Golly gosh, folks, this Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day! Isn’t it neat that they let us ladies have a whole day to ourselves? And a whole month to ourselves too? One out of twelve is just nifty! In any case, I thought I’d celebrate the day’s novel status with some typography for this, my cute li’l typography blog, and look for women-oriented fonts.
Skip to here for the #resistance.
Here’s the very first thing I got when I googled “female” and “font” on March 8 last year:
I.e. you had to specify “female” only if you didn’t want to include “feminine.” This gaslight-y question made my head hurt. Once more for the people in the back:
- Not all people who identify as female identify as feminine.
- Not all people who identify as women identify as feminine.
and likewise
- Not all people who identify as feminine identify as female.
- Not all people who identify as feminine identify as women.
This year it’s a little better; you don’t get the same female/feminine question. But the preponderance of swirly, frilly images when you Google “female” + “font” is infuriating, as are the results when you search on “female” at font websites FontSpace and MyFonts (see below).
The #resistance!
But some designers and typographers are smashing the patriarchy, one serif at a time:
Can A Font Be Feminist?, a great, great article about women, gender, typefaces, gendered typefaces, type design and women designing type.
Typequality.com, “a platform for discovering and sharing typefaces designed by women.”
Alphabettes.org, “a showcase for work, commentary, and research on lettering, typography, and type design. Our loose network is here to support and promote the work of all women in our fields.”
Yes, Even Fonts Can Be Feminist, a good general-interest article from Bust magazine.
Back to depressing searches on “female” at font websites MyFonts and Fontspace. (Header image type is Alphashapes from Fontspace.) Some of the typefaces are total rompy fun (e.g. Elvira), but that’s not the point.
