Dear readers,
Her Campus Bates has been online for about four months now, and although we, as the editors, have a clear vision about what Her Campus Bates and its guiding principles are, we recently realized that we have never publicly expressed them. Instead of letting others define who we are, we thought it was time we properly introduce ourselves.
Her Campus Bates was founded for a platform for Bates students to express themselves, students that might not have gotten the chance otherwise. While we particularly want to create a supportive community for women and we do post content that is directed to the “collegiette,” we hope that the entire Bates community – female, male and those who don’t identify with traditional gender biniaries – can enjoy (and produce, should they choose) our entertaining content, tailored for Bates students. You do not have to be female, for example, to celebrate the accomplishments of your fellow Batesies in our Campus Celebrity section or to appreciate and be entertained by the Campus Cutie section putting your classmates on blast – postitively, of course. We’re equal opportunists in embarrassing our humble victims – everyone is subjected to the same confidence-boosting, humorous (albeit sometimes little over-the-top) style. (We just think all our Cuties and Celebrities are all so incredible. #sorrynotsorry)
While one may question whether our publication is beneficial to feminism because our website design is “girly” and a lot of our content focuses on tradtitionally feminine pursuits like style and beauty, we firmly consider ourselves to be a feminist website. At Her Campus Bates, we believe in positive female empowerment. We believe in women supporting women – or even just, people supporting people. We believe that our writers should feel free to write their opinions and about topics of their choosing. If they choose about to write about makeup or fashion, power to them, we say. We don’t believe that traditional femininity and feminism are mutually exclusive. We think Her Campus Bates has the ability to empower femininity. As Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl, argues:
“Of course the reason why it is particularly easy to ridicule the idea of empowering femininity is because we (all of us, as a society) already harbor dismissive attitudes toward anything considered feminine…we should move beyond this knee-jerk tendency to dismiss and demean feminine gender expression.”
To criticize women for being traditionally feminine or liking traditionally feminine things is to fall into the fallacy that feminine traits and interests are somehow inferior to men’s or that women do everything they do in relation to what men might think about it. Both of us editors love red lipstick and pretty dresses because we like them, not for the value that men may place on them.
Her Campus Bates gives women (and anyone else that wants to participate, for that matter) a platform to express themselves, however they choose, whether they enjoy traditionally feminine pursuits or not. Yes, we’ll post a list of the joys of wearing glitter. We would also post a list about the reasons why glitter is the worst. Our motto: Be feminine; don’t be feminine. Either way, you do you. Our only rule: Always be positive and supportive of others. For us, that is what feminism is.
Her Campus Bates has always been and will continue to be committed to a message of inclusivity. Anyone is welcome – and everyone is encouraged – to write for us, which is why we recruit via public channels like social media and campus-wide [announce] emails. “I’m not a good writer,” people will often (try to – we’re pretty persistent) tell us. “I wouldn’t know what to write about,” they say. Our editorial philosophy is that everyone has something to say worth writing or reading. Write what you want to write, and people will want to read it. Under this open philosophy, we have never turned away a writer. We are proud of all the content our writers have worked hard to produce this semester.
We are still a fledgling publication. We have a small staff of about 15 team members, and with that kind of (wo)manpower (no matter how talented and amazing our team is), we do not pretend that we have yet the ability to cover every issue we want to cover or represent every voice on this campus we want to represent. As our publication grows and evolves, however, these core values of positive support, empowerment and inclusivity will continue to guide its existence.
Thanks for reading! We love that you’re here.
Michelle and Becca