Julie Zeilinger -- creator and editor of FBomb, a feminist blog aimed at teens and young adults -- is currently an undergraduate at Barnard College. But term papers and finals haven’t stopped her from penning A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word, a readable and informative pop culture guide to feminism for a new generation.
What piqued your interest in feminism?
In middle school we had to write a speech about any topic of our choosing. I came across an article about female feticide, and that was the spark for me. These atrocities were being committed against women, and I thought, “I have to do something about this.” That’s when I started researching women’s rights and women’s issues. From there, I discovered Jezebel.com and Feministing.com. I thought they were great, but I wondered why there wasn’t something for younger women. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get a teenage perspective on all this?”
What does the book do that the blog doesn’t?
The great thing about the blog is that it runs on content provided by women from all over, on a diverse array of topics—it’s a community. The book focuses the blog by taking its ideas and condensing them into what feminism means for our generation, and hopefully defining it a little better.
How has your experience as an author differed from your experience as an editor on the blogosphere?
The blog is very interactive. As the editor, I learn so much from the contributors. It’s a cooperative effort. When I was writing the book, I had to apply my own experiences and formulate my own ideas, while still taking into consideration the collective ideas that had arisen on Fbomb.
What is one of your generation’s most pressing feminist issues?
I don’t really like prioritizing issues, but the one that tends to resonate the most with young women is body image. Feminism for our generation is a subtle struggle in a way that it wasn’t in the past. In the 1970s, there were concrete problems like, “I want this right; this is what I need to do to get it.” Today, issues like body image and sexual harassment might be a part of our daily lives, but we’re not sure how to name them; we’re not sure what to do with them. I think a lot of young women don’t see those things as feminist issues, and I think that’s what our generation has to grapple with: identifying those as feminist issues, and figuring out how to deal with them.
What’s next?
A lot of my attention is focused on this book, and there are no plans to change anything on the blog—I’m still editing that. The Conversation is a new TV show on Lifetime, and I’ve begun blogging for them. I also hope to do some speaking, travel a bit, and just get out there.
