Lead on, oh Kinky Turtle

I think that Jezebel has really done a number on people. How this publication is regarded as even nominally feminist is beyond me. They do this kind of thing periodically, in true gawker media fashion. They set up an act like this by developing an audience, then they post something they should KNOW will be an anathema, infuriating to that audience, and they do it to generate click through buzz. Putting this article up is a way to make people active and generate views, pure and simple. I have come to view Jezebel as a tool to prime women readers just for opportunities like this.

I remember some of their other guest writers, male, doing other versions of this trick. Like the time they had an article about how in France, women weren’t so uptight about being groped in public, with the implication that it was a flaw in American women to be so outraged by misogynist behavior. Tons of traffic, outrage generated, linked to by other sites, etc.

Jezebel is a complete scam, from the way their comment system works to their view generation strategy. They do throw in some good content to keep the feminist perspective hanging in, but only to set that audience up for a periodical tempest in a teacup, a la the referred piece. I feel quite strongly that relating Jezebel to feminism, by anyone, is helping to craft feminism as a brand, a lifestyle choice, rather than a struggle. And this neoliberal co-option and commodification is harmful to the goals of feminism, for reasons well explored in feminist literature. Sorry to rant, but Jezebel does more harm than good, IMO. I apologize to those who enjoy it; I have read good stuff on there, and they do some good, but to me the cost is too high in view of the overarching goals of the feminist movement.