Latest Articles

Mom & Pop Culture: Dealing With The Halloween Hangover

November 2, 2011 at 12:06pm

Halloween is a time to bust out that creativity, play into the fantasy, and eat a ton of candy. It’s not a time to push adult sexuality or hyped up ideas of ideal bodies onto young kids. I’d rather by scared on Halloween by ghosts and goblins than by thoughts of little kids running amok in overly sexualized costumes.

Bibliobitch: Feeling Queasy with <em>Humiliation</em>

by Lindsay Baltus

November 2, 2011 at 11:53am

Critic and poet Wayne Koestenbaum has written a new book that is not what I’d call a “feel-good read.” I could call it some other things instead, like “queasy” or “discomfiting,” or I could take Koestenbaum’s sentiments and try to protect myself from the inherent humiliation of the written word by not writing anything about it at all. Except if I didn’t write anything it...

Bringing Up Baby: An Open Letter to Jon Stewart

by Katherine Don

November 2, 2011 at 11:40am

Dear Jon,

It is with tenderness, regret, and hope that I pen this proclamation of devotion and disappointment. Our unrequited affair began nine years ago, when I was a freshman at Northwestern University, the very incubator of your colleague Mr. Colbert, who was nevertheless no apple to my eye. “Who is that man of intelligence and charm?” I inquired of my roommate after my first viewing...

In the Frame: Great Artists Always Male? I Demand a Recount!

by Polly Allen

November 1, 2011 at 11:40am

Feminism and art aren’t as closely linked as they should be, but I want to change that. Too many women are excluded from being called “the great artists,” as if we require a separate category. Well, I want to give Bitch readers and art lovers everywhere a reason to celebrate strong females in the art world.

Mom & Pop Culture: Serving Up a Feminist Parenting Perspective

by Avital Norman Nathman

November 1, 2011 at 11:15am

Whether in the form of advertisements, cartoons, books, food, or toys, pop culture is out there and is feeding a host of tropes and stereotypes that can heavily impact a developing mind. This series will take a look at where pop culture, parenting and feminism meet, as we explore the affects (whether outright & obvious or much more subtle) of media & marketing on children, and...

All the Women! Who Are Independent! (Were Not Part of the America in Primetime “Independent Woman” Documentary)

by Kelsey Wallace

October 31, 2011 at 1:02pm

PBS kicked off its four-part documentary series America in Primetime last night with “Independent Woman,” a look at female characters from American TV’s past and present. The episode featured some great interviews with writers, producers, and actors along with lots of archival footage from I Love Lucy to Grey’s Anatomy. What it didn’t...

Bringing Up Baby: Ew, Breastfeeding is Gross! Or Is It Sexy? Sexy-Gross?

by Katherine Don

October 31, 2011 at 12:15pm

These highfaluting accolades for breastfeeding also stand in awkward contrast to portrayals of breastfeeding in TV and the movies. Bitch has previously covered our media’s (read: men in our media’s) sophomoric attitude toward breastfeeding, and in honor of Halloween, I offer you some more ghoulish portrayals.

Happy Halloween from the H-Word!

by Melissa Petro

October 31, 2011 at 11:45am

What does a sex worker look like? Not like “Captain Hooker” here. (Well, maybe sometimes, but not always.)

Preacher's Daughter: A Goodbye and a Word About “the Shadow Between”

by Kristin Rawls

October 31, 2011 at 10:44am

Well, we have reached the end of this series. This has been such a rich topic for me that, of course, there are many things I’d hoped to cover but didn’t. For this last post, I thought I’d briefly discuss a woman whose music about the loss—or absence—of god has resonated with me personally over the past couple of months as I’ve thought and written on this subject.

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