Feminist blogs - recommendations wanted

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

We've had a lovely reading list thread for proper books, but what about online hangouts? I used to have a massive list but change of computers and just the tattered remnants are left.

To start off, my current favourites are:

Shakesville for constantly updated comments and campaigns about feminism, but also homophobia, racism etc.

The F-Word Blog for a UK and mainly young perspective, plus info on UK rallies and campaigns.

I Blame The Patriarchy for a bloody funny, radical perspective.

Tiger Beatdown for very funny comment on gender depictions in music and films, for the most part.

Also recommended Cruella-Blog the other day, written by a UK-based comedian.

More please!

Thanks for those links, Elephants. I follow I Blame the Patriarchy and occasionally look at The F-Word, but haven't seen the other ones.

Penny Red is another good one

Oh thanks Molesworth - can't believe I had forgotten about that, I know her(ish)!

I'm a big fan of www.pandagon.net which covers a lot of the same ground as shakesville (both U.S. based - but then, so am I at the moment!) but it's a bit snarkier in tone. It's a bit quiet at the moment as one of their main contributors (Amanda Marcotte) is away.

I also love the F-word, and www.mothersforwomenslib.com is a good u.k. based place for feminist mum links. Oh! And bluemilk.wordpress.com/, an Austrailian blog, has some lovely and thoughtful writing.

I'm not even a Mum yet, but me and DH are both feminists who want to be femnist parents, so I'm always interested in how other people are doing it.

Lots of the same ones mentioned; Shakesville, and Tiger Beatdown, and IBTP.

Also Hoyden About Town is an Australian blog, good on the nexus betwee feminism and disability rights.

Feministe, another American blog.

One of my all time favourites for consistently good writing and awesome commenters is Shapely Prose, which started as a Fat Acceptance blog with a feminist lean, and has moved more into straight feminism since. One of their writers, SnarkysMachine is black, and very good at calling out white privilege, so there's some nice intersectional stuff there.

I have never come across IBTP before. Look's great.

Thanks for other links too. Damn looks like I'm going to be even more distracted from work than usual today.

Thanks SO much dittany, blackcurrants, tortoise, LeninGrad & Beachcomber. Have had a quick look at most of them, and bookmarked to read properly later.

Found some old favourites through the links you sent: Vagina Dentata which is a feminist science blog, mainly. Good at debunking bad science, like this story about girls being "genetically afraid" of spiders based on, frankly, bugger all.

And there's [http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/ Echidne of the Snakes]] another US blogger and the first one I ever read. Embarrassingly I was actually looking for information on the animal of the same name

Echidne of the Snakes

I've recently bookmarked Fertile Feminism though I haven't yet read much on it.

I mainly read The F Word and newsletters from Object.

Feministing is meant to be good, though I havent read it myself.

thanks for the suggestions ladies, will check these out.

I find the F Word frustrating, in that it is consistently unsympathetic to women when it comes to the subject of breastfeeing. It really sticks in my craw to read the same ignorant remarks about breastfeeding women in a supposedly feminist blog as you would see in the likes of the Daily Mail.

Pandagon seems to be offline at the moment, not sure if it's temporary or what.

Haven't read Feministe but I have had a read of the recent posts on Feministing and thought it looked rather good actually. This piece in particular caught my eye - it's "about a woman in a marginalized and stigmatized profession doing the really hard work of standing up for her rights", but with added analysis of sexism in the media. Now, I haven't, in my brief reading of the blog, seen what dittany is referring to in terms of it being derogatory about feminists who don't support pornography / prostitution but I would say it looks like a worthwhile (US-centric) portal on gender, race, and trans issues.

I appreciate that dittany and I are almost certainly on different sides of this debate, and while I wouldn't want to kick off any massive flamewar on this (or to be derogatory myself), I did want to bring another viewpoint in case people were put off Feministing without reading it for themselves.

Vestal I didn't know that the F-word was bad on breastfeeding - how very disappointing. I like it because it brings things to my attention about feminism in the UK (I live in the USA now and am out of the loop) but I do think it has its biases, and it's certainly a young woman's blog. I think that's awesome - I wish I'd had access to it ten years ago - but I wonder if that's why it hasn't really exmained its position on Breastfeeding. Hmm. I'm just musing, and I'm interested. I'm going to search for their articles on it, and perhaps (hah! As a long-term project) consider writing one for them on Breastfeeding. I know they welcome contributions and suggestions for articles.

:D I call this a long-term project because although I'm pg I've not actually had a child yet, and although I'm hoping to bf it's a bit ahead of time.... but still, I'll be posting on here if anything ever comes of it!

Can I be really cheeky and suggest my blog? I have recently bit the bullet and entered the world of feminist blogging. I'm using a pseudonym for various professional reasons at the mo. I've name changed to post this, as some MNers know me in rl (you know who you are ) and I want to keep the blog separate for now.

I'm at franklyfeminist would love to see more MNers in the whole debate if I'm honest. Motherhood can often get sidelined in contemporary feminism.

Sorry for the shameless self promotion.

I've seen a couple of pro-breastfeeding articles on the F Word but also a couple of pretty anti-ones. I'm sure they could always do with more posts with real experiences (though like you blackcurrants I'm pg but not yet actually had a child!).

Didnt realise Feministing supported prostitution - withdraw the recommendation!

Have subscribed to your blog, FF

Oh wow frankfrankly, that looks really good.

Thanks to everyone who's suggested things.

Interesting that, Dittany, I had no idea. But then I seem to prefer the blogs with one or two authors rather than a panel, so have avoided feministing etc rather.

I just realised I mentioned this on another thread and not here: I really love the feminism 101 blog - I get to look things up, check that that's the phrasing/articulation I'm after, and ta-daaah! I look waaaay more erudite than I actually am!

This thread is great. So many new ideas. So little time.

Muslimah Media Watch

It's a media critique site run by Muslim feminists. If you want an alternative viewpoint to the media cliche, that's the place to go.

Racialicious is looks at race and pop culture with a feminist perspective.

I'm really not liking the policing I'm starting to see on this topic, about whether something is or isn't feminist. It's harmful to the movement, IMO.

To dismiss a site like Feministe, because they gasp have the occasional post written by a female sex worker, is just sad. I believe that all women are worth listening to, not just those who've read the right books.

Well, I read Feministe and used to read Pandagon (I stopped because I don't like Marcotte's attitude in other areas) but I don't think there's anything wrong with someone saying 'X is bad on this issue/contains a particular value set'.

It's not policing; no-one's checking your blog usage and meting out punishments. I don't align with dittany on the porn issue either (I don't think. But I would like a porn topic here i this section, if anyone's interested?) but if I did, I'd appreciate the warning. And I think it's relevant that all of the iggest mainstream American blogs take the same line on such a topic.

I don't believe all women are worth listening to, though, either. Phyllis Schaefly comes to mind.