There are few things in life more cultish than a room of 100 girls dressed in pink t-shirts, holding “I Heart Feminism” bottles, and referring to each other as sisters. That’s probably the exact image that would come to mind when imagining a blog run by and targeted to young college women. Well, such a community does in fact exist, and it is absolutely nothing like that. A typical Her Campus meeting is held among a group of five girls, consisting of one editor and four staff writers. These tightknit meetings take place in a conference room rather than an auditorium, and the members refer to each other by name rather than as “sister.” The typical dress code of these meetings consists of messy buns and raggedy t-shirts, instead of slicked ponies and matching pink v-necks. Rather than boasting a fancy pink feminism water bottle, we typically carry around a lukewarm cup of Starbucks. Our five-membered team consists of typical college girls with an interest in writing, editing, and current events.

         As a staff writer, my team consists of three other staff writers and one editor who reviews our work before it’s published. My editor, Alex Absten, has been a member of Her Campus throughout all four years of her college experience. As a current senior, Alex knows the ins and outs of the organization and – more specifically – of our chapter here at Florida State University. Her Campus is a national platform that is comprised of hundreds of chapters at colleges universities across the United States. Our own chapter at FSU consists of roughly 60 girls, divided into teams of 5.

         In my own personal editing group, we communicate using an iMessage group chat that serves as the backbone of the team. This chat is a text, in it of itself, with which our group could not function without. We primarily use the group messaging platform to communicate deadlines and ask any urgent questions. However, the platform is also a helpful way for us to give each other advice and discuss ideal topics for our writing. My five-member group chat is titled “The Collegiettes,” which is a term coined by national Her Campus. The word refers to “a college woman who is on top of her game – strategically career-minded, distinctly fashionable, socially connected, academically driven, and smartly health-conscious – who endeavors to get the most out of her college experience on every level” (Her Campus Staff 2009). While this term is not necessarily in the dictionary, it was crafted by the Her Campus organization in 2009 and has since been intended to serve as a symbol for the kind of woman we each aspire to be. While I understand the intention of this word, I actually find that it is incredibly ineffective in serving its purpose.

         Within the definition itself, there are many aspects of a woman’s life being represented by the word “collegiette.” However, these defining characteristics of the ideal “collegiette” are incredibly problematic when it comes down to what exactly determines how “smartly health conscious” or “distinctly fashionable” a girl is. Because Her Campus aims at being an inclusive platform for all women, it seems fairly counterintuitive that their motto creates such a strict mold for women. By creating these guidelines for how a woman should live her college life, the term completely takes away from the organization’s attempt at inclusivity.

         While I personally do not feel attached to the word “collegiette” in any way, my team attempts to use it as a means of representing who we are, as well as who we are targeting. While I’m not sure if I would personally label myself as a “collegiette,” the word does somewhat help me in my writing for the organization. As a staff writer for Her Campus, my articles are typically directed at a specified audience: the young women of FSU. Florida State University has countless preexisting newspapers and websites that are all dedicated to general campus news. They also have student-run fashion magazines for those interested in fashion and student-run sports newspapers for those interested in sports. So, what sets Her Campus apart? As the editor of my team, Alex Absten did an excellent job providing insight on what Her Campus is all about. According to Alex, “Her Campus is a great resource that college students can use to either get the latest news on what’s happening on campus or just take a study break to read a fun, personal piece.” While this mission statement of hers is very valuable, it is interesting to note the lack of specificity in who Alex believes we are targeting.

         Interestingly enough, the word “her” in Her Campus is an incredibly strong indicator of just how gender-specific our target audience really is. However, when speaking to Alex, she never used any gender-specific pronouns. This prompted me to ask her about who she thinks Her Campus is truly targeting. Alex said that “It’s definitely geared towards females, but we’ve had articles with men’s thoughts and profiles on male students. We do try to gain as much readership as we can, which means we try to be inclusive. However, at the same time it is called ‘Her’ Campus so I don’t think too many males are going to go out and read it on their own.” In congruency with Alex’s opinion, I agree that many articles are written in a gender-neutral way for the purpose of gaining readership. However, it is also no secret that the website is very gender-specific from the use of the word “her” in the title to the constant implementation of the color pink.

         Her Campus has been in existence for less than a decade, and being so new to the worldwide web, there must have been some reason for its initiation as a female-oriented blog. It is clear from both the title and logo of Her Campus that the website is directed at a target audience of primarily college-aged girls. The site is not only directed at young girls, but run by young girls as well. So why is it that these girls have chosen to create a platform that excludes the male presence?

         Ever since women entered the field of journalism, we have yearned to prove ourselves worthy of having a voice in the field. This urge has primarily been the result of gender-based inequalities on every front, from unequal pay to unequal air time. Despite roughly 4 decades of feminist activism, male dominance and centrality still characterize the media (Ruby 2007). This imbalance is very notable in the world of media with only 22% of news story subjects and 14% of morning talk show guests being women (Ruby 2007). According to Jennie Ruby of the Off Our Backs news journal, women constitute a mere 37% of “behind the news” workers in radio, television and print.

         Despite this lack of female presence, it is interesting to note that women actually outnumber men in every age group on social networking platforms across the world and spend significantly more time on these sites than men, according to Johanna Blakley of the Women’s Studies Quarterly. Blakley also points out that academic studies from a wide variety of disciplines have demonstrated a much stronger drive to socialize than men, which could be the reason they tend to gravitate so much more heavily to social networking platforms.

         According to a study by Paola Lobo et al., the numbers that show an imbalance of male and female presence are not enough to depict just how important the difference is. It is the experiences and obstacles these women face that reflect the significance of having far more men represented in the media than woman. The gap in presence of each gender in journalism and media has created many gender-specific obstacles for female employees. According to Jennie Ruby, a whopping 98% of female journalists felt they faced obstacles that their male colleagues didn’t. Some women reported that their male coworkers would receive career-enhancing assignments and more promotions and raises. Respondents in Ruby’s survey also noted inequality in pay among men and women journalists with similar experience.

           Along these same lines of representation in the media, a journal by Gail Baitinger discusses why women are still considered a minority in American news media. According to the article, some attribute the lack of female presence in the media to sexism. Another view uses the norms of journalism to suggest that sex should be irrelevant in determining why the male presence surpasses the female presence. These two opinions vary starkly, as one focuses on sexism and the other dismisses it. According to Baitinger, no study has systematically tested these competing hypotheses yet. In my opinion, the second viewpoint would not sit well with many feminists of the modern day. Sexism is something that women tend to focus on when discussing society’s gender disparities. For instance, it is clear that the founders of Her Campus feel the need to exert their femininity in the media. This feeling has most likely been brought on by the fact that women often feel discriminated against by society and by the world of journalism. It is highly unlikely that a woman would feel this need to exert her femininity if she were not at all considering the sexist behaviors of her male counterparts in the field.

           A journal by Lisa Moore describes a new approach to the study of the relationship between men and women. In this study, every novel, play, story, or poem written by a male author in the English curriculum was paired with one written by a female author. Moore believed that “Studying literature by women in isolation, without literature by men, is as biased as a male-dominated canon or curriculum.” Such pairings joined the works of many acclaimed authors, such as Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. This approach is intended to offer an opportunity to illustrate the comparisons one may draw from male and female writing. It is the belief of Lisa Moore that “As educators, we have a responsibility to balance and integrate, not to offer treatment of female writers that is separate but equal.” Thus, the journal includes an educator’s perspective, providing a list of pieces that analyze gender issues within the school system. Along the lines of education, the ideas of Howard M. Glasser and John P. Smith discuss the use of the words gender and sex in both scholarly and popular writing. Their journal argues that the terms gender and sex are used too interchangeably in everything from day-to-day life to scholarly discussion. Glasser and Smith state that the definitions of these terms should be more clearly distinguished in order to promote progress in the understanding of gender’s influence on the educational experience.

          Though these issues of gender inequality are incredibly relevant to the 21st century, the narrative of English Feminism has existed for centuries. In fact, work of female writers in the 1790s typically hone in on a narrative in which women could find self-respect and authenticity (Stafford 1997). Stafford emphasizes that in this time, female characters in literature were most often acted upon rather than actors. These plots, however, existed in such prestigious works that feminist writers of the century could not simply dismiss them. Instead, feminist writers chose to tell the stories on their own terms and celebrate a more active and heroic version of the female protagonist.

           It is my personal belief that the early 18th century attempts of feminist writers were made with the hopes that one day, things would be different. I believe these individuals were hoping to move toward a version of the media in which women could be represented more often as heroines than as damsels in distress. In all honesty, I believe that Her Campus succeeds on this front through some of its content. Despite horoscopes, games, make up tutorials and movie reviews, the organization also attempts to showcase a feminist view on local and world issues through the eyes of young college women. In doing so, Her Campus creates a balance between feminist activism and light-hearted fun. Despite the somewhat problematic concept of the ideal “collegiette,” Her Campus truly does a great job of inspiring women with tales of real girl power. From articles about role models like Malala and Michelle Obama to simple profiles on college girls making a difference, Her Campus highlights all that women can achieve.