In the recent year, as I’ve reflected on my experiences with owning and authoring a blog, I’ve frequently cited some of the major reasons I chose to launch Space, Place & Southern Grace. This semester, I have the privilege to investigate some of the reasons other women choose to blog, and how feminist discourse is being shared in this progressive, digital space. Through my independent study, I plan to highlight notable feminist works on my reading list, and hope to examine issues relevant to me as a young professional and college student with a critical lens over the next sixteen weeks. Each post in this series will also feature a blogger whose work I respect and include an explanation of why I believe her work is feminist.
To begin the series, I looked at two more formal studies that examined predictors for who is likely to become a blogger, and how this platform supports women’s identities and lifestyle choices. According to factors and an analysis of the Big Five Personality Test, individuals who are “high in openness to new experience and high in neuroticism are likely to be bloggers” (Guadagno, Okdie, Eno). Just for fun, I took the Big Five test and found that I am in fact very high in openness to new experience and agreeableness, although neuroticism was my lowest category. I can’t say with confidence that I believe a personality test that is quite subjective would be a fair indicator of who and why individuals start blogs, but I do think the study has significant merit for its investigation of anonymity associated with blogging. I think there is a serious concern from individuals close to me that I give away too many personal details on my blog, but that space – a virtual space which I have claimed as my own – is where I can share my voice, and I make no attempt to hide myself or my identities there to contribute to the transparency I maintain as a writer and feminist. Blogging provides a space for individuals to share as little or as much personal information they choose, but I have found that my rapport with readers and brands increases the more I integrate my personal life and experiences into the life and style posts I publish. In this way, blogging has become the middle ground of literature between nonfiction and fiction that can be conversational enough to appeal widely, but academic enough to be studied and analyzed.
While women are more likely to blog than men per study results, I have found a significant generational gap among bloggers and gendered lines that divide who is blogging and who is designing the blogs. Many companies identify blogging as a “millennial’s game”, yet I have found a surge of post-graduate bloggers, young mothers, and women over 45 as the majority of bloggers with who I have come into contact. After attending a blogging conference this summer, I have come to know numerous authors and freelance writers who have transitioned to the blogging world to control the platforms on which their work is showcased. In turn, blogs have become brands and businesses in themselves for some women, thus enabling these individuals to be self-employed and flexible in lifestyle (family, geography, technology, income, etc). Furthermore, while women of many generations are taking to blogging platforms to write, web design is still a male-dominated profession. I have to admit – my coding skills barely surpass what a middle schooler in the early 2000s needed to know to navigate MySpace, but I trust individuals on my network hosting sites (usually men) to keep my site running, free of glitches and bugs, and to design efficient and responsive templates. As blogging aesthetics change, I believe we will see a shift towards more women learning how to code their own sites to exercise greater authority over their content.
Noting these trends, it is most important to recognize that blogging is personal. Although there are predictors of who is likely to pursue blogging and patterns in age demographics, blogs give women the space to define feminism, their lives, and identities on their own terms. According to Anthea Taylor who has conducted research on blogging trends related to women’s relationship status, diversity in thought and freedom of design reinforces the “impossibility of a singular, authentic feminism” (Taylor). On Space, Place & Southern Grace, it is essential that my readers understand that there is no one universal truth or answer to any of the issues I discuss. I offer my utmost honest commentary on the issues I chose to highlight, and frequently must answer to backlash for revealing my personal opinions on my website when issues are socially or politically charged. Despite the criticism I’ve received, I’ve also had some of my most constructive commentary regarding my writing come from comments on my blog, and I have gained immense confidence by showcasing my work and opinions over the past three years. Through this independent study, I hope to reflect further on my experiences as a blogger, and to investigate the intersections of other feminisms present in the blogosphere.
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Blog Feature: Lush to Blush, Megan Elliott
Megan Elliott, founder of Lush to Blush blog
My first blogger feature is Megan Elliott, someone I came into contact with first through the Her Campus Blogger Network and then later became a loyal follower of her site and Instagram. In addition to having a beautifully organized blog with clean aesthetics and purposeful design, Megan co-founded Adorn Media Group to provide full service blog and media consultation to pair with her awesome designs. Megan identifies as a life and style blogger as I do, and makes a point to write about the issues and items that are most relevant to her proving her commitment to originality and personal style. Megan’s posts and outfits never feel forced or overdone, and her work is not only beautiful to look at, but to read as well. Snaps to Megan for creating a functional and progressive digital space in which young professional women can lead the world of web design.
