The robust feminist blogosphere of 2016 is all but gone. Some of the creators are missing its perspective.
It was 2016, and the future was female.
Hillary Clinton was the first woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket, and readers browsing social media couldn’t get very far before encountering headlines like “Clinton’s Nomination: A Feminist Milestone?”, “Forget This ‘Hillary Is Unlikeable’ Stuff,” and “Day 2 of the DNC: A Reminder That Hillary Is a Woman.”
Feministing, DoubleX and Jezebel — the publishers of those stories — were part of a robust ecosystem of women-centric websites, where scores of writers reflected on the role of gender in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and what it would mean if Americans elected their first female president.
“We could pick apart every little thing,” said the author Nona Willis Aronowitz, who got her start as a feminist blogger in the 2000s. “We had this lens and a million people to talk to about it with.”
Eight years later, as another female nominee vies for the presidency, there are far fewer women’s outlets to meet the moment. Feministing, DoubleX, The Establishment, The Hairpin, Rookie and Broadly have folded. Some of the surviving women’s sites, like Bustle, don’t focus as much on politics as they once did, and others, like Jezebel, have new owners and shrunken staffs.
At the same time, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has downplayed her identity.
In the not-so-distant past, a candidate’s reluctance to talk about her gender might not have mattered to the often sardonic outlets affectionately known as “lady blogs.” If that cohort were around today, the feminist implications of Ms. Harris’s candidacy probably would have been debated in essays and comments at more than a dozen outlets, regardless of campaign messaging.