Gossip

Whisper networks are getting it done

I have a guilty pleasure. When I need to unplug from Serious News or want to break a mental loop on a work project or can’t face a proactive recreational activity, I click on my favorite gossip website and read about cultural froth. It’s a habit I developed back in the dot-com days, when ”portals” were a new thing and online communities were just beginning to register on the mainstream consciousness.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I think it’s safe to say that most gossip websites had a tone problem. There was an explosion in the popularity of Perez Hilton and other horrible, stalker-y sites to which I won’t link—even in the day it was clear they were promoting a terrible, toxic point of view. Some claimed that there was a higher purpose to their toxicity (see: the Gawker debacle), and on a practical level the sites had clearly found a winning formula. Still, I didn’t like the taste that they left in my mouth. Their massive numbers of readers brought not only advertising income, but the worst of trolling, provocateur commenters.

I gravitated instead to the places in the new virtual landscape that diverged from this lowest-common-denominator pack. Some were just good-hearted from the get-go (yay, Fug Girls!), while others frequently used gossip to expose or explore cultural norms (Lainey Gossip’s later articles on Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians illustrate how the hybrid of gossip/cultural criticism can be both broadly appealing and also enlightening). The more intellectually curious gossip sites eventually self-corrected and moved away from the nasty tone of the early oughts; the best of them continue to own their part in that toxicity. As you might expect, comments on these sites were—and still are—a significant cut above the norm.

Gossip sites are evolving, hybridizing, and earning their place in the sun. I like that my escapist reading offers some silly fun while also raising my awareness about, say, anti-colonial movements. We all contain multitudes.

One of my favorite smart celebrity observers of the early oughts, Anne Helen Peterson, now has a brilliant Substack where she continues to redefine and refine our expectations of cultural analysis. I no longer hesitate to recommend certain gossip sites to friends and family; after all, thanks to these whisper networks I knew about Harvey Weinstein years before #metoo went mainstream, and I neither live nor work in L.A.

In a world where most networks are reserved for (white) men, the best of the online gossip forums are actually working well as feminist meetups. These are platforms where women discover likeminded peers, enter into dialogue, and learn from each other. In addition to bonding over shared obsessions (ghost story threads are always more fun to me than royal gossip), women also challenge each other to be better and think more intersectionally; Celebitchy’s comments on, for example, Rachel Hollis and Amy Cooper would be educational for many white women.

I’m not alone in recognizing the feminist role that these platforms can play. Gossip is too often a pejorative term, applied with a broad brush to a variety of contexts where women share knowledge with each other. Ironically, sitting under the “gossip” umbrella may be what allows these sites to thrive. Majority-female communities generally have targets painted on their backs: a pejorative term may provide the cover that allows these networks to grow without trolls getting too interested.

Perhaps this is why, after the 2016 election, mainstream news (domestic and international) began to permeate and sometimes displace more “traditional” posts on my gossip sites. The platforms offered safe spaces for women’s dialogue when it was unclear how many of those places still existed—and for how long. Both the topics and the comments continue to provide me with a powerful barometer for gauging the levels of anxiety, anger, and activism of women around the globe. This synthesis of escapism and engagement feels new to me, and I hope it’s a sign that we all—and women especially—will increasingly come together not only to observe our culture, but to improve it.

A Few Other Thoughts

I’m more quiet than usual here this month, a combination of work pressures and a focus on some holiday projects that I’ll tell you more about next week. A teaser image for you:

Here’s what I’m loving right now: the smell of frosted chrysanthemums and morning sun on golden leaves. Here’s what I’m not loving: full dark by 6PM, and friends facing unfair professional landscapes. Sometimes I channel frustration into doodles, as I did this week (called “Corporate Ascent, or Failing Up”):

I have a busy work weekend, so I’ll see you on the other side, when I’ll begin to plan for some Serious Holiday Fun.