Latest Articles

Editors' Letter: Sex

by Lisa Jervis
February 28, 1997 at 9:00pm

When I told people that this issue of Bitch was going to be devoted entirely to sex, the most common response was a sarcastic, "Oh, you mean as opposed to what all the other ones were about?" It's true that we tend to spill a lot of ink about sex—and so I started to think about why. 


Sex is a favorite topic almost everywhere—but within the feminist movement, we don't seem to...

Whee! #2: Some Cockle-Warming Tidbits

February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

Here's to Roseanne's succinct feminist history lesson...Seventeen is actually giving good advice these days. Question: "I masturbate often. Am I normal?" Answer: "Completely normal...3rd Rock from the Sun may be a wholly silly show that underuses the comic talents of Jane Curtin and overuses the familiar aliens-on-earth premise... We never thought we'd see a classic of...

Mad As A Wet Hen #2: A Roundup of Media Affronts

February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

“So now you can eat like one of the boys, but still look like one of the girls,” says the male voice-over touting Baked Lays potato chips while supermodels stuff their faces on screen… Oh, boys, did you know—Twix bars are the new way to get rid of those pesky, materialistic, shallow, shopping-obsessed females in your life… Eating is a masculine activity, part two: Wendy’s Big...

Of Kegels, Kotex, and Kate Moss: A Look at February's Women's Glossies

February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm
Allure

Irony of the month: While the Editor’s Letter says, “Shut up and eat,” and bemoans the fact that women are always “self-surveilling” their caloric intake, the mag gives information about: “Aromatrim” products (you smell them and they make you eat less); a new diet pill; “liposhaving” (you can guess what that is).

But they also tell us about the negative effect of...

Sassy Responds: Not to Us, Of Course...

by Lisa Jervis
February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

… but to other perceptive and right-on readers who are as upset as we are about the changes. And guess what? The editors are defensive as hell.

Here’s what the readers are saying in their so-called “hate mail”: “I cannot tell you how much your changes SUCK!!” “I feel compelled to express my copious fascination/horror/disgust with your new and ‘improved’ magazine.” “Don...

Talkshows: TV's Culture of Categorization

by Lisa Jervis
February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

Talk shows are the scariest thing on the planet today. You think I’m exaggerating, don’t you? Think about it: not only are they the lowest common denominator of American pop culture, but they’re also—because they’re in the form of “real” people talking about their “real” lives—taken to be some measure of truth.

A talk show pretends to be a window opened by the...

Looking for Girls in All the Boys' Places: An Unlikely Feminist Film Fest

February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

Wish there were more kick-ass female characters in the movies? Enough with The Piano-esqe mute-is-powerful bullshit. Sometimes you can find feminism in the most unlikely places, like action movies and Freaky Friday-like comedies.

Batman II

Why isn’t this movie called Catwoman?In a classic reduction of any women’s issue—the lack of great film roles...

Backlash in Action: The Supposedly Feminist Murphy Brown

by Lisa Jervis
February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

Murphy Brown’s a feminist show, right? I know it seems pretty old hat by now, but featuring a successful single mother and criticizing the Vice President is big stuff—for a sitcom, that is. Sometimes we have to take whatever we can get.

Murphy even identifies as feminist. None of that ridiculous I’m-not-a-feminist-but bullshit for her. So why, when Murphy goes back to...

Hail Harper's: An Ode

February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

My arm fell asleep, I got so engrossed. This issue of Harper’s Bazaar is about as big as a bible—and just as full of prophecy.

I fall in love with the models, their blackened eyes and plaster pigment, all pinched and compressed into vinyl and leather, looking hot hot hot and totally unfazed. They are the visions of me that I will never see.

Disaffected by the...

Bitch Reads #2

by Lisa Jervis
February 29, 1996 at 9:00pm

Reviewed in this issue: Defending Pornography, by Nadine Strossen; Gender Wars, by Brian Fawcett; Talk Dirty To Me, by Sallie Tisdale; Going All the Way: Teenage Girls’ Tales of Sex, Romance, and Pregnancy, by Sharon Thompson; and Unnatural Dykes to Watch Out For, by Alison Bechdel

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