Along with hot pink and oversize handbags, women's magazines are pushing a new trend this season: lesbianism. At least, that is the impression given by this article in this month's O Magazine (featured also today on CNN.com).
The article, entitled "Why Women Are Leaving Men For Other Women," deals with well, exactly what it sounds like it would deal with. While it's a great thing that a mainstream magazine like O is apparently making an effort to normalize same-sex relationships, it's hard not to feel a little weird about the way the author (Mary A. Fischer) treats lesbianism and sexual fluidity as a fun, sexy, new trend that is all the rage this season. (What's next? Flashy new mood rings that change color based on your gender identity?)
Upon completion of Wetlands by Charlotte Roche, two major questions remain unanswered for me. First, what is it exactly about this book that made it the first German-language book to ever become the number-one Amazon.com bestseller, worldwide? And second: What in the name of Mary Wollestonecraft does a one-joke grossout book have to do with feminism?
As a card-carrying Mitch Hurwitz devotee, I anxiously awaited the premiere of Fox's Sit Down Shut Up (which first aired on Sunday, but which I watched yesterday on Hulu). After all, SDSU was created by Hurwitz, supposedly inspired by Summer Heights High, and features voice acting by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Henry Winkler, and Cheri Oteri (among other hilarious actors). What's not to be psyched about?
Now, to be fair, my hopes were about as high as they could be for this show, so while I'll say I was a bit disappointed, that doesn't mean I didn't think it was funny or worth watching. Plus, in traditional Hurwitz fashion, SDSU manages to pack quite a lot of content into a 22-minute episode. They cover all sorts of taboo topics in the pilot, including, naturally, gender politics. Read on for more!
Oh, and here's a clip:
Welcome to Poker Babes. Sexiest Women of Poker. Why is Google more interested in the way these ladies look than how they’re making mad cash off a keen intellect and sly ability to out bluff their opponents?
1935 was an interesting year, to say the least. Capitalism, the industrialization of the labor market, and, most importantly, the Great Depression,
had combined to create a perfect storm that left American workers and their
families facing unprecedented hardships with little help from the
government to overcome them. President Roosevelt faced the gargantuan
task of coming up with solutions to these problems, and to help him he
appointed the first-ever female cabinet member, Secretary of Labor and
mother of the American welfare state Frances Perkins. Thanks to her, that year also got to see the passage of the Social Security Act.
In the latest issue of Rolling Stone, Hulk Hogan says he can empathize with OJ Simpson, alluding to the 1994 murders of Simpson's wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her boyfriend Ronald Goldman. Hogan and his wife, Linda Bollea (Hogan's real name), split up in November 2007 when Bollea filed for divorce. She has since started dating a much younger man, which apparently angers Hogan to the point of making the extremely douchey claim that he "could have turned everything into a crime scene, like OJ, cutting everybody's throat". Of course, since his statements have subsequently received a lot of backlash, Hogan is out to assure the masses that his words were nothing but empathetic. Clearly, there is more to it than that, sir. Read more after the jump!
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Next Tuesday, April 28, the amazing Guerrilla Girls are coming to Portland to hang out with us! They are participating in the Bitch/PSU/Willamette Week Feminist Perspectives in Pop Culture Lecture Series, but something tells me this is going to be a bit more than just a lecture. Here are some details:
Bitch magazine and PSU’s Women’s Resource Center present Feminist Perspectives in Pop Culture
Guerilla Girls, "Art and Activism"
Tuesday, April 28, 7pm
Portland State University (PSU)
Smith Memorial Ballroom, 1825 SW Broadway
7:00pm, doors at 6:30pm
Tickets
$8 in advance, $10 at the door
Students: $7 in advance,
$9 at the door w/ID
For tickets:
PSU Box Office: 1825 SW Broadway
(888) 845-8457
or Ticketmaster: ticketmaster.com
We need YOU to help with our Bitch subscription drive! As a Street Team Captain, you’ll have the power to spread the word and cultivate support for the most intelligently sassy feminist media organization around. Interested? Check out the 
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