I’ve been thinking about your question yesterday and just read your new post on the topic of the academic paper and the bloggers. I think you raise an interesting point about the fact that the author doesn’t recognize her positionality, that she’s a member of the community she purports to study. But the main question, about whether she needed to contact the bloggers to get their permission is murkier: blogs are published work and, in publishing something, one must know it might be cited.

I agree with you and that’s why I placed the issue at the intersection of academia and feminism. From the academic perspective, you are right, anything is quotable. However, as feminists, we constantly deal with the nuances and intricacies of consent, which is what preoccupies me in this matter.

Again, I do not question the legality of what was done but I need to question the feminist ethics of the action and how these should affect someone who identifies as a feminist.

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