“Refinery29 combines lifestyle content (fashion, skincare, diaries, work
advice) with inspirational feminist sentiment and an embrace of queer
identities. It also eases up the boundaries of journalism so that the lucrative world of marketing and PR and branding can seep in at the edges. The combination sits uneasily. The “MyIdentity” section, for example, currently leads with an article titled “How Fashion Helps These 3 People Express Pride [Paid Content].”
It’s an ad for H&M, dressed up as an article about queer and trans
people finding their voice through clothing. There’s also “The Old, Secret Style Language Of The LGTBQ+ Community,” a mere click away from an advertisement by Free People on what to wear to an outdoor summer concert.[…]
Once we had ads for shampoo—now we have sites pretending they aren’t
secretly running a branding agency from inside their feminist publishing
project. It’s like Coca-Cola trying to sell you self-care. Seen from
its most depressing angle, the rise of these websites is part of a wider
deterioration of choice, quality, and consciousness across the all
media products branded “feminist.” It’s every woman in New York wearing
the same mediocre makeup. It’s a co-working space
that buys off its critics with free memberships in order to maintain
its perfectly pink, girly, Teflon brand. It’s a quality outlet like The
Cut running Sex Diaries, the lowest-hanging fruit in all the land.“
Women’s Media Is a Scam
Published
Big Mean Sweaty Dyke 