Bitch

Feminism and Pop Culture

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:04:00 +0000

No matter how sophisticated you believe yourself to be, consuming pop culture is often inevitable in modern life. From reacting to coverage of major news events to understanding how advertising permeates our media landscape, chances are most self-identified feminists have considered how so-called low culture affects our perceptions of our selves and our world. As the lines between high and low culture have increasingly blurred over the past several decades, feminists—both polished academics and dilettantes—have begun to examine how mainstream media affects our activism and how we have become necessary agents in the deconstruction of pop culture.

In Feminism and Pop Culture, Bitch magazine cofounder Andi Zeisler is able to do what does not regularly happen in the pages of the magazine. Introducing readers to the reasons why the relationship between feminism and popular culture is important, example after example illustrates how feminist interpretation of television, music, film, and news events has progressively become an important part of understanding our world. While many know Bitch as a “feminist response to pop culture,” some do not always recognize the value in making celebrity gossip, B movies, and shoddy mainstream reporting the locus of activism and (re)action. If you haven’t spent years sifting through Bitch magazine archives, or haven’t read BitchFest, Feminism and Pop Culture will shine new light on these relationships. If you’re already immersed in the language and analysis of the B-word, here you’ll find one more piece of Zeisler’s Bitch-y empire in which she continues to find comprehensive ways to state her purpose.

Feminism and Pop Culture traces the history of popular culture from the 1920s to today, drawing on a wealth of resources and debunking cultural myths about women along the way. An easily digestible read with helpful fact boxes and sidebars, we come to understand the importance of Bridget Jones alongside theoretical concepts like the male gaze. The book does not just explain the relationships between theory and practice. It slowly introduces readers to the not-so-secret techniques of feminist critical analysis and equips them to begin interpreting popular culture for their own empowered selves.

Zeisler makes feminist theory applicable and accessible, so while this book is the first in the Seal Studies series and will arguably to be utilized in introductory Women’s Studies and media theory courses, it retains an approachable quality. Feminism and Pop Culture explains the necessary truth about our frivolous media consumption: popular culture is about fun and pleasure, yet it is because of this that it retains and wields such power.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, January 24th 2009

Bitch (Issue #35: Super)

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 21:45:00 +0000

B-Word Publishing

Bitch, as depicted on their website, is “a print magazine devoted to incisive commentary on our media-driven world." Reading Bitch was my first experience with a magazine that showcases feminist commentary about the media towards women in an eye-opening, upbeat conversation with the consumer. Issue 35 is considered to be the "Super Issue."

In the "Love It/Shove It" section, a few articles are written in a hardcore feministic opinion about women's role in society depicted via television and advertising. In the article, "This is What a Feminist Should Look Like," the author grapples with blogging and the argument about feminists getting Brazilian bikini waxes and loving high heels as “going along with the patriarchy” and being a crappy feminist. Authors, Samhita M. and Jessica Valenti from Feministing wrote, “Isn’t the whole point that women should be able to decide for ourselves what our appearance means to our feminism-and if it means anything at all?” This speaks volume to the kind of rhetoric that is being displayed in this magazine. It showcases the views of varying feminist sisters who define the term in their own ideological manner.

I found the article "More Than a Woman" to be an excellent composite of women making feminist strides in our society. It started with Aphra Behn (1640-1689), who achieved success as an author of plays, poems and novels: “She is believed to have witnessed a slave rebellion during a stay in Surinam, traveled to the Netherlands as a spy for King Charles II, and wound up in debtor’s prison all before she turned 30.” It concluded with Lois Weber, an auteur of early Hollywood. According to the article, “Weber was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid directors, heading Universal Studio's production department and pioneering technical innovations such as split screens and camera angles.” This section alone is reason enough to pick up the magazine to find out our history and add it to our repertoire of women making history in America.

Overall the magazine was stimulating, and is an excellent precursor to women-orientated discussions on how we are depicted in popular culture. The articles provide an opinionated, in-depth backdrop to those conversations.

Written by: LaToya Rogers, May 19th 2007

Bitch (Issue #34: Green)

admin — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:33:00 +0000

B-Word Publishing

Trust Bitch to subvert their very own issue’s theme! In their Winter 2006 issue, they approach what has been become a trend in the magazine world from Elle to Vanity Fair: the “Green issue.” Thankfully, in the spirit of their moniker, the magazine offers a creative response to the very definition of what “green” might entail. Bitch turns its snarky eye toward the color, including such “green” issues as money, jealousy, and, of course, the environment.

Despite the theme’s popularity, Bitch’s approach is anything but typical; I don’t think Elle is offering a articles as diverse as “Wendy Somerson’s Knot in Our Name,” which discusses activism within knitting circles, or articles such as Audrey D. Brashcich’s “Sweet Nothings,” which discuss how girl power became a marketing tool. Along with such obvious topics as Sarah McAbee’s engaging article “Green and Not Heard,” there is also a history and analysis of the Girl Scouts in Aimee Dowl’s piece, “Troop Therapy.” Timely, as always, Hawa Allan’s piece “When Tyra met Naomi” peers in on race issues in the modeling world, particularly focusing on how the fashion world pit Tyra Banks against Naomi Campbell because there can only be one “other” or “minority” supermodel. Moving from modeling to a spiritual mode of money management, Bitch magazine hasn’t lost its diversity of focus and approach.

Written by: Lisa Bower, February 22nd 2007