Help Save Bitch!

Feminist consumers of pop culture, aca/fans and fangrrrls,

Bitch Magazine, the 13 years strong, thoughtful, sassy, funny & ever-so-smart publication needs our help. The bottom line, is literally, the bottom line--they need money, and they need it fast. Andi Zeisler and Debbie Rasmussen explain:



I first saw Bitch on the shelves of City Lights Books in the Fall of 1997. It was the Masculinity issue and the cover read "Life. Lust. Standing up to pee." I almost bought it, but didn't - - and have kicked myself ever since.

I later started my Bitch library with the "Orange" issue in Fall of 1998, and have bought every issue since.

It would be a shame to lose the voices collected in Bitch. They may survive as a webzine, but I think that even as print fades (or, evolves) there is still real power in the experience of a magazine you can thumb through and put on your library shelves.

Dis(mis)sing Women

Writer and Comics Herstorian, Trina Robbins, posted the following to the Women Comics Scholars List today and I'm aghast:

This is from the book, "Our Gods Wear Spandex," by Christopher Knowles,which just came out:

"Wonder Woman is by far the best-known of the superheroines, and her audience has always been predominantly male. Young girls are generally not interested in superheroes and gravitate more toward romance, humor, and teenage comics."

Anyone here contribute to discussion boards? I'd love to see this up on a women fan's discussion board and see what comments it generates.

- Trina

Snort. How does one even respond to this sort of ignorance? (Other than by writing a book of course!) THIS is why I never read comics as a teenager, I'd outgrown genres which were socially acceptable for a young girl to read and had no idea that there might be anything else out there.

Females are continually steered away from comics, and yet there's evidence that many more women have been empowered by Wonder Woman than men. It's not that "young girls generally aren't interested in superheroes" it's that superheroes we can relate to--that embody our thoughts, lives, and journeys are depressingly underrepresented.

To add to that, television is typically where female characters thrive, as women are more likely to be in the home and engaging with that medium, so complex female characters are particularly sparse in what is (fallaciously) considered a male form of entertainment.

So here are some of MY favorite comic book females, problematic as they may or may not be.










And here are links to some amazing female and feminist fans critiquing a genre that's not supposed to be for them.

Girl Wonder (And check out their Auction this month. )

Sequential Tart

When Fangirls Attack

Introduction

So I’ve finally given in and hopped on the Blog Bandwagon, although I feel more Rupert Giles than Willow Rosenberg about the idea of creating an online presence.

But at Comic Con International this Summer I discovered that there was much I wanted to write about my experiences. Even though by now the pilots, rumors, and confirmed spoilers of The Con are circling The Net, my first few posts will address some of the forthcoming pop media from my perspective as a fan, a feminist, and a critic.

My hope is that in making the effort to frequently contribute to my website I’ll get in the habit of writing everyday (which will help knock back chapters of Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology) and that I’ll have a space to try out ideas, maybe even network.

Feel free to post in the comments, email me directly, and send friends or coworkers who may be interested in my direction.

Here’s hoping you enjoy some (virtual) Ink from the Amazon!

Jennifer K. Stuller