[This letter has been updated since its original posting in 2013] I doubt you’ve heard of me, so let me take a moment to introduce myself. I’m Bri Castellini, a grad student in New York City studying Television Writing with a BA in Creative Writing from Pacific University in Oregon. I’m also recently coming into my own as a feminist. Last year I had a paper accepted into my undergraduate university’s undergrad magazine entitled “The Survival Sluts: Sex-Positive Characters in Margaret Atwood Novels”, which is exactly what it sounds like; analyzing Margaret Atwood’s dystopian female characters through the lens of third wave feminism. I have also started discussing the topic of feminism on YouTube, on both my personal and collaboration channels. You can see the playlist here. I’ve also been blogging a lot about feminism, which you can find a collection of here.
The reason I’m writing you today is that I have posted the first of five videos my best friend Colton and I made deconstructing some of your videos. The first is regarding your Tropes vs Women #5: The Mystical Pregnancy. But we’ll get to that in a second.
I find your videos incredibly brave and relevant, especially in light of the constant torment you face. Your TED Talk about online harassment as a result of your Kickstarter campaign was powerful and as a woman on the internet, I feel your pain, though obviously not at the same magnitude. I really appreciate the purpose of your online presence; to discuss feminism through the lens of pop culture, giving people the language to deconstruct things we might otherwise overlook. As a pop culture nerd, [hopeful] future television writer, and feminist myself, I’m really excited by the prospect of your videos, and I think it’s a valuable perspective to have out there. One video on the playlist I linked above is a video I did agreeing with your Tropes vs Women #6: The Straw Feminist, especially in terms of the third season of Veronica Mars, a show that I love very much.
However.
Sometimes, I think you go a bit far, and in some cases that can be more damaging than having no discourse on the subject at all. The purpose of Colton and I’s videos is to point out some flaws in your argumentation and deconstruction, not to discredit you as a source, but to bolster the discourse about these issues. We’re looking at, so far, these particular videos (the links are to our video responses):
Glee, GQ, and the Sexualization of Young Girls
We picked these videos because we feel you failed to account for context in a lot of cases, and wanted to add to the discourse.
So why am I writing you this blog/letter? Because I wanted you to hear it from me why we’re doing this. We aren’t trying to harass you, and we don’t want you to stop making videos. We just want you to consider that maybe you haven’t shown all the perspectives in some cases. Context is important when analyzing pop culture, and we’re making sure that the context is given where you’ve left it out. We may occasionally get heated, but it’s not because of you personally, it’s because of the subjects involved and our frustration with some of the analysis. We really do want to talk about these issues, and currently you are the most visible person doing so.
Please consider watching our videos, because we honestly want to start a dialog with you about feminism in pop culture, a discussion that isn’t taking place as much as it should.
Thanks for your time,
Bri (and Colton)
