I grew up in Long Island City. When I was growing up, my parents owned a women’s clothing store in Queens. It was for older women. I got my bras there, until I realized I didn’t want those huge, taupe bras. Everything was beige, with massive amounts of hooks.
NY Times: You just got married last month. What is life like for newlyweds in the digital age?
Valenti: We’ve instituted an 8 p.m. laptop shut. You have to.
NY Times: Does it work? You probably just switch to your BlackBerrys for the rest of the evening.
Valenti: We’re trying to cut that out as well. There’s something really terrible about having your BlackBerry next to your bed or having your laptop in the living room when you’re talking to someone. The biggest source of stress in my life is the screen, the blogging.
NY Times: Maybe the screen will be the great oppressor of women in the 21st century.
Valenti: Yes, it’s the liberator and the oppressor. It has freed us up to do amazing things, but you’re tied to the computer.
NY Times: Because it extends the workday to all hours?
Valenti: Also, when someone criticizes you in a newspaper, you can throw it away; when someone harasses you on the street, you can walk by them; but when someone writes something terrible about you online…
NY Times: You learn to ignore it. Look at Hillary Clinton. So much verbal poison has been thrown at her, and she just keeps moving forward.
Valenti: I’m in awe of her, but online harassment is going to be a huge issue in the future.”
