In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

evil fizz

I was poking around Slate.com earlier and noticed a curious “line of the day”

See it right there in the middle there? “The top searches that begin with ‘my girlfriend is’: a bitch, pregnant, crazy, hot, fat, depressed, getting fat.” What’s the article about you might ask? The Google toolbar and Google Suggest, Google’s feature where you begin typing in your search and it gives you completion suggestions.

So we have an article which is about understanding what people are looking for and we illustrate it with a healthy dose of misogyny. Now, in fairness, the “my boyfriend is” searches aren’t all that flattering (an asshole, an alcoholic, depressed, mean, married, hot.) Neither are the ones about “my mom is”, although by far the creepiest to me is “my mom is hot”. But neither of these are the quote of the day. Instead of highlighting the novel or weird search terms, Slate opts for calling attention to the stuff that makes my skin crawl.

There’s nothing inherently vile about the search terms. They’re perfectly civil (mostly) on their face, but the implications are nauseating. “My girlfriend is getting fat” leads to pages which encourage you, either in the alternative or in combination, to belittle your significant other, try and control her food intake, take her hiking and to other activities, or to buy her clothes a size too small as a hint. “My girlfriend is a bitch” leads you to charming testimonials from men who are eager to agree.

A lot of the time, misogyny is frighteningly mundane and unremarked upon. At the same time, calling attention to it here feel weird somehow; that Slate is letting its male readers know that yes, other men are just like you. I’m not necessarily convinced of this interpretation, but the quote in question doesn’t come until the 12th paragraph in and on the second page. If you’re like me and *hate* Slate’s decision to go to multi-page posts, you’d miss it if you couldn’t be bothered to click through. Is it new that men will call their girlfriends bitches? Or think they’re crazy? The author isn’t even pointing out any implications the fact that these are the top suggestions, which leads me to feel more like a validation that I think is necessary. [Front-paging the quote, that is, not including the example.]

Google suggest also tells you more about the depressing state of -isms and -phobias than you’d probably care to know. In the interests of science, I also played around with it for a few minutes. Begin a search for “Mexicans are…” and the top three responses are stupid, dirty, and dumb. “Gays are” suggests evil, bad, and disgusting. “Women are” gives you evil, from Venus, and (not third, but still my favorite) like tea bags*. And there is a reason that there are no longer any suggestions at all for “blacks are”. Tells you great things about your average Google user, huh?

*This is a reference to Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous remark that a woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water. (I’d not heard this line before and sat here thinking “Women steep and produce yummy liquid goodness? Who knew?”)

20 thoughts on I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

  2. That Eleanor Roosevelt line is awesome! I’d never heard it before.

    I’ve never noticed the weirdness of google search before. Ick. It does remind me, though — if anyone’s interested in more earth-friendly internet searching, try http://www.blackle.com. It’s like google, only the primarily black screen saves energy.

  3. The Google Toolbar can also be a handy tool for teasing out sexual politics. Strip out the movie and song titles, and these are the top searches that begin with “my girlfriend is”: a bitch, pregnant, crazy, hot, fat, depressed, getting fat.

    Speaking of sexual politics, they conveniently didn’t mention that the “movie title” that they stripped out as the #4 result is “my girlfriend is my boyfriend,” predictably a trans-exploitative porn movie. Now that certainly tells you SOMETHING about the origins of the search results, I guess.

    Did you ever see the search results that were leaked out by AOL in that big fiasco a year ago? There was some truly horrifying stuff in there, and you didn’t even have to look very far. It was like being on the other side of a plastic window in a sewer, watching the horrific mental processes of thousands of AOL users filled with racist hatred against their neighbors, looking for all sorts of degrading porn, plotting to kill family members, etc.

  6. Is this all that feminists have left to fight against?

    Yes. This is the only thing we ever talk about on this site.

    But thank you for so delightfully illustrating what a ‘concern troll’ is.

  7. no problem.

    I am studying feminism, and trying to get the big picture, but on most feminist sites articles like this are what I see. Being all the important issues have been cleared up in the last decades and men and woman are treated equal, is this all that is left? Enlighten me.

  9. I’
    In the perfect world (or at least the world in the feminist’s ideal), how would that website read? What would the quote of the day be? What do you think controls the quote of the day? What is the purpose of the quote of the day? I would say the quote of the day is either random or it is based on common searches. Both “my boyfriend is” and “my girlfriend is” are similar, both are what real people are typing, and both are absolutely expected based on the nature of people. In any of those cases where is the inequality?

  10. I’m pretty sure evil fizz talked about that in the post, Surix.

    Before you get into discussions like this, may I refer you to this blog? If you are really “doing research,” then you should get your basics down before pestering us with willfully ignorant questions.

  11. I will check out that blog.

    But my questions were not covered in the post. My questions are because it seems feminism is almost conspiracy theory in that it is trying to reform society by pointing out examples of injustice when society is inherently unjust in all respects equally. Just as much against men as against women (and just as much against “insert race” as against “insert race”). Follow some of the links for “my boyfriend is” and you will see that they are just as degrading.

  12. Surix, the entire point of the post was that Slate chose to use the “my girlfriend is…” bit as their ‘line of the day’ and not the ‘my boyfriend is…’ bit.

    But that’s besides the point. For you to act like things like this are all the feminists of this site talk about (and yes, that can be a valid criticism of some kinds of feminism. Many women of color often feel as though the concerns of particular branches of mainstream feminism deal with what annoys rich white ladies and ignores the problems they are facing – feminism is not a monolith) is to be willfully ignorant. If you look at the sidebar, you will see posts in categories including poverty, Africa, health, parenthood, and whatnot.

    So, before you start warning us not to waste our outrage, maybe you better take better appraisal of what we’re actually outraged about.

  13. My response (stated in my post above) was that slate would not take the time to manually choose a line of the day everyday. It is most likely either completely random, or chosen by an algorithm that chooses common searches. If in fact it was deliberately chosen, it is because Slate decided that more men would be reading that website than women, so naturally it would be better for the website to choose that one. That is just good business and i doubt good business is what feminism is fighting.

    Secondly, I am not warning of anything, I am asking why it is an issue related to feminism.

    Thirdly, you are literally outraged by Slate?
    The only reason I can see for that is because you are trying to reform human nature from being dissatisfied from their mate (which is perfectly natural) and are outraged at slate for not sharing your moral fervor.

    Surely the reason i can see cannot be the truth, so i am just asking for the real reason.

  14. Surix, I could have sworn that I told you that you were not welcome to comment on my threads any longer.

    Slate has a consistent tendency to pick the most salacious lines for quotes of the day, regardless of what they have to do with the actual article. It’s an advertising mechanism. My entire point is not that this is outrageous, just that it’s yet another way that misogyny shows up in little ways.

  15. I am not trolling or flaming, I am just learning about feminism. And I am suggesting that there is no trace of misogyny here. Why would you accuse a website of hating you? The website is trying to make money and couldn’t care less about you or about me. What do you really want of Slate?

  16. I am not trolling or flaming, I am just learning about feminism.

    HAHAHAHAHAHA. Are you serious? Learning about feminism does *not* entail coming onto feminist blogs and talking about how we all must be a group of angry, bitter women who’ve been wronged by men. Nor does it entail lecturing us about what the proper focus of feminism is or how whatever we’re commenting on isn’t sufficiently imperative for you.

    And I am suggesting that there is no trace of misogyny here. Why would you accuse a website of hating you? The website is trying to make money and couldn’t care less about you or about me. What do you really want of Slate?

    I accused a website of hating me? Where? Because accusing an inanimate object of hating me is ridiculous. The editors (or webmasters or whoever makes the relevant editorial decision here) are the object of my frustration. They’ve chosen to front page a quote which highlights misogyny. Now, you can think about their decision to do so in any number of ways. A) They are validating things other men are thinking or B) They think it’s sufficiently inflammatory that people will click through to the article and drive up their traffic.

    Frankly, I don’t care which it is.

    Now, for the third time, I am going to ask you to stop commenting on my posts. Further comments will be deleted without response. We clear?

  17. “HAHAHAHAHAHA. Are you serious? Learning about feminism does *not* entail coming onto feminist blogs and talking about how we all must be a group of angry, bitter women who’ve been wronged by men. Nor does it entail lecturing us about what the proper focus of feminism is or how whatever we’re commenting on isn’t sufficiently imperative for you.”

    Just show me where in my posts that I was being aggressive or condescending. They are just my honest interpretations, which I give in hopes that they invoke an intelligent response/counter argument that gives me insight into the ideas of a real-world feminist.

    And what does learning about feminism entail? Closing my eyes and plugging my nose and just chewing it all down? Hardly. I’d just throw it up again if I took that approach. I am being very respectful of the real feminists here, but not the spiteful “I am a victim” ones.

  18. Just show me where in my posts that I was being aggressive or condescending.

    You mean the part where you actually *said* “I get the feeling from the tone of things that a lot of these woman have really been hurt by a man and as a result fancy that they are oppressed as a gender”? Or where you said another poster had to be mentally ill to espouse the positions she held? Or where you pontificated about the fact that paternal consent was okay because it was necessary to protect the baby? (Note, not a fetus, a baby.)

    They are just my honest interpretations, which I give in hopes that they invoke an intelligent response/counter argument that gives me insight into the ideas of a real-world feminist.

    Neither I nor the commenters are your monkey. If you want to pose actual questions rather than joust with strawfeminists, people may choose to entertain your inquiries. Otherwise, you can do some homework: Wikipedia on feminism, an essay about identifying as a feminist Yes, You Are, the wonderful blog Finally Feminism 101, and a fabulous linkfest Feminism for Beginners.

    And what does learning about feminism entail? Closing my eyes and plugging my nose and just chewing it all down? Hardly. I’d just throw it up again if I took that approach.

    It’s called reading. Processing. Reading some more. Asking some thoughtful questions about what you don’t understand. Resisting the urge to whine about how there’s victim feminists and good feminists.

    I am being very respectful of the real feminists here, but not the spiteful “I am a victim” ones.

    You know that condescending thing you were asking about? This would be it. You’re not the damn arbiter of who’s a real feminist and who isn’t when you don’t even know what a feminist of any kind is.

    Now, for the last damn time: you’re not welcome on my threads.

  19. “an essay about identifying as a feminist Yes, You Are,” By that article almost everyone in America would be considered a feminist. Myself included. And I have researched, including the feminism 101 blog. As a feminist, I would just like to say thank you for your insights into the issues of our time you have painted a good picture for me. These really are tough times, but I know we can all pull through. Someday websites like slate wont be able to get away with this. I will respect your wishes and not post on threads started by you.

  20. Surix…

    “These really are tough times, but I know we can all pull through.” One of the greatest problems that feminism addresses and the point that MOST of the major issues that we discuss makes perfectly clear is that actually, no. Many of us don’t pull through; and it’s a global problem. Misogyny is social violence that takes physical form and has a body count. Even the terminology of rape, incest and abuse makes the issue rampantly clear…They call people survivors because some people -aren’t-. If you have indeed been doing any sort of responsible sociolgical or anthropological research then you would be aware of that glaring fact. I am assuming at this point that you are ignorant instead of malicious. Most people don’t let themselves look that unintelligent in public on purpose.

    I really don’t have any respect for academic or intellectual dilletantism, and have yet to find anything in your responses that seem to indicate any introspection, intellectual curiosity or fruitful conclusions. I deduce this from your hackneyed behaviour of baiting with frequently asked questions and platitudes. Using these responses when, say, faced with the Iraq war…”These are really tough times but I know we can all pull through” would be understood as unnacceptable to anyone with an above-aspergers social awareness who had bothered to put thought into communicating with a group that they respected at all. It is an ignorant and offensive statement, as well as being clearly incorrect.

    There are times when ignorance and benign neglect are liabilities, as any responsible social researcher knows. There are specific guidelines for behaviour before entering and interacting with a culture that you are (as you admit) ignorant of. Neglecting to research these protocols when you are interested in REAL research is tacitly rude and insulting.

    Different groups from your own do not exist simply for your curiosity. This is not a zoo, there are no bars, you are not protected from your own lack of preparation save by the inherent rules of civility that we employ here. We don’t owe you an education. I think that we have made it utterly clear that we find your questions and assumptions sphomoric and offensive. If you’d done this in an arena that required academic responsibility, you would deserve the humiliation that you’d get from the community of professionals who know how to do it correctly, if only by the potential of damaging the society that you were ‘investigating’.

Comments are currently closed.