Social commentary

Magazines We Hate

Esquire’s annual “Women We Love” feature gives with one hand and takes away with the other. Hidden behind the premise of honoring them, the article puts women firmly in their place by using the traditional patriarchal tool of male approval—rewarding certain traits in the female while disparaging others.

Bitch Male Objectification Rave of the Month: John Travolta

Article by Andi Zeisler, appeared in issue Premiere; published in 1995; filed under Social commentary; tagged disco, grease, John Travolta, objectification, sex objects, sexualizing.

We here at Bitch are in thorough approval of the post-Pulp Fiction Travolta renaissance that has awarded our favorite 1980s cinematic cheese-king some new credibility. Back in our prepubescent days, we wished we could be Olivia Newton-John in Grease, J.T.’s disco-dancing partner in Saturday Night Fever, and Debra Winger in the god-awful Urban Cowboy. Do you have to ask why?

Bait and Switch Sassy

Article by Lisa Jervis, appeared in issue Premiere; published in 1995; filed under Social commentary; tagged gender roles, magazines, media, misogyny, sassy, sexuality, stereotypes, teens.

Back in March a horrible thing happened. After a few months of checking the newsstands for my beloved Sassy, wondering what the hell was up and why I couldn’t find it anywhere, suddenly there it was—mutilated almost beyond recognition. Peterson Publishing (they also own Guns & Ammo) bought Sassy, replaced the entire staff, and gutted the editorial philosophy—and the new staff is trying to pretend that it’s the same magazine it always was.

Whee! #1

We love Claire from 90210. She’s so brainy; she’s so hot. She never plays dumb for the boys and she gets to fuck them anyway... Yay for the recent changes in Ms. Not that we didn’t adore it before, but now we’re foaming at the mouth with love... Good for NBC for making visible the covert racism of Friends in a promo for David Schwimmer’s SNL appearance... We were pleasantly surprised by a recent "What Women Want" roundtable in GQ (August 1995)...
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