JMU on “Her Campus”: Pros and Cons

A couple of weeks ago, fellow blogger, Blonde Redhead, told me about a conversation she had with a guy in one of her classes. As they were introducing themselves to one another, she told him that she wrote for a feminist blog on campus. The guy, assuming that he knew what blog she was referring to, said, “Oh, Her Campus?” to which Blonde Redhead responded with a chuckle, “No, actually it’s called ShoutOut! JMU.” After noticing that she thought it was pretty comical that this guy had confused the two, I had to ask— “What is Her Campus?” Though she was not entirely familiar with the site either, she told me that she had heard it was a site where JMU girls rated “cute JMU guys of the week” and talked about clothes and makeup. After hearing this, I understood why it would be so funny to confuse our blog with Her Campus, but I really wanted to check the site out for myself.

Upon clicking the link to JMU’s Her Campus site, the site’s banner— “a collegitte’s guide to life”— immediately caught my eye. Already expecting to see a number of things that would disappoint me, I thought to myself, “Oh this should be good…” But, as it turns out, Her Campus is not nearly as vapid and, well, airheaded as I might have previously thought.

The JMU Her Campus site definitely has its share of frivolous articles and features such as the “campus cuties” page, where guys who attend JMU are given a short bio alongside their pictures and are sometimes described as “single” or “on the prowl” (this phrase always creeps me out). The page also shares beauty and fashion advice with readers, but for the most part, in opinion, I would say that the major focus of the site is not on guys, gossip or beauty—the exact things I thought it would focus on.

The JMU Her Campus site is actually rather diverse in its news articles and makes a pretty solid attempt to comment on serious issues.

One article discusses the many opportunities that women have today and stresses the importance of taking advantage of the education that many women may not have been offered years ago. The article, however, does mistakenly say, “In today’s society, females are no longer expected to stay home with their children and prepare dinner for their working husbands. Instead, more young women are receiving higher education at universities across the country, and pursuing their dreams.” While, fortunately, it is true that many women are now receiving higher education, society does in fact continue to expect women to stay at home with their children and prepare meals for their family—just watch any advertisement that pressures women to be the perfect picture of a mother, wife and cook. Overall, the article is positive in that it encourages and embraces the advancement of women, it just fails to recognize that women are still fighting—and still need to fight—for equal footing with men.

Another article about fad diets tells readers that not all diets are exactly healthy—in fact some can be downright dangerous. The aritcle’s author says, “An extreme radical lifestyle change is not worth fitting into your new Victoria’s Secret bathing suit.” While this statement is definitely true, the article fails to go into any detail about why the media causes girls to feel such a need to be thin and why such a “radical lifestyle” is so dangerous.

In an article about inspiring pop stars, the author interviews a JMU girl who says that Lady Gaga inspires her. She says, “She shows girls that you don’t have to fit the mold of society in the way you dress and act. All you need to do is be comfortable within your own skin and people will respect and admire you for it.” Okay, okay, I’m not a Gaga fan, but I can begin to see why some girls might feel inspired by her “originality.” But it’s when the author started to argue that Katy Perry and Taylor Swift have an influence on women that is just as positive, I had to fold my hand.

Though the JMU Her Campus site is not nearly as concerned with guys, romance, beauty, hair and fashion as I thought it would be, it still has its shortcomings. It seems that almost every article makes an attempt to discuss serious issues regarding women, but they barely scratch the surface and don’t discuss any deeper causes or meanings for these issues. I can’t say that JMU’s Her Campus is the worst site in the world, but it still has a long way to go before it truly informs its readers of important women’s and discusses them in detail.

-Lauranium