Taking It Personally

I love it when I write something and it gets a big reaction! A few weeks back I was asked to review the new "women's interest" website Jezebel and, to put it bluntly, it stank and I said so. You can see my review here on Cru-blog or over here on The F-Word who commissioned it. We had a ton of feedback, some here, some over on The F-Word (comments for the whole of May are compiled into one article so you will have to scroll down to find them) and most of all, I have just discovered, on Jezebel itself.

A lot of these comments are pretty obviously from workers at Jezebel and related sites and their set-up mates. Some even started with "I don't work for Jezebel but..." which methinks doth protest too much.

I've responded to the ones on here and the ones on the F-Word appropriately. They are mostly saying "But Jezebel is supposed to be funny", to which I can only say I find misogyny about as funny as, oooh, racism and homophobia, I look forward to their corresponding "hilarious" sites on those subjects.

The comments on Jezebel itself though are altogether different, much more in keeping with the theme and indeed quality of the site itself (Both F-Word editor Jess McCabe and myself would instantly remove comments that appeared to be personal attacks). Try these for size though:

"Could we get Ms. Smurthwaite a side of 'sense of humor' to go with that stick up her butt she's so clearly enjoying with gusto?"

"Feminism without a sense of humour is probably about as fun as sex with Smurfette."

"Did someone tell you you were ugly when you were little? Did the man in your life tell you to take yourself seriously? Still mad about missing that nosejob? Or was it the frustration of noting the lack of a size 12 at the Kate Moss Top Shop sample sale?"

"If your last name were Smurthwaite, wouldn't you be humorless and cranky too?"

"I keep reading it as Smurf-twat."

"Har dee har. Kate needs to get laid, that'll fix it"

"These UK feminists need some pokey."

So they claim to be if not a feminist site, at least a women-positive site and then they complain not about my writing or my points or my angle on their website, but with personal insults, the usual you're-ugly/ you-don't-get-laid-much/ you're-fat stuff. And brilliantly the definition of fat in their seriously messed-up world is a size 12...?!

There is also one post, which I won't repeat, which references Anne Heche and the mental breakdown she suffered after years of horrific abuse that I actually think is offensive to Ms Heche and to sufferers of mental health problems and childhood abuse everywhere.

Well good, I'm glad they don't like me complaining about them. They weren't supposed to. And just glancing over there now to see the headline "Angelina Jolie: A Jealous Bitch Just Like The Rest Of Us", I can't help thinking that if they want to confess to all being "jealous bitches", I won't bother stopping them this time...