Jun 22nd, 2009
Is Web 2.0 for feminism? Am I?
The other night, after I poured some red wine out of a bottle whose cork had been pounded in rather than out, I made an incoherent remark about feminism. 
As the bottle was passed around and shared in tiny plastic cups at an intimate gathering of about 100 random Europeans and an amateur DJ, my friend Ruth followed up with a perhaps more coherent remark.
She suggested that that the ongoing Internet revolution (the Web 2.0/ “make your own way with your own network” idea) is perhaps ‘for feminism’.
After all, she said, so many tools and concepts - RSS, social networking, tagging, hyperlinks, viral content - enable you to break free of mainstream thought. You can really experience news and content in whatever way you’d like. Nothing is dictated.
And, advancing the discussion in another direction, it also seems like the “freelance culture” that’s popping up because of all the layoffs in the MSM, is particularly good for women content producers (er, journalists… Such a 1.0 word, eh!). We can work online from anywhere, which enables all kind of offline adventures, be they travel or reproduction related.
I agree that Web 2.0 can be for feminism. Point, Ruth.
But am I a feminist? Do I want to rock some Web 2.0 feminista action? I don’t know. And in a world where even Wikipedia makes feminism seem confusing, how can I know?
I dig sports, for example. I dig women’s sports. I will even pay to watch women play sports. I’m psyched that there are more women in a lot of universities than men. I also think women should have equal pay for equal work (and often don’t get this). I think it’s good to have women CEOs and managers. I think it’s possible that Sonia Sotomayor will bring something extra to her job because she’s a woman and a Latina. And I think that’s
wicked awesome. I sometimes hate that a women’s looks are so much more important than a man’s. I hate the fake dichotomy between “working” and “career” women and the idea that I should be one or the other (but would be of course the highest form of women if I attempted and was successful at both). And I think people who do developing work in third-world countries can get further by teaching a women to read than a man (she’ll teach her children (read: daughters) what she knows, a man would not be as likely to do so).
Do these things make me a feminist?? Who knows. But I do find a lot about these topics online - and I find myself sharing articles about these ideas with female friends. And I’m more exposed to these ideas because of my friends.
Because, I also think this stuff is complicated. Should women change their last names when they get married? Seems like a question for feminists. I think no — it represents a massive loss of identity.
And findabilty! Try and find a married women in the phonebook, for example. You’ll quickly realize it’s a hellofa lot easier to find her husband, especially if she has a common family name.
Also - As a 20something female who is a heavy Facebook user, I find myself more and more often confronted with status updates from women whose names with which I’m unfamiliar. Those old friends from high school are now called something else, which totally confuses me when I’m quickly looking around my Facebook network. I actually sort of increasingly despise these acquaintances for changing their names, for some reason. It’s like they abandon their old selves, or something.
I also hate that most of these women will create more confusion for me as they inevitably fumble around and end up changing how they list their last name. It’s just all too contrived.
But on the other hand, what happens to the children of women who don’t change their last names upon getting married? Does the child of Jane Smith and Doug Jones become Jennifer Smith-Jones? Maybe - but now Jennifer Smith-Jones is in a real bind if she wants to keep her hyphenated last name and have children with her future husband. Because if Jennifer Smith-Jones makes babies with Kameel Johnson, it would be somewhat absurd for the child to be Susan Smith-Jones-Johnson.
See? Not so clear cut.
I wonder if I have to know if I’m a feminist to use Web 2.0 to explore feminism…
As my current boss would say “This would be a great Ph.D topic”.
IF YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR: Enjoy!