"How Pinterest is Killing Feminism"

I am an avid user of Pinterest, a collaging website with over 70 million users. I have a board for everything from clothes and shoes to DIY and inspirational quotes. Even that cheesy "Dream Wedding" board has found a place on my Pinterest. I pin and like all sorts of things that draw my attention without too much thought. So I was really surprised to read an article on Buzzfeed called "How Pinterest is Killing Feminism" by Amy Odell.

The article describes all of the flaws of Pinterest before stating that "This isn’t where the internet was supposed to take us. The women I know who work in online women’s media hoped that the online content they created would provide an intellectual but fun alternative to print publications’ predictable fare." She goes on to compare Pinterest to Jezebel, a site that aims to "create truly smart editorial content for female readers without overwhelming them with superficial information about diet, exercise, or clothes, or wildly aspirational images of thin, photoshopped models wearing designer dresses and lounging in mansions."

So I headed to my Pinterest to see how many of the thinspo disguised as workout motivation/health tips and diet friendly recipes showed up just on my home feed. I was not disappointed.

Even my own "women's fashion" board was not exempt from O'Dell's critiques. I have this thing about not pinning clothes unless they are on a person because they don't look as great. But, holy crap, EVERY picture looks the exact same. I don't often go back to my boards and look over what I've already pinned, but it's not hard to see that even though they might be wearing slightly different outfits, every girl on my board is long haired and long legged, pretty near my definition of perfection.

Considering that we just discussed Ward, Day, and Epstein's article "Uncommonly Good: Exploring How Mass Media May Be a Positive Influence on Young Women’s Sexual Health and Development" and the "Wish List for Further Positive Portrayals," I found Pinterest to be a pretty disappointing source of influence for young women. Even though the website caters to all types, no matter what category you are in you find people's pictures of ideal body types. People critique what other people pin based on whether they think the girls are too thin or overweight FREQUENTLY. Most popular pins are pictures of young white girls with long hair and pretty faces. Ward et al's wish for "a broader range of physical appearance types and less focus on this as the center of women’s worth" exists wholeheartedly on Pinterest. The larger problem with Pinterest is that, because the content is user generated, the people using Pinterest have to change for the website to stop "Killing Feminism."

The one thing Pinterest has going for it is the availability of information. You can find pins on sexual health and sexual expression, dealing with anxiety or depression, etc.