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Bitch (magazine)

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Bitch was an independent, quarterly alternative magazine published in Portland, Oregon.[1][2] Its tagline described it as a "feminist response to pop culture", and it was described in 2008 by Columbia Journalism Review as "a respected journal of cultural discourse".[3][4] As a feminist publication, it took an intersectional approach.[5][6]

Bitch
Bitch, cover from the Winter 2004 issue
EditorRosa Cartagena
CategoriesLifestyle, feminism
FrequencyQuarterly
Circulation80,000 (2015)
FounderAndi Zeisler, Lisa Jervis, Benjamin Shaykin
FoundedJanuary 1996 (1996-01)
Final issueApril 2022 (2022-04)
CompanyBitch Media
CountryUnited States
Based inPortland, Oregon, U.S.
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.bitchmedia.org
ISSN2162-5352
OCLC46789560

Bitch was published by the nonprofit feminist media organization Bitch Media. The magazine included analysis of current political events, social, and cultural trends, television shows, movies, books, music, advertising, and artwork. Its print magazine had about 80,000 readers.[7][8][9] The magazine's publisher, Kate Lesniak, estimated that it had an online readership of 4.5 million.[10] On April 12, 2022, it was announced that Bitch Media would cease operations in June 2022.[11][12]

History

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Founding

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The first issue of Bitch was a ten-page feature, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, which started as a zine distributed out of the back of a station wagon in 1996, published in January 1996 in Oakland, California.[13][14][15] The founding editors, Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler, along with founding art director Benjamin Shaykin,[16][17] wanted to create a public forum in which to air thoughts and theories on women, gender, and feminist issues, interpreted through the lens of the media and popular culture.[18] In a 2008 interview, Zeisler stated that the zine published content of interest to the editors and which wasn't available elsewhere.[4] Prior to founding the magazine, Jervis and Zeisler had worked as interns at Sassy, another feminist magazine.[18][19][20]

Later speaking about the decision to name the magazine "Bitch", Zeisler stated that it was inspired by reclamation of the word 'queer' by the LGBT community.[8][21][22] The editors viewed the word 'bitch' as associated with a derogatory description of outspoken women so thought it best to claim the word in advance."[8] Other reasons for the name included its capability to intrigue people, and the word's use as both a verb and a noun.[23] Zeisler stated that: "Having the word 'feminist' in the magazine subtitle has been far more controversial than having the word 'bitch' in the title... the word 'bitch', for better or worse, has become part of our cultural lexicon. Yet 'feminist' is still one of those words that people find very hard to understand."[24]

Expansion

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In 2001, a loan from San Francisco's Independent Press Association allowed Jervis and Zeisler to quit their current jobs and work on Bitch full-time and the magazine officially became a non-profit.[25][26] Around that time, Shaykin left the magazine.[6] By the early 2000s, the magazine had achieved a readership of about 35,000, which grew to 47,000 by 2006.[19][23]

The magazine was the subject of an obscenity controversy when it published a dildo advertisement on its back cover for its Fall 2002 issue.[27][15][19] Responses to this were mixed, and Bitch later published varying opinions about the incident from letters sent by readers.[27] Later interviewed about the events, Zeisler expressed that there had been a certain naivety about the impact of placing the advert on the back cover. The U.S. Postal Service contacted the magazine and stated that copies of the issue would be considered obscene literature and would have to be distributed in black polybags.[15]

Bitch celebrated its 10th anniversary in August 2006 by publishing a Bitch anthology entitled BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. Edited by Bitch founders Jervis and Zeisler, BITCHfest includes essays, rants and raves, and reviews reprinted from previous issues of Bitch magazine, along with new pieces written especially for the anthology.[28]

In March 2007, Bitch relocated from its offices in Oakland, California, to Portland, Oregon.[15] In 2009, the Bitch nonprofit changed its name to Bitch Media, covering expansion beyond publication of the magazine.[26][8] The magazine's 50th issue was published in 2011. That same year, Bitch won an Utne Reader Independent Press Award for Best Social/Cultural Coverage.[29]

In 2011, Bitch partnered with feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian to create the video series Tropes vs. Women. The series examined common tropes in the depiction of women in media with a particular focus on science fiction.[30][31] As of 2012, Bitch hosted the Bitch YA Book Club for young women and girls, which focused on young adult literature. The reading group's online blog included a forum for club participants.[32]

Bitch Media also hosted podcasts, and a college speaker series, "Bitch on Campus".[33][34][35] "Popaganda" was hosted by Amy Lam and Sarah Mirk, who discussed politics, news, and media.[36] "Backtalk" was hosted by Amy Lam and Dahlia Balcazar, who reviewed and discussed the week in popular culture through a feminist lens.[36]

Decline and closure

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Bitch Media experienced difficulty funding its magazine in its final years.[37][38] On April 12, 2022, Bitch Media announced they would be shutting down the publication after 26 years.[5][11] The magazine's last issue was released in June 2022, for its Summer edition.[39] Bitch Media ceased all operations the same month.[12][11] According to Bitch Media, its website would keep archives of its publications available for the "foreseeable future".[26][5]

Notes

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  1. ^ Elizabeth Groeneveld (2010). "Join the Knitting Revolution: Third-Wave Feminist Magazines and the Politics of Domesticity" (PDF). Canadian Review of American Studies. 40 (2): 259–277. doi:10.1353/crv.2010.0006. S2CID 144564370. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  2. ^ Bailey, Courtney (September 22, 2003). "Bitching and talking/gazing back: feminism as critical reading". Women and Language. 26 (2). George Mason University: 1–9.
  3. ^ "Bitch Media: About Us". Bitch Media. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Delacorte Lecture with Bitch's Andi Zeisler". Columbia Journalism Review. April 2, 2008. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Reaume, A. H. (May 12, 2022). "Celebrating Bitch Magazine: A Reading List". Longreads. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Gautschi, Heidi (March 10, 2018). "Des femmes, des sciences et des technologies : une analyse textuelle de Bitch (2000-2016)". Itinéraires. Littérature, textes, cultures (in French) (February 2017). L'Harmattan. doi:10.4000/itineraires.3795. ISSN 2100-1340. S2CID 165546955.
  7. ^ Kuo, Rachel (February 2018). "Racial justice activist hashtags: Counterpublics and discourse circulation". New Media & Society. 20 (2): 495–514. doi:10.1177/1461444816663485. ISSN 1461-4448. S2CID 4983510.
  8. ^ a b c d Rudulph, Heather Wood (May 2, 2016). "Get That Life: How I Co-Founded Bitch Media". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  9. ^ Jenkins, Joy Michelle; Johnson, Erika Katherine (March 4, 2017). "Body Politics: Coverage of Health Topics and Policy in U.S. Feminist Magazines". Mass Communication and Society. 20 (2): 260–280. doi:10.1080/15205436.2016.1227994. ISSN 1520-5436. S2CID 151856072.
  10. ^ Clarke, Kelly (March 20, 2017). "Andi Zeisler and Bitch Media Pushed the World to See Pop Culture through Feminist Eyes". Portland Monthly. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c "Bitch Comes to a Close". Bitch Media. April 12, 2022. Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Mukhopadhyay, Samhita (May 6, 2022). "The Demise of '90s Feminist-Zine Culture". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  13. ^ Ehrlich, April (April 17, 2022). "Portland-based Bitch Media plans to close its doors in June". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  14. ^ "Research Guides at Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America: Women's Magazines". Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d Yoshiko, Lauren (March 2, 2021). ""Bitch" Magazine Co-Founder Andi Zeisler Talks 25 Years of Sharp Feminist Thought, Finding Home in Portland, and That Controversial Dildo Ad". Willamette Week.
  16. ^ Seely, Megan (2006). Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York University Press. p. 223.
  17. ^ "Bitch Magazine: Our History". Bitch Media. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Solomon, Deborah (August 6, 2006). "Pop Goes the Feminist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Hines, Alice (May 23, 2016). "Bitch Magazine Turns Twenty". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  20. ^ Hurwitz, Heather McKee (May 10, 2017). McCammon, Holly J.; Taylor, Verta; Reger, Jo; Einwohner, Rachel L. (eds.). From Ink to Web and Beyond. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190204204.013.22. ISBN 978-0-19-020420-4.
  21. ^ Zeisler, Andi (November 18, 2007). "The B-Word? You Betcha". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  22. ^ Deggans, Eric (March 23, 2008). "B-Word Makes the A-List". The Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  23. ^ a b Yadegaran, Jessica (September 26, 2006). "It's a female dog, and the name of the fearless feminist magazine". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  24. ^ Aiello, McKenna (February 24, 2015). "Co-director of Bitch Media Discusses Intersection of Feminism and Pop Culture". Year in Review. USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  25. ^ "Bitch Magazine: Marrying Pop Culture And Feminism". HuffPost. March 11, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  26. ^ a b c Oganesyan, Natalie (April 12, 2022). "Bitch Media to Cease Publication After 25 Years, Receives 'Heartbroken' Tributes From Readers and Writers Alike". TheWrap. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  27. ^ a b Savage, Ann M. (November 2, 2017). "Making feminist media: third-wave magazines on the cusp of the digital age". Feminist Media Studies. 17 (6): 1123–1125. doi:10.1080/14680777.2017.1380435. ISSN 1468-0777. S2CID 149189527.
  28. ^ Watrous, Malena (August 20, 2006). "More than a bitch session – essays scrutinize pop culture". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  29. ^ "Winners of the 2011 Utne Independent Press Awards". Utne Reader. Archived from the original on December 23, 2011.
  30. ^ Dean, Paul (May 31, 2013). "Tropes vs Women in Video Games: Why It Matters". IGN. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  31. ^ Williams, Mary Elizabeth (June 14, 2012). "Lara Croft battles male jerks". Salon. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012.
  32. ^ Shier, Allie (December 1, 2012). "Young Adult Book Clubs: Feminism Online". Girlhood Studies. 5 (2). Berghahn Journals: 122–127. doi:10.3167/ghs.2012.050208. ISSN 1938-8322. S2CID 144089771.
  33. ^ Frost, Allison (April 15, 2022). "Feminist nonprofit Bitch Media folds after 25 years". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  34. ^ Schwedel, Heather (May 12, 2022). "Bitch Media's Co-Founder Explains Why Bitch Media Had to Fold". Slate. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  35. ^ Steiner, Linda (May 14, 2019). "Feminist Journalism". In Vos, Tim P.; Hanusch, Folker; Dimitrakopoulou, Dimitra; Geertsema-Sligh, Margaretha; Sehl, Annika (eds.). The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies (1 ed.). Wiley. pp. 1–9. doi:10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0130. ISBN 978-1-118-84167-9. S2CID 241992524.
  36. ^ a b "Podcasts | Bitch Media". Bitch Media. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  37. ^ Locker, Melissa (September 27, 2019). "Feminist publishing icon Bitch magazine needs your help". Fast Company. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  38. ^ Bernard, Riese (April 12, 2022). "Bitch Magazine Is Closing: Bad News For Me, You and Indie Media Overall". Autostraddle. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  39. ^ Shotwell, Alyssa (April 13, 2022). "Bitch Media Ends After 26 Years of Provocative, Vital Pop Culture Criticism With a Feminist Perspective Front & Center". The Mary Sue. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
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