Ladies and gents, meet our intern!
Posted at 1:20 PM Jun 01, 2009
By Andrea Grimes and Geoff George |
I asked Geoff to introduce himself, so I'll let him take over from here. What say you, Mr. George?
Hello, dolls--Let's give Geoff a doll-worthy welcome. He'll be doing some link-goodness roundups for us and also writing weekly features that I also hope will make for bigger and better conversations about what it means to be a feminist.
Geoff George here, your humble 25-year-old journalism student and intern from The University of Missouri, by way of Iowa. For about a week now I've been telling people I'll be researching and writing for a "feminist blog." This term usually turns them quiet, and their eyes register something between confusion and suspicion, and I try to explain (badly) that it's a blog about "ladythings," a discussion area for pop culture and political stories about women and of interest to women.
"And you're writing for it," they say.
" ... Yeah."
" ... Huh."
Obviously, half their confusion is based on the fact that I'm a dude, but let's face it: There's no universal definition for feminism, and a lot of people just aren't sure what it means when something is described as "feminist." It brings up questions, even for me. Can men be included? Is it more a fight for power or for equality? Does that question miss the point? Am I actually allowed to refer to the readers here as "dolls", or is that insulting? What if I say something else insulting? Is it even correct to call this blog feminist?
To use some buzzwords, there's a lack of crosstalk between communities, a semi-entrenchment toward what is most comfortable and known, and my hope is that, by being here, I can keep myself from contributing to that problem. I'll be posting while keeping my other eye on your comments, and I'll try to disprove my supposed allegiance to a hegemony I never asked to be a part of. That said, thanks for including me in the conversation, and I look forward to the summer.
--Geoff
Comments
Wait just a minute... this is a feminist blog... i feel so violated... how dare you...
Posted 06/01/2009 at 02:22:11 PM*goes to the corner to cry
Awww, welcome Geoff.... yes you can call us dolls but since we can't really call YOU a doll we have to think of a nickname.
And for the record, men can definitely be feminists, the same way a straight person can be for gay rights.
=)
Posted 06/01/2009 at 03:57:25 PMGeoff - welcome to the HeartlessDoll-house.
Posted 06/01/2009 at 05:17:22 PMYou're a brave, brave man, Geoff. Best of luck. :)
BorgQueen: Maybe he can be HeartlessActionfigure? ;)
Posted 06/01/2009 at 05:20:49 PMThanks, BorgQueen (am I to be "assimilated" into the site?), David, and Orangutan. Happy to be here. For now, you can just call me "intern."
Posted 06/01/2009 at 05:52:02 PMIt takes a real man to be a feminist. Welcome to the blog, Geoff! xoxo Jennifer
Posted 06/02/2009 at 10:38:09 AM