Rayne Fisher-Quann grew up with no shortage of feminist influences. There was her mother, who brought home a book about the problems with Barbie and banned the actual dolls. There were websites transmitting the wise and world-weary voices of fired-up millennial thinkers — the women’s blog Jezebel, the teen site Rookie. Now that Ms. Fisher-Quann is establishing herself as an independent writer focused on girlhood and identity, she wonders how her career might unfold if there were a more cohesive online community for Gen Z feminists like herself.
“What I thought was so cool when I was 15 and looking at these writers on Jezebel and Bitch is that there was a built-in community,” said Ms. Fisher-Quann, 22, who writes a Substack called “Internet Princess” (with more than 72,000 subscribers), and recently started on an essay collection combining memoir and criticism. “A lot of feminist work has become more individualized and splintered.”
Last week’s announcement of the shuttering of Jezebel, which shortly after its 2007 debut surpassed 10 million monthly views and later overtook its sibling site Gawker.com, served as a fresh reminder to young writers like Ms. Fisher-Quann of how much things have changed. The other feminist sites she used to read have closed, too.