It's Nice To Be Heard.

SO…After sifting through like a bazillion blogs, I came to 2 significant realizations: 

1. All the blogs that covered body image/beauty just happened to be all about feminism. Therefore, the only logical thing to do was to yell in frustration—because I would never in a million years consider myself a feminist--go with the flow, and search for more feminist blogs. 

2. After reading said feminist blogs, the ones with a blunt and to some degree…just plain MEAN voice shining through were the ones that appealed to me the most.

I thought I found the perfect blog to profile when I came across Mean Feminism… Because Sometimes Feminists Aren’t Nice.  Vicious Vicky and Edith, the writers, had posts that were down right hilarious, such as “Why do nuns shave?” and “Being gay is not like being left-handed.” As entertaining as the posts were, I had a difficult time finding posts on the female perspective on body image or beauty. However, after searching through their “crushes," I found a blog that satisfied me… and what do you know?! It is our good friend Twisty Faster’s Blog, I Blame The Patriarchy. 

With each post I read, I fell more and more in love with her voice. Her writer's voice is casual, deadly ferocious with just the right amount of stinging sarcasm… I love it! No to worry though, despite her sassiness, she is still able to start out posts by including the reader and making them feel part of the "cool crew"—as seen in the first post that caught my attention: Scum: not the real enemy: 

“Sick of Beauty? Dang it, me too. That’s why I’m posting on it more or less nonstop.”

She makes the topic she is writing about relatable to her readers because… well, in all seriousness, who isn’t sick of talking about the meaning or definition of beauty, really? But, just when you think you are her equal and best friend, she reasserts her dominance as the writer by using provocative language, which completely blind-sides you as a reader. Her intimidating tone of voice is a way for her to make readers believe that she is a credible source, and at times, her voice makes her come off as a bully. She rarely ever eases up on the nasty voice in any of her posts, but...Hey! At the end of the day, it is her blog, and in this part of the internet, she is the all-knowing, all powerful feministe, Twisty!

“Dove called the models ‘real women.’ They were meant to appeal to potential dove butt-cream customers because the women were not the typical pubescent Slavic speedreak toothpick”

“Those 2004 Dove Models might have had a little meat on their bones, but the message was same shit, different day: ‘Hotness is king! Buy yours here!”

So angry…so mean… but from my point of view, her frustration and anger with yet another source of negative body image and feminine oppression becomes even more apparent with the cursing. Who doesn’t throw out a couple “shits” or f-bombs when they’re upset (or even just because they can)? Twisty is being REAL with us; her selective vocabulary and aggressive word choice makes me, as a reader, feel as if I am one of her many feminist friends that she so kindly included in the conversation—or in this case, rant. The candid, cut-throat, no-bullshit attitude of her writing is why we keep come back to her blog wanting more in the first place! So, why in God’s name would she stop now? 

In all fairness though, she is a bully to everyone--including herself. The vicious nature of her writing is for sure a way to maintain dominance, but it is also a way to poke fun at herself and others. She often refers to herself as "Spinster Aunt" throughout difference posts and post titles. From the sidelines, I think she does this to make fun of her nonexistent love life and show readers that she is so much of a feminist that she doesn't even need men in her life.
The second post I reviewed from Twisty’s blog was “Spinster aunt casts jaundiced eye at popular television show.” Just with the title, her sarcastic, opinionated voice is revealed, yet again. I have never in my life heard someone use the phrase “ to cast [a] jaundiced eye,” perhaps “an disapproving eye” but never “jaundiced eye.” Twisty’s extreme word choice provides an entertaining quality of each of her rants too. To enhance and highlight her word choice, she sometimes uses alliteration as well: "They Flying Fickle Finger of Fashion will fuck you up." Her knack with words and painfully witty personality shines through as she criticizes "moron misogynist[s]."

In comparison to the previous post, this one was oozing with more sarcasm. Literally one sarcastic, insulting blow after another directed toward the a link posted on sheknows.com about the “Mad Men sensation that’s sweeping the nation [that] has many sicko antifeminist repercussions.” She includes snip-its of the article written and subsequently follows with her mocking comments, such as:

“That’s right, the standards have shifted again! You can gain 15 pounds, but not an ounce more, and you must now find a way to be hot and healthy but without muscle tone. Good luck!” 

As for formatting, most of her posts are in paragraph format and quite long--like go-on-for-days long. However, Twisty admits that her posts are quite lengthy and wordy, but she’s quite content with it. So, if she's okay with it, we are okay with it! (Plus, who wants to argue with her about it anyways--that's just asking for punishment.) I believe that her choice to continue writing long posts is both to show that she has just so much to say and this blog is her way of getting her opinions and comments out into the world. When no one in your life will listen to you, there sure as hell is someone out there on the internet that will listen to you and love every word of it—reminding readers, once again, how opinionated she is—and to give the finger to critics such as the blogsphere.

With every post, I am still trying new things, testing out new words in order to find my voice—the perfect fit for my blog. By reading and following Twisty's example, I hope to (someday) write posts as fearlessly as she does. I want to command my audience without being haunted by the worry of readers hating what I have to say or how I say it.

Feminist Fact of the day on "shitty shit that beauty does": "It infantilizes women, transforming them form humans into morons who seek baby-soft skin"