Help save Bitch magazine

The woes that the publishing industry is facing are well. Magazines and newspapers are losing revenue, advertisements are down and layoffs continue. Hopefully we can all agree that a diversity of voices is beneficial for everyone.

I don't recall when I began reading Feministing, but I quickly began hooked. I don't agree with everything they post, but find it a refreshing/ provocative view on issues, news and culture. In a similar vein is a magazine called Bitch, which describes itself as commentary on the media-driven world from a feminist perspective. http://bitchmagazine.org/

The magazine is currently in financial trouble and needs to raise $40,000 to survive. I have to admit that I’ve never read Bitch – I read their blog, but for some reason haven’t been able to find it on the newsstand. However, I’m blogging about it because I think It’s so important that we support a diversity of voices.

Bitch magazine needs your help!
http://www.feministing.com/archives/011064.htm

The "Save Bitch" campaign: 28 days and $24K to go

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/09/save-bitch-magazine.html

Help Us Keep Bitching

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/09/16/help-us-keep-bitching/

Bitch Editors Ask Readers for 40K: Feminist Mag's 'Fate Is In Your Hands'

http://www.observer.com/2008/media/bitch-editors-ask-readers-40k-feminist-mags-fate-your-hands

Will Bitch Go Broke?

http://www.motherjones.com/riff_blog/archives/2008/09/9754_and_i_said_list.html

Taking the Times to Task

Bitch Magazine has a piece about the New York Times book review section - Hard Times: At the New York Times Book Review, all the misogyny fit to print. In it, Sarah Seltzer argues that a majority of the reviews are written by men and a majority of the books reviewed are also written by men. She also claims that feminist books are usually poorly received.

Recently, Times editors—in both the daily paper and the Sunday section—have trotted out a particularly insidious formula for bashing feminist authors. First, hire a female reviewer to unleash misogynist tropes in her piece and then, lest she appear prejudiced against her own gender, throw in an illogical, contradictory statement about the importance of a less threatening version of feminism that isn’t so “polarizing,” “provocative,” or “strident.”

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From gossip blogger Ana Marie Cox’s review of Katha Pollitt’s Virginity or Death!: “Young, educated, and otherwise liberal women who might, in another era, have found themselves burning bras and raising their consciousness would rather be fitted for the right bra…and raising their credit limit. Katha Pollitt is the skunk at this Desperate Housewives–watching party.”

Side note: feminists taking to the street to burn their bras is a widely debunked myth.

According to Seltzer, none of the Time’s “Top five novels of 2007” was written by a woman and only 13 of 50 on the short list were written by women.

Whether you agree or not, this is interesting reading.

http://bitchmagazine.org/article/hard-times