Excuse you, I think my interest in being a strong, healthy woman is a feminist choice. Like many women and even more men, I enjoy living a healthy lifestyle. I cook healthy and work out. I don’t seek out too much fitspo on Pinterest, but I don’t have a problem with it either, because it is a useful motivational tool for many people. Oh, and by the way? That cauliflower crust stuff is actually pretty tasty, and excellent for people who can’t eat gluten or need to keep an eye on carbohydrate consumption, like people trying to manage diabetes or PCOS. I also love the fact that they direct people to Martha Stewart’s website. You know what? Martha is my homegirl. I have to eat. She has recipes. You can deride the interests of the women on Pinterest but as a feminist, I’d like to defend them from arguments that, like this one, chiefly reveal an internalized misogyny on the part of the writer. The lifestyle interests that predominate on the internet and on majority-male sites are usually of equally materialistic/aspirational quality - but they reflect lifestyle interests that appeal more to men. The internet was not invented as a feminist dream to make women more like men on gender-neutered websites. That’s not a feminist dream at all. As a feminist myself, my dream is that a wide variety of individual expressions of gender and interests are equally valued, including the expression of traditionally feminine pursuits and occupations. Considering these pursuits or women who enjoy these pursuits inferior, anti-feminist, or more shallow (or “materialistic” as you put it) is straight-up misogyny.



