Why Are We So Fascinated With Female Suicides?

I am not linking to the actual photo because WTF but I find it mind blowing that Jezebel would illustrate a piece that opens with the quote above with an actual photo of a real suicide. In case they decide to remove the photo, here’s the original and the story behind it.

The spread in question published by Vice end of last week elicited the outrage led by no other than Jezebel itself (of course they did what any self respecting click mercenary would, they reposted the spread themselves, with commentary about why it was such a terrible thing).

It is worth nothing that this editorial hypocrisy (calling out another publication for doing exactly the same awful thing they do) is happening only a few days after yet another Jezebel call out, this one to xoJane for seemingly “misleading” their readership and sensationalizing rape. When people noted that a) both the headline and the content of the story were accurate and not sensationalizing and b) that Jezebel posted photos of a rape, while it occurred (!!!!), there was no apology or correction. Because apparently posting photos of a rape is acceptable editorial policy… or something.

This has already been discussed ad nauseam but it bears repeating: when faced with criticism, Jezebel insists that they are not a feminist publication (at least that’s the often touted line by their Editor in Chief), while simultaneously  they have no problem claiming that label and using it for page views (the very same EiC had no problem being interviewed for a feature under the title “The Rebirth of the Feminist Manifesto” where Jezebel was prominently named as one of the most popular feminist blogs). Basically, they want the feminist page views without any accountability to a wider feminist audience.