BlogHer Topic - Bloggers in the News - Editor's Picks

How the Internet and Teen Bloggers Are Shaping the Women's Movement for the Better

Mona Gable — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

[Editor’s note: Some of us older feminists--ok me--sometimes find this whole social media world foreign and even impersonal. But one of my favorite blogs is the Fbomb founded by teen Julie Zeilinger. Not only has it become a thriving space for young feminist bloggers, but it has also changed how feminists are organizing and finding each other. As Julie recalls in a wonderfully insightful post at Womensenews, it was her online encounter with an isolated young Muslim woman that inspired her to become a feminist.—Mona]

Discovering female feticide and infanticide was what first got me involved in feminism. The fact that such atrocities could not only be committed, but also be so common, such an accepted part of other cultures, that was what lit the fire within me. But even though what I found in all my research and reading on the subjects made me irate, it was still something I only read about. It wasn't something I could see or feel. Only later, when I was connecting with actual girls abroad via my feminist blog the FBomb, did the adversity that women face on a global level become truly tangible.

How did you become interested in women's issues?

Credit Image: greenmelinda on Flickr

Suing Southwest: Blogger Takes Customer of Size Policy to Court

Rita Arens — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:35:24 +0000

Last year, Kenlie at All the Weigh wrote about how she was humiliated by a Southwest Airlines representative regarding her weight and their customer of size policy. Allegedly she has been asked to buy two tickets sometimes, but not others, and the situation seems to be determined by a gate agents' eyeballs rather than anything concrete that Kenlie can follow. And that's precisely her gripe. So she's suing Southwest.

Kenlie explains she's not looking for money and is simply trying to get Southwest to clarify their policy:

The problem I have with Southwest is not that they may want me to purchase two seats. It’s that sometimes they want that, and other times they don’t. I don’t know about you, but I fly a lot. And paying double because a gate agent may or may not have something against overweight people is not realistic ... nor should it be necessary.

Can you believe this is still going on? Read the rest on Kenlie's blog.

Credit Image: Robert S. Donovan on Flickr

Census (and Bloggers) Show Increase in Mixed-Race Marriages, Babies

Grace Hwang Lynch — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:31:09 +0000

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released new statistics on mixed-race families based on the 2010 survey, prompting several news articles about the rise in interracial families. First comes a piece from USA Today reporting that interracial marriages in the country is at an all-time high, with one in ten married couples have partners of different races. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nationwide, mixed-race marriages have increased by 28% in the past decade. Western states, such as California (12.8%), Nevada (13.3%), Washington (10.9%) lead the way. Surprisingly, the highest rate of interracial marriage is in Oklahoma, where 17.2% of unions are to a spouse of a different race.

Image Credit: US Census Bureau

Not surprisingly, there are also more mixed-race babies being born, according to a story from the Washington Post. Notably, the number of children born to Asian and white couples almost doubled, as it did for white and black couples.

But the most interesting part of it all? Both newspaper articles quoted bloggers who write specifically about their interracial families, with BlogHer Christelyn Karazin of Beyond Black and White being interviewed for the USA Today article, and Thien-Kim Lam of I'm Not the Nanny quoted in the Washington Post. You see, the Census data only confirms what we already know: there is a growing community of people with mixed-race marriages and families, yet even though these relationships are increasingly common, they are not without their challenges.

I've been spending the past few days at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's America Healing conference in New Orleans, with hundreds of racial equity leaders from different demographic groups. This morning, Dr. Manuel Pastor, Professor of American studies and Ethnicity at USC, talked about changing the narrative of race in this country. And how for the next generation, it's going to change dramatically from their parents' and grandparents' generations. Race in America is not something that can be summed up in one discussion, one article, or even a book. Racial identity -- and especially when it comes to multiracials -- is not monolithic.

In the USA Today article, Karazin attributes the rise in interracial marriages to the Internet, saying she and her husband "would never have met" otherwise. If it weren't for the Internet, we wouldn't be hearing about stories such as Thien-Kim's or Christelyn's. When I started HapaMama in 2008, I couldn't find much information or on line support for parents of mixed-race kids. Now, the community has grown to include many blogs each telling their unique stories about their mixed marriages or multiracial children, and it keeps growing. Together, these make up the narratives of our generation and our children's generation.

For more data about interracial couples (including married, unmarried and same-sex) on the interracial married couplesUnited States Census Bureau website.

Race and Ethnicity Section Editor Grace Hwang Lynch blogs at HapaMama and A Year (Almost) Without Shopping.

I Talked to The Bloggess: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened Without a Confidence Wig

Rita Arens — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:22:08 +0000

Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess) has entertained us for years with her eclectic sense of humor and her commitment to the community via The Traveling Red Dress Project. Her accidental philanthropy shows her heart is bigger than her metal chicken. I was so excited to hear Jenny's memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, is out this month. I've grown to know Jenny over the past few years via blogging, and I've never met anyone quite like her -- raw, loving, brave and crazy like a fox.

I got my hands on an advance review copy and started laughing somewhere around page two. While there are a few excerpts I've read online, I'd say 80 percent of the memoir is new material and just as funny, fascinating and heartbreakingly honest as the Jenny you read at The Bloggess, confidence wigs and all.

BlogHer: I loved how you sprinkled comments from your editor throughout your memoir. How many of them were based on real conversations?

Jenny Lawson: About half of them; although, when I say “editor,” it could mean editor, agent, publicity.

BlogHer: Who are your favorite authors?

Jenny Lawson: I have too many to name, as I read voraciously, but these are a few of my favorites:

Neil Gaiman
Ray Bradbury
Dorothy Parker
Hunter S. Thompson
David Sedaris
Augusten Burroughs

BlogHer: What are the ingredients in a Wine Slushie?

Jenny Lawson If I have money, it’s a snow cone topped with Chambord. If I don’t, it’s a Smirnoff poured over crushed ice with a hint of cherry cough syrup.

BlogHer: Do you think cats really leave dead animals at your feet because they think you’re too dumb to learn to hunt?

Jenny Lawson: Totally. My cats know me better than the rest of the world does.

BlogHer: Which room of which dollhouse is your favorite?

Jenny Lawson: The attic. Just like in real life, it’s the place where all the extra crap goes, and so it’s almost like it made itself. It’s a lot like my own attic, except it’s filled with haunted mirrors and dragons and broken crystal balls and dead bodies. My own attic is only filled with one of those. I’m not going to say which one.

BlogHer: Our daughters are the same age. When are you going to let Hailey get her own blog?

Jenny Lawson: She wants one, but I’m making her wait until she’s eighteen. Or thirty-six.

BlogHer: Which part of your memoir isn’t true but you wish it were?

Jenny Lawson: The part where I say that I only set the oven on fire once.

BlogHer: Do you still have the baby-raccoon Jams?

Jenny Lawson: Sadly, I no longer have the baby raccoon, or his magical Jams. It’s just like Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.”

BlogHer: Which part of the day do you love the best?

Jenny Lawson: Happy hour . . . which is the time I get to spend with my daughter every night. Drinking time is also a nice part of my day, but it’s not mandatory, unlike my Hailey time.

BlogHer: Which part of this publishing trip was your favorite?

Jenny Lawson: Bringing a dead mouse to New York in order to have his photo shoot for the cover of the book. It was insane. And awesome. The guy sitting next to me on the plane would only agree with that first part.

Laura Mayes, me and Jenny Lawson hiding in the fake bathroom at The People's Party, BlogHer '11. Who else gets a fake bathroom? For real?

Have you guys read the book yet? What did you think?

Rita Arens authors Surrender, Dorothy and is the editor of the award-winning parenting anthology Sleep is for the Weak. She is the senior editor for BlogHer.com.

BlogHer Topic - Bloggers in the News - Editor's Picks

How the Internet and Teen Bloggers Are Shaping the Women's Movement for the Better

Read more from Teen Blogger: Feminism's Future Is Online at Womensenews

Suing Southwest: Blogger Takes Customer of Size Policy to Court

Read more from The Law Suit at All the Weigh

Census (and Bloggers) Show Increase in Mixed-Race Marriages, Babies

I Talked to The Bloggess: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened Without a Confidence Wig