ABSTRACT
Over three years, between 2008 and 2011, I researched a network of feminist bloggers in Australia. I collected data from blogs in the network, used a set of seed links from the main blogs in the network to map the network over time, and interviewed 20 key actors from within the network. These interviews took place all over Australia, and from these interviews I drew out a number of themes that emerged in our conversations. One of the themes was the emotional and affective dimensions of feminist bloggers' relations with one another in the network, and with mainstream media and society. This chapter addresses this theme from my research, and draws out a number of ways in which emotion and affect has not only personal significance, but also political significance to participants in the network. It argues that the building of community, and the negotiation of feminist claims out of an affective reaction to the mainstream, have a political purpose and outcome.
