Julie Z. drops “The FBomb”

Julie Zeilinger may only be 16 years old but this young woman from Pepper Pike, Ohio is on my list of heroes.

In March Julie launched The FBomb.org, a blog and online community for teenage feminists. The site was designed for “teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. Young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here.”

Already The FBomb.org has been recognized on popular feminist sites like Feministing.com.

We caught up with Julie recently to learn more about Fbomb and how she got to be so awesome.

GM: How did you manage to realize that you are a feminist and be comfortable with that at such a young age?

Julie: I was raised in a feminist household and my parents have always valued feminist concepts and have supported women’s rights organizations, but it wasn’t until I had to give a speech to my entire middle school in eighth grade that I learned about women’s rights. I read an article on female feticide and infanticide and couldn’t believe that such a misogynistic thing was happening, parents killing their babies just because they were female. I was so shocked that something like that was happening, more so that I’d never even heard about it, that I began to do more and more research even after the speech and learned about all types of women’s issues. My eighth grade teacher and high school advisor also guided me along in this process, giving me books and talking with me about the issues. Their support along with my parents’ really helped me be comfortable with calling myself a feminist.

What prompted you to start The FBomb?

I wanted to start this site because as a young feminist, I had been looking for an outlet for my beliefs. There were blogs for “younger” feminists at 20-30, but I really wanted to talk about issues most pertinent to teenagers. Also, it’s really hard to be a teenage feminist as most teenagers don’t really get it, so to me having that support system and ability to discuss issues with like-minded people was something I really wanted. Because this didn’t exist, I started it.

What do you hope The FBomb can do for other young women?

The FBomb is different from existing feminist blogs in the sense that I really don’t want it to be just me, or a group of a few people, blogging. I want everybody who visits the site to know that they have the opportunity to write for the blog, and they will be posted. I hope knowing this, girls will really take advantage of the space and add to the movement. Also, reading posts written entirely by peers gives girls a sense of belonging and community. I think the FBomb can show young feminists that they’re not alone, and that we have power we never dreamed of.

What does feminism mean to you?

Feminism to me means “equality.” It means working together, men and women from all different backgrounds to make sure that women have the same rights as men (not more, same). It means making the world a fairer, more accepting place, not only for women, but also for men, because feminism truly does help everybody. Feminism also means having a community to fall back on when I’m feeling especially overwhelmed by sexism in our society, a community that’s willing to fight back and empowers me to do so as well.