Bitch!

[cassidyrose]

After weeks of anxious waiting, the latest issue of Bitch Magazine finally arrived in my mailbox last week. Yippee!!! It is full of bitchly goodness. I have already read about 2/3 of the issue (I am trying to slowly savor it) and am so far most impressed by the article about "fat-suits", what the author terms "Hollywood's new blackface". I really like how the issue of skinny actors putting on fat-suits for laughs is deconstucted and analyzed by the author. I am also rather taken by the article about TLC's "The Wedding Show" and "The Baby Show" (I may have the names wrong, but you get the picture). The author takes issue with the shows' obvious mandate of compulsory heterosexuality, as well as the shows' bent towards profiling white, middle-upper class, conservative couples. Also, the author points out the bizarre fantasy that these shows perpetuate about marriage and having children.

Just thought I'd share my happiness that Bitch exists in all its wonderfulness.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I followed that link. What a WONDERFUL magazine! Where has it been all my life?

(I gotta ask, though, if they hate popular culture / the news media / Hollywood so much, for reasons that are incontrovertibly true and are obvious to anyone who thinks women are human, why exactly is it that they keep watching?)

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

(I gotta ask, though, if they hate popular culture / the news media / Hollywood so much, for reasons that are incontrovertibly true and are obvious to anyone who thinks women are human, why exactly is it that they keep watching?)

Ah, see, the way I see it is that the editors and writers do not hate pop culture--they are actually fascinated students/scholars of it, somewhat like myself. These are women and men who possess a vast knowledge of pop culture and enjoy deconstructing it. They also (like me) become very angry at certain trends in it (pop culture) and enjoy finding feminist forms of it. I feel that this helps keep us honest and accountable. We (people like me and many who write in Bitch) may watch TV and even enjoy many shows, but it is important to us to be wary of stereotypes we see and to evaluate what we are watching. Sometimes, something may rub our feminist sensibilities the wrong way but we are not sure why, and someone else can look at it and articulate the issues with it. Bitch serves as a "watch-dog", so to speak of pop-culture, and provides a forum to discuss and analyze trends in TV, movies, Hollywood, books, etc.

I hope I am explaining myself here. If not, you can ask me more and I will babble more ;-P

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah ok, that makes sense. I think I was projecting a bit too much of my own feelings.

Me, I agree with a lot of the issues they raise... but since I haven't ever quite put my finger on any of the GOOD points about pop culture, I just kinda dislike the whole package. So when I see someone else who isn't blinded by the beauteous actresses or the big explosions, someone else who's evaluating critically and can see some of the flaws, I take a wild-ass guess that they dislike pop culture too.

CJ flunks Logic 101. :)

Anyhoo, thanks! And that is a delicious magazine!