Latest Articles

Douchebag Decree: Jours Apr

by Kelsey Wallace
August 18, 2011 at 1:01pm

I lived in France for a short time in my carefree younger days, and I have fond memories of their refreshing attitudes about sex (and also soft cheeses): Ne t’inquietes pas! C’est naturel! and so on. However, call it the American prude in me, but I am thoroughly creeped out by this new line of lingerie for girls ages three months and up by the French company Jours...

New Online Articles from the Red Issue!

by Kjerstin Johnson
August 18, 2011 at 11:55am

The Red Issue of Bitch is about to hit mailboxes (that means you, 1500 new subscribers!) and now you can get a sneak peek of what’s in store on our articles page!

  • There’s “Pink Scare” (by Avital Norman Nathman, illustrated by JooHee Yoon), a feature on the media’s growing interest in and —unfortunately—fear of “princess boys.” 
    • ...

Pop Pedestal: Ed “Shred” Fargo

by Deb Jannerson
August 18, 2011 at 11:27am

I have a lasting affection for Fearless, a young adult series created by Francine Pascal. (Yes, that Francine Pascal.) For today’s addition to Pop Pedestal, a weekly column applauding our favorite characters in pop culture, I could write about many of the books’ inventions: Gaia, the ass-kicking titular fearless lady; Mary, the bright clubgoer with an unfortunate drug...

Bibliobitch: A Q&A with the Editors of The Revolution Starts at Home

by Kjerstin Johnson
August 18, 2011 at 11:11am

The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities is an incredible anthology (that started as a zine) out from South End Press providing essays, accounts, and testimonials about challenging assumptions about interpersonal violence while constructing and sharing new paths to healing and accountability.

Ching-In Chen and Leah...

Pink Scare: What's behind the media panic about “princess boys"?

by Avital Norman Nathman
August 18, 2011 at 9:27am

Ever since the age of 2, when his hair first started growing in, my son Elijah has been mistaken for a girl. As he grew, so did his curls; they now frame his face and inch toward his shoulders, with every offer to trim them rebuffed. Elijah was 3 when he started painting his toenails; he had been watching me give myself pedicures, and decided that his toes needed some color as well. Now, at 4...

Sealing the Deal: The wet and wild world of selkie romance novels

by Jessica Jernigan
August 18, 2011 at 9:27am

In 1972, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss published The Flame and the Flower. With this novel, Woodiwiss transformed the romance genre by making explicit what had previously been implied—that is, sex—and created a formula for success that romance authors would follow for decades. The archetypal romance plot of the post-Woodiwiss era goes like this: An innocent young woman experiences...

Mothers of Intention: Five bloggers on race and erasure in the mommy blogosphere

August 18, 2011 at 9:24am

Several months ago, Bitch published a piece on the vexing economy of mom blogs and the contentious personalities that have come to define their corner of the Internet, for better or worse. The discussion it sparked wasn't about whether mom blogs were, on balance, good or bad—it was about why they were so…...

Murder, She Blogged: Violence on Screen

by Jess Mccabe
August 17, 2011 at 12:57pm

I’m not saying that violence should never be shown or described. We need our movies and TV shows and games and books to address issues of the violence in our culture, and violence against women is included in that. But some of these examples just play into the same old misogyny—without asking anything more of the audience—which is a shame and a missed opportunity.

Stage Left: “Mother Knows Best": on Abusive Parenting in TANGLED

by Dorian J-----
August 17, 2011 at 11:30am

Abusive parents are a real problem in the real world. I know more than a few people who upon seeing this movie connected Goethel’s behavior with that of their own parents, and took it as a cue to reassess their relationships. And because of that I think that this film, despite its flaws, has accomplished something good. It represented a real issue in a way that doesn’t soft-pedal...

In Her Own Words: Gloria Steinem on HBO

by Kelsey Wallace
August 17, 2011 at 11:11am

Much of the publicity for the new HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words tells us that the movie was made because young people don’t know who Steinem is. As people who are currently reading/writing feminist blog content, you and I probably aren’t who they’re talking about. Still, whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the feminist movement or one of these young...

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