Latest Articles

Bitch in Brooklyn

by Debbie Rasmussen
October 6, 2007 at 10:19pm

Perched on a Brooklyn patio in still-perfect weather, Lisa and I mapped out our time here. Then it was off to our first fundraising house party, hosted by Jennifer Baumgardner—who's interviewed in our current issue about her new book, Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics.

Apparently, the wording on our invitation caused some confusion, and several attendees misinterpreted the phrase "...

B-word on the East Coast

by Debbie Rasmussen
October 5, 2007 at 7:30pm

Today is Day One of our first-ever fundraising trip. It’s an incredibly exciting time for us—venturing outside our little bat cave to meet some of our supporters on the other side of the country, and do some fundraising and education to keep our nonprofit operation thriving.

I flew from our headquarters in Portland, Oregon to New York City, and was greeted by Bitch cofounder...

Welcome to Minnesota Nice

by Debbie Rasmussen
October 1, 2007 at 5:00pm

One of the best parts about my job as publisher is coming across other inspiring projects and people — folks creating zines, starting multimedia projects, worker cooperatives, childcare cooperatives, radio projects, art collectives, community gardens, infoshops... This blog will share some of these, as well as reports from my travels as I venture out into the world to build support for our...

Pop Goes the World: Looking at pop culture in the wake of 9-11

September 15, 2007 at 3:49pm

It's been almost three months since September 11, and while the onslaught of the holidays (and for those of us around the Bitch HQ , the onslaught of production on a new issue) has provided a bit of distraction, it's still almost impossible not to feel that our jobs, our ambitions, and our daily dramas have been permanently dwarfed by the sadness and horror of everything that happened...

Tears of a Clone: Why Hollywood’s Women Are All Choked Up

September 15, 2007 at 3:46pm

From all the films made every year, the Academy must choose the performance that deserves its Best Actress accolade—and avid watchers of their annual awards might well conclude it has no sensible criteria. Some years, the voting body wants to show its integrity. Other years, it wants to pet its poodles. This year, it wanted to pretend that racism isn't an industry given, and rolled out an...

How to Write a Protest Letter

September 14, 2007 at 9:00pm

You flip to your local Clear Channel station to find a shock jock "joking" about where kidnappers can most easily buy nylon rope, tarps, and lye for tying up, hiding, and dissolving the bodies of little girls. Reuters runs an important international news brief about a Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for an alleged sexual infraction—in its "Oddly Enough" section, where typical...

Multiply & Conquer: How to Have 17 Children and Still Believe in Jesus

September 1, 2007 at 12:00am

When she was presented with the state of Arkansas's Young Mother of the Year award in April 2004, Michelle Duggar was 37 years old and seven months pregnant. A USA Today profile on the award ceremony noted her current reproductive status by describing with notable amusement how she "waddled" into the Capitol building to accept the honor.

Hold on—a USA Today profile? Of a stay-at-home...

Feminine Protection: An Interview with “Whipping Girl” author Julia Serano

by Debbie Rasmussen
June 1, 2007 at 12:00am

We should focus our energies on challenging the rather arbitrary meanings and values that get placed onto our sexed bodies, gender expressions, and sexualities.

Desert Hearts: In a New Crop of Romance Novels, It's Always Midnight at the Oasis

June 1, 2007 at 12:00am

The average romance-novel hero hasn't changed much since the genre's development in the late 19th century—he's dashing, arrogant, commanding, hopefully rich, possibly even a prince. But is he an Arab? More and more commonly, the answer is yes.

It seems that an Arab man can now get on the cover of a romance novel in the United States almost more easily than he can get past airport...

The Cold Shoulder: Saving Superheroines from Comic-book Violence

February 28, 2007 at 11:00pm

There's a new Bat in Gotham City. Like Bruce Wayne, she's a rich socialite by day and a black-clad vigilante at night. And, also like Bruce Wayne, in both incarnations she's apt to sweep the ladies off their feet. Kate Kane, the new, revamped Batwoman, isn't the first lesbian character to debut in the DC Comics universe, but she might have the highest profile. Last June, DC Executive Director...

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