feminism

We've taken a slight break from covering Twilight news on the blog because we thought our vampire jokes might be sucking the life out of you (zing!), but the New Moon trailer aired earlier this week and posting it here became as irresistible as Bella's sweet-smelling heroin plasma. Warning: The following video contains clunky dialogue, paranormal teen angst, and more damsel-in-distress scenarios than you could shake a wooden stake at.



Some of the players may have changed, but it looks as though Bella's role as the defenseless female who is both abused and protected by males has remained the same. Also, the werewolf looks cheesy.

Belinda Luscombe over at Time Magazine sparked an online debate yesterday regarding an internet-only Budweiser commercial that makes light of pornography purchasing. Says Luscombe, because it [the commercial] comes from a highly respected American brand, it seems to mark some kind of cultural tipping point, where pornography has soaked so far into the fabric of mainstream culture that it's no longer seen as a stain.

In my humblest of humble opinions, the porn is not what's wrong with this commercial. Check it out and then we'll discuss:

"I blame feminism and Facebook for the death of the American automobile." So said NPR's PJ O'Rourke on NPR's Morning Edition earlier today. According to O'Rourke, feminists are to blame for the auto industry's decline because at some point in the 70s we stopped putting out in the backseats of cars and starting going to work instead. WTF, PJ?

Now, before you get your unisex underwear in a twist, I realize that PJ O'Rourke is a humorist (I do listen to Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! after all). His next sentence was "I'm a Republican, so I blame everything on feminism — or commies." So yeah, he's kidding -- somewhat. But he's still getting laughs at feminism's expense, and I personally don't think that he is 100% joking here. Let's discuss it further, shall we?

Bitch is proud to announce our new book lovin' blog, Bibliobitch! To kick off our foray into the land of literature, here is an interview with author Kate Walbert by Bitch contributor Sarah Seltzer. Stay tuned for more, you bitchy bookworms, you.



Kate Walbert's new novel "A Short History of Women" follows the women in a single family down through the generations. The official synopsis of the book is: "From a lecture delivered to suffragettes in Victorian England to a playdate on Manhattan's Upper West Side, this provocative work chronicles four generations of women, their aspirations, the limits imposed on them, and the sometimes startling choices they make in the world."

Walbert's fictional family history begins with Dorothy Townsend, who starved herself for the British suffrage movement, and continues through to today. As Dorothy's name reappears in different permutations among her children, nieces and grand-nieces, so does her struggle with "the problem that can't be named," or the problem of how women can find fulfillment in an obstacle-filled environment. Dorothy's daughter devotes herself to science and shuns intimacy, even while serving as a role model for younger women. Her grand-nieces contend with an emptiness and lack of purpose and take that feeling out in myriad ways: trespassing on military property, blogging their feelings, drinking and moving through life as best they can. Walbert has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and the "playdate" chapter of this novel appeared in the New Yorker.

A few months back, Publishers Weekly published my interview with Walbert. However, I also asked her a few extra questions that were near and dear to my heart: namely, about the F-word. Here are her answers.

We talk a lot here at Bitch about the ways in which certain products are marketed to women, and with good reason (there are some weeeeird lady products out there). However, for every product that bizarrely targets women there is one that bizarrely targets men as well. Here are a few that have come to our attention as of late:

Boost Mobile



While the racecars and Danica Patrick indicate that this is a product for dudes, it is surprisingly gender-bendy (what with the gynecomastia and the woman athlete signing fans' breasts and all). Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? On paper it seems like it shouldn't be offensive, and yet...

More after the jump!

Did anyone else see that a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer film is being made, but that Joss Whedon won't be involved? WTF is the point of that?

Without Whedon, won't the film just be a remake of the decidedly less kick-ass1992 original? WHY MUST HOLLYWOOD SUCK THE LIFE (and feminism) OUT OF EVERYTHING GOOD?!?

Last week, at a panel session during the Seventh Circuit Bar Association in Indianapolis, a couple of judges aired a grievance regarding women in the courtroom. Their complaint? Lady lawyers are dressing too damn sexy!

Discussion of this all-important issue included the thought by Chief Judge Michael McCluskey that some women come to court wearing "skirts so short that there's no way they can sit down and blouses so short there's no way the judges wouldn't look," and Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar's belief that female lawyers' clothing is "a huge problem." He said sometimes he wishes he could tell the female lawyer before him, "I'd really like to pay attention to your argument." But he can't, you know, because her boobs are too distracting.

What's next? Keeping women out of the courtroom entirely because some of the male judges can't handle their pretty hair or nice eyes? More of a discussion (if you randy readers can handle it!) after the jump.

Those of you who spend a fair amount of time on the internet (and I include myself in this group) have hopefully had the good fortune to visit the wonderful world of I Can Has Cheezburger, the ultimate source for LOLz on the world wide webs. (If you haven't been there yet, you should really check it out.)

Anyway, we here at Bitch lovez ourselvez some LOLz, and we thought it would be fun to start a weekly blog feature highlighting LOLz that have a touch of feminist politics to them (and the usual adorable hilarity, of course). We made these ones, but what we really want is for YOU (that's right, we're talking to you) to send us your own feminist LOLz so that we can feature them on the blog each week. Just go to the LOL builder and send your creations to us via the blog tips page. We know you've got some adorable animal pics floating around that are just begging for a feminist caption! Some examples:

Awww, who could resist passing gay marriage legislation after seeing this photo?



And this puppy is just stating what we've all been thinking, isn't she?



Do you think that the person who came up with the "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" slogan ever consulted the fish about it?



Have a great weekend, and send us your LOLz so we can post them here next week!

You've heard it all before. Feminism is dead. Third wave feminists are politically apathetic individualists. Third wavers blog and pole-dance and post drunk photos of themselves on Facebook and call it feminism.  The latest proclamation of feminism's death/irrelevance/apoliticism/weaknesses comes from a Guardian article titled Sex, drink and fashion.  Is this the new face of American feminism?

Like Jessica at Feministing, I'd love to rip this article to shreds, but following her lead I'm going to focus on what feminists all over are doing for the movement...starting with you.  What have you done for feminism?  Whether it's speaking up when you hear sexist or homophobic jokes or organizing a rally for immigrant women's rights, I want to know what you've done lately to keep feminism alive and well.