media

This just in: B-Word, publishers of acclaimed independent magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, is pleased to announce the launch of its redesigned website, www.bitchmagazine.org. Bitch, of course, is the whip-smart, groundbreaking national magazine of feminism and pop culture critique that since 1996 has informed, challenged, and entertained generations of supporters. Why the new site?

“Because brainy feminists need more intelligent, independent media in their lives!,” says the B-Word team. “And with this website, we’re able to continue critiquing all that’s wrong (and the few things that are right!) in the world of pop culture.”

As they describe it, thanks to the generous support of more than 400 individual donors B-Word and Bitch were able to expand upon their mission and take the first step in evolving into a multimedia organization that, like the magazine, is supported by readers. The site will be noncommercial and offer content free of charge because “In accordance with its mission of critiquing advertising-driven models of media, B-Word seeks to prove that even in this world of hyper-commercialism and consumerism, a reader-supported publishing project is possible.”

The website will feature blogs from founders and staff, an online version of the Love/Shove column, and an organizational blog sharing the happenings at B-Word and Bitch. And due to popular demand, all content from sold-out back issues and will be posted, along with selected content from issues still available.

Very, very cool.

CNN now has a 3 minute video up from their 1-hour exploration of race, gender, and politics on Friday. In it, CNN’s Randi Kaye talks with a group of women about the “unavoidable issues of race and sex over Clinton and Obama.” And speaking of spectacle, on March 31, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at my alma mater (the University of Michigan) will be offering one of theirs. The event is called “Status and Spectacle: Stagings of Gender, Race, and Class in U.S. Popular Culture” and I wish I could teleport and attend. The poster they sent me has this amazing image of the Hollywood Canteen for Service Men, white service men casually strolling in on one side, “colored” service men rigidly lined up on the other, waiting, it seems for the white boys to go in. Among the topics to be covered: southern culture, white manhood, and the 1956 assault of Nat “King” Cole; Gretchen Wilson and the country rhetoric of the “virile female”; and clashing configurations of class, race, gender, rank, and celebrity at the Hollywood Canteen.

(The event will take place from 4-6pm at the Michigan Union, for those in the area! For more info, call 734.764.9537)

Oh boy oh boy I just can’t seem to stop yapping on this one.

But first, I’d like to frame this post with a note that I by no means believe that all opposition to Sen. Clinton is sexist in nature. And, as blogger Amanda Marcotte smartly notes, opposing sexist pandering against Sen. Clinton isn’t the same thing as endorsing her. (Even though I, in this case, did.)

That said, here are two pieces to share today in which I’m quoted yapping about Hillary, sexism, and media: The Guardian, Pavement Pieces.

As it turns out, I am SheSource’s “Expert of the Week.” I am always happy to speak about Hillary, but I am NOT into putting people down who support Obama. Especially women. And I hope other women speaking out publicly this week aren’t either. We got more important things to talk about. ‘Nuf said.

(Thank you, Gwen, for the heads up!)

Stimulus plan doesn’t hold up against a female audit, according to Women’s eNews. And neither does 30 Ways of Looking at Hillary, argues smarty Susan Faludi over at the New York Observer. (I maintain: When I grow up, I still seriously want to be that woman.)

So as promised, a bit about my experience participating in the Progressive Women’s Voices Project, a new media training and spokesperson program from the Women’s Media Center to connect media professionals with media-savvy women experts in a variety of fields. Funded by a grant from the NoVo Foundation, the program provides its participants with intensive media training and ongoing support “to promote their perspective and message into the national dialogue.”

Let me first say that the WMC–founded by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan–is graced with an amazingly talented staff. The joint expertise of our trainers (Carol Jenkins, Glennda Testone, and Kathy Vermazen) knocked my socks off. On camera practice with these women? Invaluable. Learning from women with tremendous experience being out there in the public eye? Priceless. To wit: Board member Gloria Feldt shared savvy wisdom about the importance of embracing controversy, and Gloria Steinem shared an adage that has stayed with me: “Progress lies in the direction you haven’t been.”

The group of participants is in a word, well, powerful. Aside from soaking up massive doses of inspiration from these women and some of the best messaging training I’ve seen, we supplemented whatever knowledge we already had about a range of media tools–including blogging. And, as readers know, whenever I go somewhere where an experienced blogger shares tips on blogging, I like to pass them on. See one, do one, teach one and all that. Emily McCann of The Motherhood and the Been There Clearinghouse stopped by on Sunday to share her know-how with us and here’s some of what I gleaned:

-Want to post images in your blog, legally? In addition to Wikipedia and Photos from the Library of Congress on Flickr, other sources for open source images include Creative Commons, also at Flickr, and Photobucket.

-Seen some term or techy acronym on a blog recently and had no clue what it meant? Check out blogossary, a site billed as the blogosphere’s dictionary.

-Ready to create your own wiki? Check out pbwiki and wetpaint. (Confession: I came home and created one right away. I’m hooked.)

-Lastly, two hugely popular blogs that I hadn’t heard of and sound interesting include How to Change the World Blog, and 37days.

And speaking of changing the world, did you know that more women than men are now online? And also, women are twice as likely as men to pass forward an idea about a campaign or a cause? More on that in a book coming out in June 2008 by another of the weekend’s speakers, Lisa Witter. The book is cleverly titled The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World–and How to Reach Them.

This little report is the tip of the iceberg. In addition to the trainings, each week we participate in an issues briefing conference call, with experts from different realms. This week’s call was with economist and President of Bennett College Dr. Julianne Malveaux. Today, the economy. Tomorrow, the world!

Ok, I’m getting carried away. It’s only been a week in The Program.

I’ll post here when the WMC posts a notice for future applications. To would-be pundits out there: Trust me. If you have the opportunity, this is something you don’t want to miss.

Some really great recap-blogging going on out there about the Progressive Women’s Voices Project that I’m feeling extremely humbled and honored to be participating in. Here’s Courtney Martin on the evening we all went to dinner and had a collective kiniption fit when the restaurant turned the channel from CNN (it was the night of the South Carolina primary) to the Sports Channel. Here’s Joanne Cronrath Bamberger on what you do when Gloria Steinem calls. And here’s Linda Lowan (of About.com’s Women’s Issues blog) on democracy in action. Thank you to these three for sharing their thoughts so far, and I promise to throw in soon too!

Check out the Feburary issue of More magazine (on stands this week!) for a look at the women running Hillary’s campaign, by journalist Ann Gerhart. And don’t miss the accompanying forum, called “If Hillary Wins,” compiled by yours truly.

I had an amazing time putting together this forum–and a shout out to everyone who helped (you know who you are)! The assignment was to ask a handful of opinionated women over 40, who themselves have seen plenty of firsts, to muse about how life might change if a woman became the 44th president. I had the chance to commune with incredible women, whose comments appear in the issue, including former potential presidential candidate Pat Schroeder, Jane Swift (former Gov of Mass., now campaigning for John McCain), Eleanor Roosevelt biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook, comedian Margaret Cho, author and philosopher Linda Hirshman, essayist Daphne Merkin, Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, trade and security expert Seema Gahlaut, and first female White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Their cumulative comments are funny, outrageous, poignant, serious, irreverent, and surprising. I hope you’ll check it out, and pass it along to friends, regardless of which candidate you support 🙂

Stay tuned to More‘s newly relaunched website for fuller responses from these women, and many, many more! I’ll post more about that web forum here on GWP very soon….

I’m late on this one, but I’m jumping for joy that Feministe’s Jill Filopovic is now a presence at AlterNet. Jill is the editor of their newly-launched Reproductive Justice and Gender section. If you haven’t been there yet, GO! Go now! To whet your appetite, here’s a sampling of stories included in the roundup over there today:

Hillary’s Gender Is a Bigger Deal Than We’d Like to Admit
Megan Garber, Columbia Journalism Review. January 9, 2008.
An in-depth look at media coverage of Clinton’s emotion.

Maribel Rosas, American Sexuality Magazine.
A young Latina woman chooses to give birth, and discovers her mother’s support.
Gender Equality Cheers and Jeers. January 8, 2008.

The Reality Behind Hollywood Pregnancies
Susie Bright, SusieBright.com. January 7, 2008.
Here’s some of the things you can look forward to in your unplanned Hollywood pregnancy.

Pop Culture Pregnancies, Teen Edition
Katha Pollitt, The Nation. January 7, 2008.
Teens getting pregnant: bad. Teens having babies: good. If this makes no sense, wake up and smell the Enfamil: it’s 2008!

Click here to get at the links.

As those who know me know, I’m all for the innovative intersection of politics and glam, if it helps engage more women in a worthy cause. Like voting. And campaigning. And just the other week, Glamour magazine launched a blog with promise: Glamocracy.

As Broadsheet’s Carol Lloyd notes, “it’s a clever move when an estimated 25 percent of the voters are 18-29 and an increasing number of those younger voters are actively following the presidential elections.” Here’s Lloyd’s assessment:

The idea behind Glamocracy is simple but deft. Five women from different backgrounds (but all within the youngish Glamour demographic) blog weekly on the 2008 elections. Amanda Carpenter, a 25-year-old reporter for conservative Web site TownHall.com, and Asma Hasan, a 33-year-old Muslim-American who describes herself as a moderate and currently registered Republican, fill out the right flank, while Fernanda Diaz, a student from Columbia University and first-time voter, and Caille Millner, a 28-year-old African-American editorialist for the San Francisco Chronicle and unabashed Barack Obama booster, make up the left. Only Rebecca Roberts, a 37-year-old journalist (and daughter of pundit Cokie Roberts), claims journalist’s license and resists showing her political undergarments….Diaz’s post — about the candidates acting as if the youngest voters are “exotic animals” requiring full-time youth-outreach specialists and MTV-style events while regularly ignoring the international issues — taught me something I didn’t know. As might be expected, though, there’s plenty about candidates’ wives and daughters. So far, mercifully, there’s not a single fashion do or don’t.

Personally, I think it’s brilliant. I’ll look forward to watching it maintain its integrity, which, with these five writers behind it, should not be hard to do. They’re off to a great start.

Is this what happens when a woman’s bid for president and a writers strike coincide?

This spring, Fox will air a new reality show called “When Women Rule.” Here’s how reality guru Mike Darnell, who’s overseeing the project, describes it for Variety:

“You take 12 attractive women who feel like it’s still a man’s world and who think they’ve hit a glass ceiling, and you give them their own society to run. Then you take 12 macho, chauvinistic guys who also think men rule the world and see how they survive in a world where they’re literally manservants. … They’ll have to obey every command from the women.”

The cliches at play here are so tired they’re not even worth commenting on. Ok, one comment. Can you imagine anything more counterproductive? Master’s tools, master’s house and all that. Jeesh. But don’t worry. These man-eaters aren’t ugly feminists. They’re “attractive women.” Phew. And we all know that women who think that sexism still exists are really just out to punish men.

“Payback can be a bitch,” Darnell said.

According to Fox Entertainment prexy Peter Liguori (what’s a prexy??), the show is a sociological experiment:

“What it’s doing, in a very Fox-like fashion, is testing social mores,” he said. “This is a social experiment and not a sexual experiment. We decided, why not create this Petri dish of a society and see what happens.”

Fox-like indeed. But here’s my favorite part:

“The other part of the show becomes, what will the women do,” Darnell said. “Will they be able to create a great society or will they fight with each other?”

Oh goodie! I can hardly wait for the ensuing catfight, cuz catfights are so sexy. Catherine Price over at Broadsheet does a great takedown, based on the press release. I join her in prayer: May the writers strike be resolved soon. Save us from more bad “reality” tv.