“I wanted a site for women without the misogynistic pictures of celebrities’ stomachs that analyze whether they’re pregnant or just ‘fat’.”
Anna Holmes, a DHS alum and former editor of the women’s online magazine Jezebel, realized early on that popular women’s magazines generally insulted women by boxing them in to be interested only in losing weight or finding a mate, which is certainly not all Holmes and her friends were thinking about.
On Oct. 30, Holmes came to the Avid Reader to share with community members one of the many products of this realization: her newly published The Book of Jezebel.
The Book of Jezebel stems off of the online site Jezebel.com, which caters to not only the regular women’s fashion, sex, and celebrities, but discusses politics, gender issues, and critiques on how women are portrayed in media.
Holmes founded the site in 2007 aiming to talk about common women’s magazine topics in a relevant way as well as publicly cringed at topics such as abortion, feminism, and rape in a matter-of-fact way.
DHS junior Amanda Glazer attended the event and found Holmes’ talk and work to be extremely valuable.
“Jezebel stops feminism’s bad connotation by using comedy and pop culture, which makes it entertaining as well as open and informative,” said Glazer.
“It demonstrates that I can like trashy or ‘girly’ TV shows and also be an intelligent woman who (strives) to be a mathematician at the same time.”
Holmes named DHS dance teacher Pamela Trokanski as one of the people who molded her as a feminist and “stronger human being” as a high school student.
Trokanski says her effect on Anna created an effect right back to herself.
“People just bump into each other in life and sometimes we make a meaningful impact on each other,” said Trokanski. “This was a case where that really happened on both sides.”
Trokanski believes that the power of women in arts and media is immeasurable and Holmes is a fantastic example of that.
The Book of Jezebel, a compilation of pieces from the site as well as new works and images is available at the Avid Reader.
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