The FCC Voted To Repeal Net Neutrality. Now What?The Stakes Are High For Independent Feminist Media

The FCC voted to repeal net neutrality. 

It’s rare for all three of us to write to you, but we needed to communicate just how bad this could be for a small independent nonprofit like Bitch.

You’ve heard us talk about how important the B-Hive is for Bitch’s independence and long-term sustainability. Well, with this repeal, the B-Hive may be the only way left for Bitch to stay connected to you at all.

And we know that might sound dramatic, but here’s the thing: It was already difficult for us to reach you before the FCC decided a free internet was suddenly a bad idea. Facebook wouldn’t recognize us as a verified nonprofit until just a few months ago because of our name. Your own inbox would filter us out if we didn’t use B*tch instead of Bitch. 

Without net neutrality? Lines of communication will go to the highest bidder, leaving smaller independent media outlets completely in the dark.  

                             

The B-Hive is more than just a funding model. Yes, it allows us to plan into the future—and to take smarter risks on the important issues—because it guarantees recurring income and stability. But it is also the touchstone of our community.

The B-Hive is the group of people we are able to connect with most directly. From us, here at the Bitch HQ, to you, at home.

When Facebook is gone behind a paywall, when Google searches stop returning Bitch Media articles because Trump has decided that our very name is too obscene, when your internet provider starts charging you for coming to our site because feminism is too niche (read: too disruptive)—the B-Hive is what will keep us strong and keep us connected.

The B-Hive is how the fight continues.

But what we really want to tell you is this: Become a member of the B-Hive for $8 each month instead. Set an intention to make sure that our work can endure, even as we face the huge unknown that is the loss of net neutrality.                   

Your B-Hive membership includes a subscription to Bitch magazine, a Bitch crest mug, notebooks, tote bags, stickers, and more.

We don’t know what’s going to happen to Bitch next. This is unknown territory. What we do know is that the key to staying connected, the one thing that matters above everything else, is the sustainable, consistent support that our B-Hive provides, and our ability to cultivate our community outside of Facebook or Google’s twisted algorithm, which will only get worse. 

Our biggest day ever of new B-Hive members was back in February of last year, after Trump took office and 231 new people joined. Today, we need everyone reading this to be on board. 

Will you join the B-Hive right now for $8 or $10 or $25? You get so, so much in return, including a subscription to Bitch magazine, and on an upbeat note, some super cool swag. 

We don’t control what you see on the internet. Facebook and Google do. And we’ve seen firsthand what their algorithm thinks of Bitch and our content. If neutrality ever disappears these billion-dollar venture capitalist funded giants won’t just influence who gets to reach you. They’ll control it.

Don’t let them. Join the B-Hive today.