Call for Teenage Feminist Bloggers

Do you identify as a girl? Are you into feminism? And do you blog?

If the answer is yes, then you could participate in a research/book project about girlhood, feminism, and blogging. This research is being done by Jessalynn Keller, an extremely awesome student at the University of Texas at Austin. It will form her PhD dissertation and then be transformed into a book about girl feminist bloggers and contemporary feminisms, with an anticipated a publication date sometime in early 2014.

In order to participate you must: (1) Identify as a girl and be between the ages of 15 and 21, (2) Participate in the feminist blogosphere (preferably as both a blogger and reader), (3) Be able to make a six month commitment to the project.

One way to participate is through an online focus group that will run continuously between approximately April 15, 2012 and October 15, 2012. The group will be set up for 8-10 girls on a private blog (on blogger) and will be structured as a discussion about girlhood, feminism, blogging, media, and other relevant topics. Jessalynn will pose informal discussion questions and participants will respond to the question, each others comments, and ask their own questions to one another. Jessalynn hoping that we can use this space to dialogue with one another in a casual environment about feminism today. It would be great if each participant posted regularly (about 2-3 times a month) over the duration of the research period in order for productive conversations to take place. Postings do not have to be formally written and edited – think about them as part of a casual conversation you might have with a friend.

Anonymity: All participants will choose a pseudonym to post under, and thus, all participants will remain anonymous to others in the group.

Compensation: Participants who contribute to the focus group regularly throughout the duration of the 6 months will receive a $20.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com at the completion of the focus group.

In addition to participating in the online focus group, Jessalynn is looking for between 4-6 girls to also participate in a series of monthly phone interviews about their own blogging practices and thoughts on feminism. Interviews will be conducted once a month for the duration of the project (6 months) and will likely last between 30-60 minutes each time. Jessalynn is looking to conduct a total of 5-6 interviews per person and am hoping to use these interviews to expand on some of the conversations happening in the focus group.

Anonymity: All participants will be anonymous in all published research.

Compensation: Participants who contribute to both the focus group and phone interviews throughout the duration of the 6 months will receive a $40.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com at the completion of the project.

If you are interested in participating, please email Jessalynn at girlfeministbloggers@gmail.com. She's happy to answer any questions that you may have, and will provide more details on the project, as well as start dates and consent forms at that time.