Editor of Bitch speaks about feminism

Questions for Andi Zeisler
Pop Goes the Feminist
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

Q: I see that your magazine, a feminist quarterly based in Oakland, Calif., and devoted to critiquing the sexist slant of pop culture, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the publication this week of a thick anthology called “BitchFest.” Why would you choose to glamorize the unappealing female stereotype of the bitch?

When we chose the name, we were thinking, well, it would be great to reclaim the word “bitch” for strong, outspoken women, much the same way that “queer” has been reclaimed by the gay community. That was very much on our minds, the positive power of language reclamation.

But is the goal to rouse an entire generation of women to become bitches?

We have always sort of concentrated more on the active verb form of “bitch.” As in, to bitch. And, actually, as grammar nerds, that was one of the big factors in choosing “bitch.” Hey, it’s a noun and a verb.

But so is the word “kvetch.”

Well, “kvetch” has a very specific cultural connotation.

What, besides your screaming title, do you think the magazine has contributed to feminist discourse?

We’ve tried to get people to see that pop culture is a critical locus of feminism. Most young girls are not reading Ms. They’re watching “The OC” or “Veronica Mars.” It makes sense for us to talk about those pop-culture products, because those are the conversations that girls are having among themselves. They’re not talking about how many seats women have in Congress. They’re not talking about public policy.

You sound as if you’re trapped in a pop-culture bubble, which is probably true of many people born since the 70’s, when image became all.

TV and mass media in general are the conduit by which most people get their information and form their opinions. We are such a mediated society.

Do you think television representations of women have improved since Mary Tyler Moore became a working-girl icon in the 70’s?

No, I think they have devolved. Sitcom women have gone back to the role of the doting, harried wife, like in “The King of Queens .” Working women are more likely to be found on procedural dramas, like the various “Law and Order” or “CSI” shows.

That’s true. I think Chloe, the hunched and crabby counterterrorism agent on the Fox drama “24,” is probably the most appealing female character on television right now.

I think Chloe would probably be it. I love that actress, Mary Lynn Rajskub, but I never got into “24” because it makes me too tense.

On the other hand, you can’t say Chloe is a feminist. She is a more of a postfeminist who instinctively takes control in a world mismanaged by men.

I don’t believe in postfeminism. The media love to trot out the idea that feminism is dead, and every so often it will be the cover story in Time or somewhere else. But feminism is as alive as ever.

Is it really? It seems as if its original vision of social equality has been undermined by third-wave feminists like yourself, who limit your critiques to, say, Tori Spelling’s breasts. Doesn’t the obsession with pop culture risk trivializing feminism?

I think that could be a risk. But if you are going to be working in feminist activism, you have to look at pop culture, because that’s what everyone else is looking at. Young women today have more day-to-day contact with “Desperate Housewives” than with the radical feminist writings of Germaine Greer or Shulamith Firestone.

By the way, are you aware that the film “Best in Show” features a couple who start a magazine for lesbian dog owners called Bitch?

Yes, it was called American Bitch. We were so excited about that!

Did you and your co-founder, Lisa Jervis, have any magazine experience before you started Bitch?

We were both interns at Sassy.

As opposed to Savvy.

Savvy was earlier, right? Maybe there will be a magazine someday for older women called Saggy.