BUST Post // The Backlash of Girly Culture and Online Media

The Backlash of Girly Culture and Online Media

By Kristina Uriegas-Reyes

"I’ve recently come across two online sources that take issue with what is basically the infantilization of women and women’s media. There’s The Daily Beast’s “OMG! Women's Sites Need to Grow Up” by Tricia Romano and there’s a blog post by Julie Klausner. 

Both Jane Pratt’s highly anticipated site, xoJane.com, and Zooey Deschanel’s new collaborative site, HelloGiggles, are aimed at young women about ages 16-35. As sites that call themselves the place for “strong voices, identities and opinions” and the place for “smart, independent, and creative females,” they are bound to come under criticism, which is what Tracia Romano’s article certainly does. It criticizes the sites for more or less talking down to its audience or essentially lacking in smart content for grown-up women. I understand where they’re coming from, but it seems like there apparently needs to be a distinction on how fluffy content can be before it is turned away by smart women. 

I took rhetorical issue with the fact that The Daily Beast compares HelloGiggles and xoJane (along with Cosmopolitan.com thrown in) to GQ at one point in the article. The writer, Romano says, “With such tickle-me-hormonal content online, it makes one wonder, where is the content for women who want the equivalent of GQ, with sharp articles about powerful women and fascinating trend stories, written by writers as good as Tom Wolfe or Joan Didion? Where are the fashion spreads that make you feel aspirational, not inadequate?”

In terms of publications, isn't Vanity Fair or Vogue the equivalent to GQ? If we’re just talking smart writing in general, BUST for that matter? Are there guy websites that write like GQ? It just seems like a rhetorically strange comparison. If she actually meant GQ Online instead of the publication, the website seems to have just as much “fluff” as most women’s site with headlines like, “The Ultimate Father’s Day Gift Guide,” “12 Killer Summer Grooming Tips,” and “When is it Ok To Send A Girl A Picture of My Penis?” (uh..apparently when she asks for one).

Another thing I took issue with was the idea of the exclamation point. They quote Jezebel’s founder, Anna Holmes, who says, “Let's stop using exclamation points. By design, when you read them, the voice in your head, as you're reading them, goes up a couple of registers. It's hard to take it seriously and it sounds kind of ditsy. Why can't we just talk like grownups?” Whoa, I didn’t know exclamation points were such a big deal. I get that there can be too many in one place, over excitement is not appealing to read, but it doesn't necessarily equal ditsy sounding. That, to me, is kind of a jump. Personally, I think that some things are just plain exciting and deserve an exclamation. What do you guys think?

While I think both xoJane and HelloGiggles have been hit or miss in the content department and have definitely posted material ranging in age appropriateness, I also think that’s kind of the point. Shouldn’t there be a place that people of various ages can go? I am enjoying the joyful tone from HelloGiggles and skip over the stuff that’s “too young” for me or that I can’t relate to. When it comes to xoJane, I do agree some of the more serious articles were treated too cavalier or didn’t make sense in context, but as a long time JANE fan, I am enjoying most of the content. 

When it comes to Julie Klausner’s post, the thing that bothered me the most is that she seems to be the one deciding what makes you “act younger” or what you are officially too old for. She says, “I’m begging age-appropriate females: Read something written before you were born. Stand up straight. Make sure you own one piece of jewelry that you did not purchase on Etsy.” What? Buying from Etsy means I’m not acting like a real woman? Apparently so does wearing rompers, playing the ukulele, and liking kittens or 90’s movies. She says you can make your own modern womanhood, but basically says in the post that if you "do this, buy this, eat this, listen to this, read this" then you are not acting like a “real women.” Romano wants us to write like real women and Klausner wants us to act like real women. Don’t we have enough people telling us what a “real woman” is? It doesn't help that we're already criticized if we act "too sexy." Now we're also criticized if we act "too young." Liking only those things listed by Klausner is one thing I suppose, but too much of the post seems like one hell of a generalization.

 Maybe I’m just the kind of person who likes cute designs, excitement, exclamation points, and joyful reading material, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want solid writing nor do I want to be talked to like a little girl. I don’t think liking cute things and being talked down to go hand in hand. Super girly culture and smart writing are not mutually exclusive in my opinion. I’m pretty sure I can like kittens and rainbows and still be a feminist.

The bright side is that women have so many outlets to express themselves and write. I, or other writers such as Romano, might question the content, but I’m definitely glad to have two more creative websites for women. The more the merrier, I say! XOJane and HelloGiggles add to the likes of BUST.com, Jezebel, The Frisky, and The Hairpin (If you know of more, let me know!). We have the right to criticize the media so I’m glad to hear these opinions about the girly culture we’re living in. I’m dying to hear what you guys think though. Are we as women infantizing ourselves when it comes to interests and media or is it all in good fun? Is the content reflecting our culture and what we want to read or does it need to be changed?"

This is a post I'm pretty proud of from over at BUST.com