I really don't care about Katy Perry. Really.

October 26, 2010 1:50 PM

Alternatives to Jezebel.com? Blogs "for women" that aren't awful?

I used to enjoy reading Jezebel.com when the site first launched. However, it's been in steady decline since...well...since it launched. Recently, with what amounts to censorship of comments by moving those that are "off message" to a "complaints" page and the general mean direction the snark has taken, I've kind of decided I can't stand reading it anymore.

Things I love about Jezebel: fashion, beauty tips, general relatable complaining, occasional outrage-heavy news, Project Runway and Mad Men recaps, some snark, some humor, cute kitties, etc. Sometimes Jez still has cool shit that surprises me: this week there was a "History of Rosie the Riveter" post. Neat!

Things I can't stand about Jezebel: mean-spiritedness, overzealous comment modding, tabloid gossip, stuff clearly designed to get hits cheaply (the Duke Fuck List Powerpoint is exactly the kind of crap I'm tired of seeing).

I subscribe to stuff like Feministing and Pandagon in my reader, but I get exhausted by all the negativity and outrage I'm expected to feel. I also subscribe to a lot of individual fashion and beauty blogs too. You don't get a lot of in-depth, interesting, unexpected stuff on blogs like those.

So are there any blogs that replicate Jezebel's general content without the bad vibes? I can't be the only person sad about my once guilty pleasure turning into everything it was supposed to mock, right?

posted by anonymous to Grab Bag (17 answers total)

Zelda Lily?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:55 PM on October 26, 2010

Project Rungay has everything but outrage-heavy news and cute kitties (and beauty tips), which is fine by me. I don't think you'll find a perfect analogue in one place - otherwise Jezebel wouldn't have had a niche to fill.
posted by muddgirl at 1:57 PM on October 26, 2010 [7 favorites]

I like Tigerbeatdown a lot.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 2:02 PM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

The Hairpin?
posted by dolface at 2:03 PM on October 26, 2010 [5 favorites]

The Park Bench for your more nerdy aspirations.
posted by mewithoutyou at 2:14 PM on October 26, 2010

The XX Factor at Slate has its moments. The PopSugar empire might have something fluffy-entertaining for you. There are tons of hilarious celebrity/recap blogs out there too. Two quick shopping links:
- Mighty Goods
- Outblush
posted by barnone at 2:22 PM on October 26, 2010

Vulture (New York Magazine's culture blog) has good television recaps and some other fun snarky pop-culture stuff.
posted by oinopaponton at 2:23 PM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's not a blog, but some of the female-oriented sub-Reddits may have interesting links and discussions. Start with /TwoXChromosomes, and if you like it, there is a sidebar with more links.
posted by thewittyname at 2:32 PM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

The Hathor Legacy is a feminist blog that's more interested in being thoughtful than being outraged.

I'd also heartily second Project Rungay. I don't always agree with them, but their posts make excellent and interesting reading.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 2:53 PM on October 26, 2010

Seconding The Hairpin (it started up a few days ago and is touted as The Awl for women, though I didn't know The Awl wasn't for women) and adding Salon's Broadsheet, which has some of the politics of Feministing but with less.... feministing. I love feministing but yeah, I know what you mean.
posted by zoomorphic at 3:19 PM on October 26, 2010

Agree wholeheartedly about Jezebel's decline.

I read TigerBeatdown if I want the feminist articles. I read The Awl for tv, media, politics, and culture. (Though not girl-focused.) I like The Glamourai for fashion. The Hairpin sounds awesome too!
posted by blackcatcuriouser at 3:36 PM on October 26, 2010

I'm not sure if this is exactly right, but I do like to read The Gloss on occasion. I liked it more when I began reading it, but I thought I'd put it out there. It's still fun most of the time, though not very much commenting going on which I really prefer in a blog.
posted by R a c h e l at 4:50 PM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel your pain and was excited to see The Hairpin launch (already mentioned upthread), sister site of The Awl. I just read Jezebel for the Dirtbag (most of which I can get from dlisted), the rest just drives me insane.
posted by poissonrouge at 5:52 PM on October 26, 2010

The Curvature is good for outrage-heavy bits treated well.
posted by CrystalDave at 5:59 PM on October 26, 2010

I know how you feel and I cope by visiting a variety of sites to cobble together what I'm interested in:

-This isn't a blog either, but the website for Venus Zine is full of fun features on cool women in fashion, music, and art.
-Ditto for the website for Bust Magazine. Plenty of pop-friendly feminism and humor served with the outrage.
-Then mostly on the fashion end of things, I like the blogs Cali Vintage and All This Happiness.
-And, the online magazine N.E.E.T. comes out quarterly with lots of fashion and crafty content.
-Finally, we're both too old for it, but one of my high school interns suggested The F Bomb to me. It's intended for teen feminists, but they have have a lengthy list of links that is worth checking out.
posted by pinetree at 6:01 PM on October 26, 2010

lemondrop.com
posted by luckyme793 at 8:38 PM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm glad you asked this - I have it in my RSS but a lot of it is celebrity stuff about US celebs which doesn't interest me.

It's primarily a make-up blog, but I do like Lipsticks and Lightsabres - Anastasia is very very funny and also a geek gamer girl.

There's also theladiesloos community on Livejournal, if you do Livejournal. And I wish Glossed Over was updated more often.
posted by mippy at 9:25 AM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]