If you read Feministing, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard of Melissa McEwan. More likely, you read her blog religiously. Melissa is the founder and editor-in-chief of Shakesville, an award-winning progressive feminist blog centered around US politics and culture. Originally named Shakespeare’s Sister, the blog was started in 2004 when “George Bush started pissing her off.” She writes about everything from race, politics, pop culture and, one of my personal favorites, fat positivity. She’s an inspirational writer and one of the main pioneers in the feminist blogging explosion that created blogs like the one you’re reading.
She is also a founder and editor at Flyover Feminism, and her work has appeared at The Guardian‘s “Comment is free” and AlterNet. Melissa graduated from Loyola University Chicago where she studied the political marginalization of gender-based groups. (It’s no wonder she’s such an amazing writer! Accordingly, I hope you forgive my inclination to ask her way more than five questions.)
She lives just outside Chicago with three cats, two dogs, and a Scotsman. In her spare time, she volunteers with local animal rescue.
And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Melissa McEwan. (Make sure to follow her on Twitter @Shakestweetz too!)
Anna Sterling: Tell me about your road to feminism. When did you begin identifying as feminist? How do you negotiate this identity on a day-to-day basis?
Melissa McEwan: I feel in some ways as though I’ve always been on the road to feminism. There are lots of little incidents I remember from my childhood where I was asking questions about gender inequality: Why weren’t women allowed to be pastors or elders at our church? Why could men run around without shirts on in the summer, but not women? That sort of thing. There was always this thread of discordance running through my life: I was being told that women and men were equal, and that I could do and be anything I wanted, but I kept bumping up against evidence that wasn’t true. I identified with feminism as soon as it entered my consciousness. It was like a light coming on. Yes, that’s what I am.
Feminism is more than an identity to me; it’s also my most valuable tool as I navigate a world that is hostile to women. It’s integral to my daily life—in my decision-making, in the way I relate to other people, in the way I view and value myself, in the way I respond to and process misogyny. I wouldn’t know how to live a life that isn’t feminist. I can’t extricate a feminist identity from the rest of myself. Which, of course, is not to say I live the model feminist life—not that I believe there’s one way to live feminism or womanism, anyway. There are times I am obliged to compromise my principles—although vanishingly fewer of them since I left corporate work!
AS: You were an integral part of the exploding feminist blogosphere before it was cool. What makes a feminist blog successful in the long-term?
MM: Any successful feminist blog probably has some magic combination of solid writing, prolificacy, a talent for teasing out and articulating ideas that we’ve all felt intuitively, good community-building, authors with thick skin, and a strong streak of irreverent humor. But there’s a lot of privilege in the feminist blogosphere, too. I am white; I am married to a man; I live in the US; I do not have any disabilities that significantly impede my ability to produce a traditional blog. These things are deeply and inextricably embedded in the success of Shakesville in ways I can’t even fully know.
Surviving heated attacks isn’t the hardest thing for me to navigate, personally. Attacks that are clearly made in bad faith are easy for me to ignore. The thing that’s the most difficult for me, which is a problem for lots of bloggers but is considered super uncool to talk about, is how dehumanizing this work can be—being treated like a content-generating machine, having your work vaguely attributed to the blog’s name rather than your name, being (rightly) held personally responsible for every idea and every image and every word in every post but then (wrongly) treated as if you don’t exist when reminders of your humanity make people uncomfortable, like when you remind readers you need to eat.
This dynamic is particularly pronounced in the feminist blogosphere, for all the reasons that “women’s work” is devalued elsewhere—like that it’s done primarily by women. Plus, there’s the added issue of the ubiquitous expectation that everything on the internet should be free.
AS: Your posts on size and fat-positivity are some of the most moving, persuasive and nuanced takes on this topic. When did you begin writing about this personal subject? Read More
Weekly Feminist Reader
“Homophobes in Marseille can p*** off!”
Melissa Harris-Perry’s open letter to Richard Mourdock is very powerful.
Meanwhile Garance Franke-Ruta puts Mourdock’s comments in historical context: “The idea that coerced reproduction is God’s will is of a piece with the belief that the subjection of women is God’s will.”
And RH Reality Check is running a series of stories from rape survivors.
“Physics is more difficult for girls,” says a male grad student, and other insights from interviews with scientists of both genders about women in the sciences.
Melissa Gira Grant argues that defining trafficking as forced sex work hinders help for victims of coerced labor of all kinds.
A sweet piece from Jim Behrle responding to a recent study that found men tend to be more attracted to their platonic female friends than vice versa.
“All too often, we treat discussions of gender in isolation, as if gender exists in a cultural vacuum.”
A single mother is challenging the Air Force’s policy of forbidding single parents from enlisting.
Why the “war on fat” is a scam to peddle drugs.
Jamilah Lemieux argues that the response to Sharmeka Moffitt’s case shows that too often the reaction to allegations of crimes against black people is one of distrust.
So turns out Roseanne Barr is super transphobic.: “You cannot call yourself a supporter of trans women and pimp the demonstrably false bathroom predator meme at the same time.”
Technology for the win! A simple stove means women in Darfur don’t have to spend as much time at risk of being raped when they’re collecting firewood.
Conservatives flip out over Lena Dunham’s Obama ad.
Surely you want to know what Rush Limbaugh believes is “insulting to women”? No? Are you sure?
The Feminist Texan explains all that is wrong with Caitlin Moran’s How to Be a Woman.
Mitt’s lady plan in flowchart form.
A Pennsylvania bill would reduce welfare benefits for women who cannot prove they were raped.
So you wanna be an Indian for Halloween? (Hint: Don’t)
What have you been reading/writing/watching/learning this week?