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Bustle is the new women’s website founded by a man, mocked by many

Bryan Goldberg is taking a lot of flack for Bustle, the new women's website he announced on Tuesday.

When the co-founder of Bleacher Report decided to a launch a "feminist" women's website with the mandate of featuring hard news alongside beauty tips, some folks questioned his business strategy, as well as his clean intentions.

"Bustle is the Busier, Better Half of Hustle," reads the website's "About" section.

Goldberg boasts an impressive $6.5 million in seed money to launch the new site, an amount no other niche website that provides similar content, such as Jezebel, ever had when it started.

"The good news is that I am neither the face nor the voice of Bustle," he writes on PandoDaily. "My job, as CEO, is to hire the right people. … Knowing the difference between mascara, concealer,and eyeliner is not my job."

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He claims that Bustle offers something that hasn't been done on a wide scale, namely content that caters to women's diverse interests, all in one stop. This means a female reader doesn't have to visit the New York Times and Cosmopolitan websites on the same day.

"Yes, we believe that a partner-track attorney can be passionate about world affairs and celebrity gossip. On the same day. During the same coffee break. And there is nothing wrong with that," he says. "Welcome to the year 2013.”

Goldberg says it's too simplistic to suggest that smart women can't be interested in both.

"What about a site that takes an introspective look at the celebrity world, while also having a lot of fun covering it? How about a site that offers career advice and book reviews, while also reporting on fashion trends and popular memes?"

The problem, as Forbes writer J. Maureen Henderson points out, is that Goldberg's entire business strategy rests on the assumption that women don't want to multitask. That is, they can't be bothered to consume content from more than one source, a premise that has yet to be proven with hard empirical data.

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The website's name has also got The Atlantic questioning where Goldberg's head was at when he created it.

"The site is called Bustle, named after either the turn-of-the-century undergarment that gave women the appearance of having large posteriors making them attractive to the men that were going off to work and to vote and such, or maybe for the verb used to describe urgent domestic activity," writes Philip Bump.

It only takes a quick glance at the comments on Goldberg's story announcing Bustle to get a sense for the depth and magnitude of skepticism being thrown at him.

"Bustle sounds pretty interesting, and it's wonderful that you're hiring so many women. But I remain somewhat perplexed and frankly disturbed that VCs are more than willing to support these huge funding rounds to (obviously talented & experienced) MEN to create for a female audience while female entrepreneurs themselves receive less than 10% of all VC funding," writes Cynthia Schames. "Are there women on the founding team? Or are they all just employees? I didn't see a mention of that, specifically."

What are your thoughts on the chances of success for a site like Bustle? Tell us in the comments.