Towards a Safe Space

We started Feministing to provide a forum to critically analyze and discuss issues that young women and feminists care about. Yet, as our web traffic has grown, we’ve had less critical discussion on the site. Whether it’s the never-ending stream of comment spam *or* the assholes that think that it’s okay to appropriate feminist space for their own agendas–we are tired of losing great feminist voices.
Because young feminists have so few spaces to *openly* analyze the world, we are re-committing ourselves to trying to provide a safe space for our readers. (While we know that we will never be able to provide a truly safe space, that doesn’t mean we won’t try).
Starting tomorrow, you will have register to comment. It’s a one time registration process that will require you to provide a *real* email address. This new policy will have little impact on most of our readers. But it will have a significant impact on the two or three readers that write harassing & hateful comments under a barrage of names.
Our policy is not about censorship, it’s about fostering a space for the voices of young feminists and progressives.
We are sorry if you disagree with this policy. And we’re sorry that you have to take the time to register. But we think that this is an important step for Feministing to take.
We hope all of our regular readers know how much your thoughts / criticisms / voices mean to us, so *please* let us know what you think.
UPDATE: We’re figuring out all the weird kinks with this new registration thing, so please be patient as we work it out. Thanks!