feminist

You know when you come across a super rad zine artist and you're really into their work, then you casually waltz into a comic shop, and you find one or two of their zines from years and years ago, but you get pretty bummed that the zine and comic shops in your area don't have a sufficient selection, so you scour the Internet but can only find so many other things, then you realize you've wasted hours looking for who has the lowest shipping costs? You then proceed to read every interview with them, you learn all you can about their life, then you step back for a minute, and it hits you—maybe you're a little obsessed with the artist and you feel weird about it, but you end up e-mailing them professing your undying love for them and their work anyway? Please tell me this isn't something only I go through.

Regardless, starting right here, right now, I will be taking you on a journey, showing you why I love three incredible queer zine artists, and why you should love them too.

First up:  Edie Fake!

This has been another week! Here's what we've been reading.

• s.e. smith weighs in on the tragic shooting in Colorado this morning, asking why we blame "crazy" people for acts of violence. [xoJane]
• Check out this awesome and super insightful dialogue on the intersections of race and feminism and more! [Tiger Beatdown]
• Oh, I'm cringing right now. Longtime Google executive, and new CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, believes in equal rights, and that women are just as capable, if not more capable than men in many dimensions, but doesn't identify as a feminist because she doesn't have "militant drive" and a chip on her shoulder??? Get with it, Marissa! Where the heck would you even be right now without feminism? These "opportunities" for women you speak of weren't just handed to us. [Feministing]
• Mike Le discusses frustrations with the lack of Asian and Asian American characters in Joss Whedon's shows. [Racebending]
• This week in Olympic athlete discrimination: Highest ranked Olympic weightlifter Sarah Robles can't get sponsored because she doesn't fit the model athlete image? Well, she's got one sponsor, but still, come on! [Slate]
• Megan Dietz tackles issues around weight obsession, diet culture, and all sorts of things that plague societal standards of beauty and body image. And BBC's global weight calculator is certainly not helping the matter. [The Hairpin/BBC]
• Uh oh, Slate's advice columnist, Emily Yoffe (Dear Prudence) isn't giving very sound advice, and frankly, just comes off as totally rude and condescending. "Stop acting like a parody of a gender-studies course catalog and start acting like a loving wife." Seriously? Drunk sex is not always consensual sex, and nonconsensual sex is rape. Point blank. [In These Times]
• Hooray! VIDA – Women in Literary Arts recently launched their blog! [HER KIND]
• Healthy San Francisco, the city's health insurance program for uninsured residents, to remove its trans exclusions. One step closer to trans inclusive healthcare everywhere! [Bay Area Reporter]
• And just because I'm a little obsessed, you should look at this side by side comparison of this young fan's shot-by-shot recreation of Beyoncé's "Countdown." It is actually perfect. [Videogum]
• Portland update: The Portland Queer Music Festival is this weekend! Come for the music, stay for the queers!

What have you been reading, musing, raging, or raving about? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Maybe it's time to reclaim karaoke, stop singing along to Paul Anka, and find some new hits. Or maybe just start a Rihanna cover band. Karaoke is cool again, and your grandparents will vouch for that and say it never wasn't cool.

So, for your listening pleasure and newfound or renewed appreciation for the art of karaoke, here are some sexy songs (and some previously unsexy songs) covered by badass musicians who I totally love. Add these songs to your karaoke repertoire and you'll totally be the star of the party.

The Karaoke(y) To My Heart from BitchTapes on 8tracks.

As a good queer studies (not to be confused with lgbt studies, gender studies, and women's studies–though, they're all related) student, it's important to have your bases covered. You start with the foundational texts, because as an incredibly new (we're talking about my age, here) and constantly evolving field of knowledge, queer studies theories inevitably build on each other as society changes. As Michael Warner coined, queer studies is "a subject-less critique, with a focus on a wide field of normalization as the site of social violence." Terms are carried from one essay to the next, ideas are thrown diagonally, across, backwards, and mixed up with a whole bunch of other things ranging from race theory, to postcolonial theory, to pretty much every social study under the sun, and basically, if you start somewhere in the middle, you'll probably get lost, and overwhelmed. It's like a secret club where everyone cites each other. But don't be discouraged—you can catch up! Let's take a trip down queer memory lane, and visit some old friends. If you've ever read any contemporary feminist or women's and gender studies material, it's likely that you've come across the names of those who are considered pioneers of queer theory—Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Lauren Berlant, and of course, Eve Sedgwick, amongst a host of other fancy academics. Like many queer theorists, Sedgwick's writing is dense, and not the easiest to unpack in a single read, but I swear she was an awesome lady who I am definitely grateful to have read in such depth.

Riled up yet? Here are more things that might make you angry, but also some things that should make you excited! Take this as your cue to go out and get some sun this weekend. I think we all need it.

• Daniel Tosh may have taken the cake for being the scum of the week, but Domino's Pizza is riding in the same douchebaggy boat with their new "no is the new yes" campaign. Really, Domino's? Must we shout it from the top of our lungs? "NO" MEANS "NO." [Feministing]
• Janet Mock explores why "trapped in the wrong body" is a convenient and lazy explanation that victimizes trans individuals. [Fish Food For Thought]
• An exploration of the fetishization of race, and how your assumptions based on ethnic background aren't gonna get you any dates with people of color. [Feministe]
• LPAC–the first ever Lesbian Political Action Committee–launched this Wednesday! Jane Lynch approves. [Autostraddle]
• As if we weren't already psyched by the new Smart Girls at the Party show Meow Meow Music, the channel launched a new web series this week, Ask Amy, where Amy Poehler gives advice to girls. Can someone ask Amy if she'll be our BFF?
• The racial dynamics of street harrassment, and how catcalling has reached an all-time high. [Oshun Returns]
• As a follow up to Julia Bluhm's petition against using photoshop to alter bodies in Seventeen magazine, a group of young women petitioned for Teen Vogue to feature more diverse and relatable bodies, but had their concerns dismissed by the the editor-in-chief. Put down your Teen Vogue, there are quality magazines out there–with friendly staff who will actually listen to you! We promise. [Ms. Blog/Jezebel]
• A town in Germany has designated certain tricky parking spaces "Men Only." Um, what? [AP]
• Mitt Romney responded to being booed at the NAACP conference. Not such a people pleaser, but he's still under the assumption that he'll get the black vote. Dude, seriously? [Colorlines]
• Are you in the New York Metropolitan area? Have you been under a box for the last few weeks and need some excitement, i.e., a weekend full of queer and feminist bands and workshops? Well, here's a reminder that C.L.I.T. Fest is tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Seriously though. Get your butt on NJ Transit. I know you hate it, but it'll be worth it. Go. For me.
• Portland update: In Other Words is hosting its last Dirty Queer X-rated open mic event of the summer TONIGHT at 6:30pm. Come down and celebrate Friday the 13th with some dirty Portland queer cuties. After that, head up to The Know to see Forever, Swearin', and Waxahatchee. Yeah, that's right, Katie Crutchfield from P.S. Eliot has some new heartbreaking tunes for you. 

What have you been reading, musing, raging, or raving about? Share your thoughts in the comments!

This Too Shall Pass from BitchTapes on 8tracks.

It's one of those weeks—the kind where you wake up hating everything, and it's hard to decipher exactly why. Maybe it's a combination of things—perhaps it's the weird teen angst hangover of your early 20's, or you're missing somebody, or maybe you took the comments section of a blog post too personally, or maybe it's none of that and you're just sad because people have feelings, and that's okay. Tears build up like a raging river, held back by the dam that is your eyelids. You continue your day by wallowing, writing a sad letter, sitting amongst unfolded laundry, and unfinished crafts. Then, as soon as you think it's all starting to feel better, something else happens and your face becomes Niagara Falls. And it's nothing that hugs and nice words can mend because your feelings are serious business. But maybe next week will be better. You can only hope.

Here are some songs to accompany a sad day/mad day/bad day, which will probably only make you more upset, but sometimes it's what we need, right?

If you read Bitch, you are likely at least somewhat familiar with Gloria Anzaldúa and her work with feminism, her beautiful writings, and her advocacy for women of color. She was a Chicana-Tejana-lesbian-feminist poet, theorist, and fiction writer, born September 26, 1942, in Raymondville, Texas. She passed away on May 15th, 2004, but still remains one of the most widely read, respected, and loved queer woman writers of color in history.

Well, this has been an exciting week!

• As you've probably heard, Andersoon Cooper came out earlier this week. Super exciting to hear, but here's why when straight people say things like "it's about time?" or "why did he even have to come out in the first place?" it's rude, entitled, silencing, and downright annoying. [Tiger Beatdown]
• Speaking of coming out, has Frank Ocean changed the game? He released an incredibly powerful statement via Tumblr, which is stirring up some commotion in the often homophobic world of hip-hop, and is also creating a lot of tender feelings. Excuse me while a tear up a little—his mom is super proud and said he's an "incredible human being." [Ebony/Tumblr/Colorlines]
• Rookie is releasing its fancy first print edition in September! This is so exciting! Are you excited? [Rookie]
• Did you see that "Booty Pop" video? Tami Winfrey Harris breaks it—and the stereotype of the hypersexual black male—down for you. [Clutch]
• Anti-choice legislation strikes again! First New Jersey, and now North Carolina is to defund Planned Parenthood—an estimated $200,000 will be stripped from the state's two remaining Planned Parenthood affiliates. [Ms. Blog]
• Objectification or empowerment? Caroline Heldman has devised the Sex Object Test to measure the presence of sexual objectification in an image. [Sociological Images]
• Hey, look! Wal-Mart is still horrible, and the Supreme Court doesn't care about the oppression of women. [Autostraddle]
• June Thomas talks about the history of closed captioning, and how streaming online content ignores deaf viewers. [Slate]
• Catch up on your queer history. United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, a film by Jim Hubbard, is being screened in a few places this month (NYC, Philly, LA, DC, I'm talkin' to you), and you should go see it!
• Check out this awesome video of Janet Mock and Isis King on media representations of trans women. [In The Life Media]
• Portland update: The second annual Portland Queer Music Festival is coming up on July 22nd, and half of it is all-ages! Pre-sale tickets are available now!

What have you been reading, musing, raging, or raving about? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Blood, Sweat, and Queers from BitchTapes on 8tracks.

I have now been here for exactly a month, and we're finally getting consistently beautiful weather. I'm glad that person who said the weather would be literally perfect after July 4th wasn't lying. But really. The ten-day forecast predicts sun every single day with a 0% chance of rain. You heard me correctly, 0% chance. Portland, I see what y'all have been looking forward to. I sure as heck wouldn't want to be boiling in the heatwave in the mid-Atlantic right now. That is not what the precious pomp on my head needs. Nooooo, thank you.

So, now that things are getting hot 'n' sweaty, you need to be geared up, right? Sun block, check. Muscle tee, check. Cut-off shorts, check. Phresh summer haircut, check. Comfy dancing shoes, check. Cuties to dance with... wait, did I say geared up? I meant queered up. Here's a bunch of jams by some super fun queer folx who will help you get yr Portland (or wherever you are) summer officially rollin'. Hey, and some of these steamy queers are playing this summer in a town maybe near you! Yay!

Here's what we've been thinking about this week that isn't the TomKat divorce announcement.

• A fourth edition of Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera is to be published, but it can't happen without your help! [Kickstarter]
• Jay Smooth tells us why "don't feed the trolls" is a stupid piece of internet advice. Feed them or relinquish your position on the internet forever! [Ill Doctrine]
• We all know (or at least we all should know) that the myth of the "model minority" is super problematic! Here are some solid reasons why it hurts not only the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, but why it hurts everyone. [Colorlines/Feministing]
• Sexual harassment isn't a joke. This mall in New Jersey doesn't seem to agree. [TDN]
• Speaking of things that aren't jokes, abuse against women, and abuse IN GENERAL is not something to make a "funny" t-shirt design out of. It's not funny. Stop that. [Open File]
• Jos Truitt explores cissexism, the undermining of trans identities, and unexamined privilege and oppression within queer communities. [Feministing]
• Remember the Bechdel Test? Well here's the Roberts Test for trans people of color in film and television. [Transgriot]
• Flavia Dzodan responds to the Anne-Marie Slaughter piece on feminism's "failures." [Tiger Beatdown]
• Wanna be a "reverse racist" and learn how to oppress white people? Check out this step by step guide. Wait, you don't think I'm serious, right? That's not how oppression works. But get a kick out of this hilarious racial satire. [Black Girl Dangerous]
• The Allied Media Conference is this weekend in Detroit! Browse the schedule here, and follow #AMC2012 on Twitter. [AMP]
• Anne Helen Peterson discusses the female gaze, desire, and Magic Mike! Stay tuned for our review (via Popaganda–back by popular demand!) of Channing Tatum's fantastic acting skills naked bod later today! [Anne Helen Peterson]
• Check out this piece on Nora Ephron's early years when she was a feminist New Journalism pioneer. [Salon]
• Portland update: For Bitch Media's second installment of CineBitch, we'll be screening 9 to 5 at Mississippi Studios on Monday, July 2nd at 7pm!