Small Strokes Big Oaks

Bio
Hi! I’m Esmeralda Tijhoff, a 28 year old woman from an average city, Groningen, in the Netherlands. I’ve studied history at the university of Groningen and specialized in women’s history and genderstudies at the University of Utrecht. Since my main interest is doing research, I have started my own company after I completed my studies. Having my own business provides me with the time and the flexibility to devote one or two days a week to historical research and scientific conferences.

My company is called Fonkel. I design and program websites and web applications. I also write articles and all kinds of texts for promotions. Since February 2009, I’ve been appointed lecturer at the University of Groningen. I’m also an editor of the Dutch feminist magazine LOVER. I write and edit articles for the printed magazine. I also blog for them on http://www.tijdschriftlover.nl. Other blog of mine are a bit scattered around on the internet. Some English blogs can be found on http://feministvisionsforeurope.blogspot.com.

1. Define the online feminist blogging community.
The feminist blogging community on the internet in my view is a scattered community. We have platforms to discuss topics with each other, like the European Feminist Forum, but our blogs are more imbedded in our own local online community and not so much in a brother feminist community made up by feminists. This is the case for almost every personal blog by a feminist.

The blogs on the webpages of feminist organizations are a bit more incorporated in a ‘feminist online world’ since these blogs are read and commented on by mostly feminist readers. These blogs thus become a news portal for feminist viewpoints and news. The exchange of news, opinions and analyses by these blogs, and in a lesser extent the personal blogs, have strengthened feminists and girls worldwide.

As a journalist, I am always very happy to read the blogs of feminist organizations. They provide me with inside information and a lot of useful quotes to share with my own audience. Therefore, the presence of a blog makes it more likely for an organization or group to be mentioned in an article.

As a feminist, I love to read and recognize other feminists out there. It can be quite lonesome to be an outspoken feminist in this world. A blog full of humor does not only give me the necessary smile and happiness, but it can also provide my not-yet-feminist-audience on communities like Twitter a nice introduction into controversial topics.

I’ve been a writer for quite some time. From 2001 on, I’ve build my own feminist websites and provided them with content, filling them with pictures, photo’s, articles and columns, now called ‘blogs’. These sites were set up out of need to share and reach out to other people. The sites have strengthened local and national feminist initiatives and generated a lot of (media) attention.

At the moment, I use my blogging, twittering and online commenting as a tool to ‘spread the feminist word’ and inform other women about today’s initiatives. In the process, I’ve met some great other feminists, and I have learned the differences between feminists, especially between Dutch and Spanish and East-European feminists, or between West-European and American feminists. We are all so different! We use different styles and theories, we even have different short term goals, although in the long run, we all seem to agree on some basic issues.

2. Tell me about how you came to be a blogger.
In the early days of internet, I started dumping provocative texts on websites that provided an opportunity to react. Around 2001, I learned to build my own websites and used this knowledge to set up websites in order to collect and share feminist articles and articles about women’s history. I also published columns about gender and equality on these sites. I felt a strong urge and need to discuss sexism in society. Internet seemed to be the best place to reach out to as many people as possible. The information needed to be made available, and I wanted to help doing so. One of my websites for example contained information about upcoming events, feminist organizations and were to find them, opening hours and addresses of gay bars, booklists about women’s history, women’s activism, women and religion, gender theories etc. I put a lot of my own articles and columns online and as much articles of others I could get permission for. These websites are now no longer online.

3. Tell me about your blogging experience now.
I still blog and write for the same reasons: ‘convert’ people to feminism, and building a strong feminist platform. Nowadays, I blog about feminist music, or girls in DIY bands, I respond to already available news and I collect ‘new’ news and give an gender analysis on these issues. I started blogging about music because I’m the guitarplayer in a women’s band and I think women’s presence in music, loud music like punk or hardcore, is still too limited.

4. Tell me about a time you were misread or misunderstood on your blog.
A couple of years ago, I posted a blog about abortion. I used some provocative words, because I think the subject is very disturbing for a women and should not be put aside using small words, or belittling notion. My statement that a women’s body can be occupied by a cell that’s growing without permission, got me some hateful comments. My point about pregnancy being not always a woman’s own choice, was misread as an excuse for women to be ‘slutty’ and kill the consequences in order to keep their own selfish way of life.

I was not so much surprised by this reaction, since abortion is a subject that’s almost always a reason for disagreement. I was surprised by the tone, and the lack of reflection and the impossibility to have an intelligent discussion on the internet. Besides this, I was surprised by the sometimes conservative reactions by leftwing people, like Marxists and socialists. I thought they would understand the need for self determination, but they sometimes cared more about ‘the unborn child’ than about the mothers life!

The most misreading happens on forums however. I also support a Take Back The Streets action, called Witchnight. Of course, there is a lot of misreading due to the name. People who misread the blogs, comments on forums and website, think we are a group of witches. They don’t think about a feminist action, because in the Netherlands, there are almost no groups calling themselves feminist. It is much more likely that we are witches then feminists. This has led to disturbing and also funny comments, boycotts and actions against our graffiti. This does frustrate me sometimes, but it also gives much possibilities for media attention, like: “Christian action against feminist demonstration”. When people react in such a way on forums, it provides us with the room to explain more about feminist action. In this way, we have stumbled upon some weird forums were our group was discussed.

5. Describe your process of writing online.
My routine for writing online pieces is not so different from my ‘offline’ writing. I just keep thing shorter and use a lot more satirical or ‘fun’ comments to keep the readers on my webpage.

An article is in average 1500 words, a blog about 500 words. So if I write a blog, I will cut down far more. I also try to give my message in the first 300 words, using the last 200 for the background information. People don’t read everything in a blog, they just scan it. If they like the first two sentences, they might read the first 300 words. If they like that, they will attempt to finish the whole piece.

The older women however, print the blog and read it as an article! So if I write for an audience of 30+, I tend to keep the blog at a maximum of 1000 words. Besides this, I always, always post a picture with a blog. An article can attract readers with a good title, a blog must have a picture.

6. Describe your online reading habits.
Thanks to Twitter, I have gained excess to a whole lot more of interesting blogs! Feminist bloggers tweet about their new posts, and even tell me were interesting posts of others are. I have read so many interesting blogs due to these wonderful people on Twitter! Before Twitter existed, I used Google to find articles and blogs about topics. Later on, I could filter my search by selecting ‘blogs’ in Google. I’ve bookmarked some of the feminist web pages that provide blogs regularly. Now I just look into Twitter and use the search function there! This direct contact between feminists gave me an awareness of the very existence of a feminist community online. Internet is no longer just a news provider, but also a communication tool for people who identify on the same level.

You can follow Esmeralda on Twitter at http://twitter.com/esmoves.
For more information on the Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community project, and to see all of the interviews, click here.  Have something to add?  Comment or e-mail me at smallstroke (at) gmail (dot) com.