Original link located here.  (Edit for clarity: this tweet went up on the 7th, the day the article was posted.)

Unless you’ve been under a rock, I’ve been posting a lot about this Bitch Magazine/biphobia debacle over the past few days.  (Gosh, I’m still waiting on that public apology I requested!)

Now, many fellow members of the LGBT community have made it clear that we have a HUGE problem with the headline and content of this piece.  Now, I don’t advocate that Bitch should remove old tweets, but I do think it’s telling that this tweet popped up on my Twitter about an hour ago:

(Original link located here.)

Seriously?  Really?  On what fucking planet is this acceptable?  It’s bad enough that Kelsey Wallace seems to think that the title was the only objectionable portion of the article, but to post the SAME article (with nothing changed by the title) again on their Twitter account stinks of childish stubbornness.

I’d rather get my feminist analysis elsewhere.

(But, as a side note, I did find this hilarious comment from Kelsey Wallace on the worldwide intertubes.  Scroll down until you hit it; in a nutshell, she has a problem with a blogger’s criticisms of Bitch‘s take on the travesty known as Jennifer’s Body.  It’s so professional of her to track down bloggers and chastise blog posts on their personal sites.  My favorite portion was this line “but I don’t think that warrants your questioning of our feminism or abilities as bloggers.”  Right, because disallowing non-mainstream feminist voices doesn’t imply that the Bitch editors are the arbiters of feminism, now does it?)

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

While I was enraged about the bi-phobic garbage presented in the infamous Casey Johnson/Tila Tequila article posted on Bitch Magazine, I made a sarcastic comment about how begging readers to donate money was a much better use of time than actually fixing the problem.  And what do you know?  A few days later, the Bitch Facebook page linked here in an attempt to beg for subscriptions.

My response to this (on Facebook) pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole matter:

LOL. THANK YOU FOR PROVING MY POINT.

This magazine is a fucking joke. See the handling of the Casey Johnson “article” if you don’t understand why. Hey Kelsey Wallace, thank you so much for ignoring my email after giving us the bullshit, pissy “you can email me if you have issues with Bitch” comment on that thread.

If this magazine’s interpretation of feminism has become posting homo/bi-phobic and misogynistic articles, all but ignoring complaints about them, and then begging readers to subscribe to this hot mess of a publication, then count me out. I’ll be removing myself as a fan and publishing my email to Kelsey on my website as a follow-up to my criticisms about the horrendous “Tila Tequila” post.

I’m certainly doing more for feminism there than reading this nonstop crapfest.

It’s beyond frustrating.  Web editor Kelsey Wallace spouted off a talking point about giving a crap and then completely ignored my email.  I gave her two business days to respond and watched her ignore my email in favor of putting up two posts on the website (one on the 9th and another yesterday, the 11th).  I’m so glad to see where Bitch Magazine’s priorities lie.

Here’s the content of the email that Ms. Wallace couldn’t bother to respond to:

Kelsey,

I think I’ve pretty much covered all of my complaints with the content.  In my opinion, Bitch’s online content has been steadily declining over the past six months.  Many of the pieces I have caught online have bordered on insipid, even when I do agree with the point.  Take the South Park piece, for example.  (Located here: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/come-on-down-to-south-park-and-watch-some-feminist-episodes)  I agree that Trey Parker & Matt Stone have presented a feminist (or at least feminist friendly) perspective in quite a few episodes of the show and – as both a radical feminist and a libertarian – would have loved to read a much more in-depth essay about the subject.  Instead, readers were treated to a shallow piece that barely scratched the surface or incorporated feminist theory into the discussion.  I copied & pasted the piece into Word and did a word count on it; it was 390 words and came in at around 1 page.  There is no reason why Juliana Tringali couldn’t have incorporated examples, criticism, and a little bit of feminist theory into a tight, polished essay instead of something that reads worse than most blog posts.

I used to be able to count on Bitch for making me think about things a little bit differently, but now I can only really count on Intro to Women’s Studies-esque discussions.  Natalie Stein wrote the type of article you expect to see in an Intro to WMST course just before the author gets schooled.  I’d really love to not be subjected to this crap from a “feminist” publication.  Bisexuals take shit from lesbians who think we aren’t gay enough or who want to label us as “dykes.”  Straight men either automatically assume you’re into threesomes or are so intimidated that you might know how to get a woman off better than them.  Straight women are often convinced you’re going to want to lez out with them or are threatened because you’re so much more exotic than they are.

All of this shit that we take is dismissive of the many facets of our sexuality, objectifies us, and is just bad news bears in general; these ideas are based – at least in part – by ill-formed stereotypes of bisexuality.  Instead of tearing down these stereotypes and misconceptions, Natalie focused more on tearing down the unlikable women attached to these stereotypes (to paraphrase a Facebook user: the unstable, exhibitionist bisexual and the fallen blonde heiress).  What could have been a powerful critique on the media circus surrounding this very sad, very real story turned into an excuse to say “HAHA BI = BAD IDEA!”  Geeze, there were so many different, feminist ways this discussion could have gone.  Y’all could have even used the Perez Hilton/Tila Tequila Twitter war (over Casey Johnson’s death) to talk about sexism within the LGBTQA community and stereotypes about LGBTQA women instead of this tripe.

Hiding behind a disclaimer means nothing, especially when it’s used to justify misogynist and homophobic crap.  As I mentioned in one of my Facebook comments, it’s not like unpopular feminist perspectives will be read in Bitch anytime soon – which is the reason newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. have a version of that disclaimer.  It’s downright shitty when – instead of being used for it’s intended purposes – the web editor hides behind such a disclaimer to justify a piece such as this one.  As a member of the LGBTQA community, it really feels like I’m being told that my complaints, issues, struggles, and oppression don’t matter, as long as no one’s feelings get hurt by Patty Heaton.  Honestly, if you can’t see how this is a problem, then I don’t know what to tell you.

In a similar vein, passing all the blame off onto the author is irresponsible of both you and Bitch Magazine, and your miffed tone when you first began receiving criticism is bullshit.  You came across as more annoyed than anything else because those uppity lesbos threw a shit fit; I’m sure this wasn’t your intention, but to be honest, your tone in your initial comment really pissed me off.  It really struck me as typical dismissive breeder bullshit.  Furthermore, before you can even attempt to defend an article about the LGBTQA community, you need to check your privilege and try to understand why so many of us took issues.

It’s fairly obvious that neither you nor Natalie even attempted to see where we were coming from here.  The “solution” was an apology posted way down in a Facebook comment thread that came across as an “I’m sorry if you got offended” styled “apology” and the title of the article was changed.  This was despite the fact that many commenters complained about the CONTENT of the article, myself included.  I really think you missed the point on this, considering you didn’t get that the title was only PART of the problem.  I’m not going to go through point by point and tell you everything that was sexist, homo/bi-phobic, and/or generally fucked up because – frankly – as a gender studies major, you should know better.  These are the reasons I said that I probably would not be restarting my subscription to the magazine; I don’t really want to pay money to be dismissed and have it defended.  I’m very disappointed with the Casey Johnson piece, and even more disappointed with the way it was handled; seriously, Kelsey, we didn’t even get a response from a Bitch Magazine rep until I mentioned I likely would not restart a subscription.

With all that being said, I do appreciate you opening your inbox for comments on Bitch, as well as coming online to facilitate a discussion.  Personally, I hope that this entire debacle can be used as a learning experience.  In the future, I deeply hope that Bitch will take a bit more responsibility when selecting pieces to run in print or online editions, that future authors will be a bit more sensitive to marginalized groups, and that the dreaded “opinion disclaimer” will be used for its intended purpose (instead of a way to deflect criticism from the magazine and its contributors).  As far as right now, I think the least that Bitch could do is put up a public apology on the main page from both Natalie and you; both of you have already apologized once in the infamous Facebook thread and we have every right to expect a formal, written apology on the main page.  I’m not saying that it will fix everything, but I think that it will go much further than you might think.

Thank you for letting me sound off to you.

Sincerely,
Vicki Moore

I don’t understand why this email – along with the suggestions in it – was ignored.  I guess that the Bitch staff has a huge case of butthurt when it comes to criticism directed at the magazine, which is pretty disappointing.  You would think that a magazine billing itself as an alternative to mainstream media might actually function in an alternative manner.

‘Magine that.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

This all led the author to use the term “fake lesbian relationship” in her headline.

Luckily, many other Bitch readers were also pretty pissed about the off-base and phobic shit in the article. Frankly, I am shocked that anyone from Bitch thought this article should have been run on their website, but before I delve right into that mess, I really need to unpack all the sterotypical garbage here.

1. Oh, those darn attention seeking bisexuals!

As one Facebook user remarked, no one claims that Paris Hilton isn’t into dudes because she’s used her sexuality for attention. The attention seeking portion of it doesn’t make the sexuality any less real or valid, and is so heavily rooted in bi-phobia. What bisexual hasn’t heard claims that they’re just doing it for the attention, especially bisexual sex kittens – who are also always doing it for male attention? Surely no femme looking sex kitten or vamp type could have actual desire for another woman or even be experimenting; nope, it must be Girls Gone Wild syndrome.

2. Why can’t these homos be two-dimensional Super Gays instead of being nuanced individuals?

I can’t believe that Bitch Magazine would allow something to run that was so dangerously close to making a “credit to your race community” argument. Dude, really? Do I have to make more of a point here? Seriously, Tila Tequila, Courtenay Semel, Samantha Ronson, Portia De Rossi, Fergie, Perez Hilton, Neil Patrick Harris, Margaret Cho, Andy Dick, Sir Ian McKellen, Elton John, Jim McGreevey, Barney Frank, Dan Savage, and Christian Siriano are NOT the emperors of gay people. None of ‘em hold that title. They are not saints, they are not perfect, and they are certainly not two-dimensional stereotypes. Are we good on this?

3. OMG TILA TEQUILA HAS GONE OVER HER 140 CHARACTER LIMIT OF GRIEF!

Before Shot at Love, the only real distinction Tila had was to be the person with the most popular Myspace page ever. Shocking that she might grieve online? Let’s be honest, yeah, it’s not the smartest idea. If nothing else, when you’re emotional, you are so much more likely to say things you’ll later regret, and given this twisted mess of clusterfuckery, it’s probably a much better idea to take a breather and log off Twitter for a few days. But is Tila Tequila really the first person to publicly mourn the loss of a loved one? Is she really the first person to make bad decisions on the internet? Even if she was the first to do it, how on Earth is this proof that this is somehow a “fake” lesbian relationship?

There was a lot of great feminist theorizing that could have happened here. We could have seen a discussion open up about the media circus surrounding Casey Johnson’s death, or even a discussion about any of the objectionable portions of Stein’s post; instead, Bitch Magazine’s web editor, Kelsey Wallace, felt that this bi-phobic tripe was a better use of bandwidth. How do I know this? Well, Ms. Wallace jumped into the fray of critical comments (after I had commented that I would likely never get another subscription to the magazine) with the following miffed comment:

Hi, this is Kelsey, the Web Editor at Bitch. Thank you everyone for your comments. I have contacted Natalie, the author of this post, and asked her to respond to your concerns about her interpretation of Casey Johnson and Tila Tequila’s relationship. Please keep our policy in mind that “Opinions expressed on this website are those of their respective authors, not necessarily those of Bitch.”

As for those of you who feel that all of the content on the Bitch Media website is rapidly declining and is at the level of a high school women’s studies course, please feel free to contact me (kelsey@b-word.org) to relay any specific criticism you may have.

Thanks again,
Kelsey Wallace

Notice two things: the statement does not address the specific issues others had with the post, and it uses a disclaimer to deflect all criticism onto the author. Opinion disclaimers are meant to protect a publication from extreme criticism over an unpopular view. In this context, it would be meant to cover the mag’s asses if they had someone writing about why they don’t support gay marriage because they don’t support marriage (for example). The disclaimer isn’t intended as a clever little shield to deflect rightful criticism such as horribly bi-phobic language and points made in a supposedly feminist publication. (What’s next? Are we going to see articles warning us about the Lavender Menace?)

By hiding behind it and hanging Natalie Stein out to dry, Kelsey (and, by extension, Bitch Magazine) might as well be saying, “not our problem!” I guess we’ll just ignore the web editor’s responsibilities re: approving pieces for publication. It was completely irresponsible to allow this article to run in the first place. The solution was to change the headline of the piece (to “Sapphic Salon: The Death of An Heiress, The Milking of the Press“), to completely disregard the issues within the article, and to give a half-hearted “sorry if you were offended” styled “apology” within Facebook comments. As of right now (11 pm EST, 1/9/10), there is still not an apology or any acknowledgment that the article was shouldn’t have been posted in its current form.

Considering that Bitch likely won’t be asking Angela Keaton to contribute any pieces to their site under the guise that her opinions are not necessarily shared by Bitch Magazine’s, I think it’s safe to call “bullshit.”  It’s even more depressing to me because it feels like Ron Paul campaign BS all over again.  Why is it that my issues – as an LGBTQA woman – can be sold out and dismissed, but it would be the worst crime in the world to give Jill Stanek a voice? (I say this as being one of the main organizers on this event.) I’m guessing that it will be a cold day in hell before we see Kelsey Wallace giving either Wendy McElroy or Camille Paglia a voice in the publication.

It’s the same old homo/bi-phobic crap that we queers have been subjected to since the beginning of friggin feminism. It’s tired and played out, but sadly, probably won’t fully change; instead, privileged straight people will continue to act like they know how we should feel about any subject. Maybe we would all be a little better off if we started listening to marginalized groups and stopped speaking for them.

Then again, what do I know?

Follow up: Kelsey Wallace, web editor of Bitch Magazine, ignores reader complaints.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

This is, of course, all under the guise of restoring her autonomy to her. This, certainly, could have nothing to do with the state essentially getting all butthurt about Polanski’s flight, and is all about restoring law and order!

Isn’t it ironic?

Also in “omg, are you living under a rock news”: Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize despite his authorizing his own troop surge in Afghanistan. It’s because, as I’ve sarcastically noted before, Bush was an asshole, but Obama has reasons for continuing Bush’s war-mongering, civil liberties disrespecting, homophobic, oppressive policies.

It’s like a no smoking sign on your cigarette break, my friends.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

1. I’m opening with a must read for anyone arguing that libertarianism and feminism are mutually exclusive.  Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage be Saved? I’m not finished reading it yet, but the link was provided by one of the authors and I am really digging it so far.
2. Inspired by my stupid idea that vanilla vodka + hours of Wii sports would somehow be fun, I bring you Wii injury.com.  I imagine I will wind up there within the next month or two.
3. In shameless promotion news: my comments on Young Americans For Liberty have made their rounds, and it appears that they’ve caused (at least) a small stir.  Considering some of the feedback I’m receiving (like, hi, I totally got a private email from…well, we’ll just say someone pretty well-known & influential in LP circles), I’d say I done good.
4. On that thread, I was also handed a link to the Ladies of Liberty Alliance.  While I think the name is a little “meh,” I love concept.  Hell, call it “turd in a box,” for all I care, as long as it serves the same purpose.  I pretty much always support efforts to organize women in non-female dominated circles, and love anything that helps train women to be leaders. (Don’t you just hate the kind of typos that alter the meaning of an entire sentence?)
5. In non-libertarian news: so, what was that about wasting resources?  Thanks to women like Maureen Picozzi, hundreds of thousands of misogynists can continue to feel vindicated when they blabber about false rape charges.  Cause certainly, rape is the only crime involving false charges.
6. Halloween II brought in $17.4 million this weekend.  Even though I’m going to bury my face into Libertarian Boyfriend’s shoulder the entire time, I must see this!
7. In wtf news: the poor French are dealing with exploding iPhones.  I know someone who will be so amused by that.
8. In completely unpredictably news: Douchebag extraordinaire Joe Francis has been accused of assaulting a woman.  Hey, media, quit making him relevant, plz?
9. In “duh” news: If you don’t want people to know your address, you probably shouldn’t post it on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site.  Cause, well, some people are going to use that to break into your home, for starters.
10. iPhone has a “find my iPhone” setting.  People like to steal iPhones.  Do you not see where I’m going with this?
11. Reasons why I love Bitch: this point/counter-point about Meghan McCain.  While there are definitely things I like about Ms. McCain, she also supports some deplorable shit, and I think that gets lost a lot of the time.
12. Similarly to the Cow Days episode of South Park (which always makes me fucking cry because the cows. are. drawn. so. fucking. cute.), 28 Swiss cows & bulls threw themselves off a cliff in the Alps.  I guess these ones weren’t aware they could just use guns.
13. And to wrap things up, here is a critique on the Olbermann “omg, like, why should anyone distrust the government?  Obama of Nazareth is in office, which means everything is like, perfect!” attitude.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

1. Kissimmee, FL police are too stupid to tell the difference between crack rocks and minty fresh breath mints.  He now no longer has his home, car, and his job.
2. Plaxico Burress is sentenced to one month more in jail than Michael Vick.  This is despite the fact that Vick was profiting off of a criminal enterprise and Burress – quite literally – only hurt himself.
3. Cash for Clunkers is finito even though it made so much sense as a green initiative to allow people to trade in their old pickup trucks for new ones.  I guess the several mpg helped save the American auto industry ozone layer.  Or something like that.
4. In case you’ve been living under a rock: the Lockerbie bomber was released.  According to a victim’s sister, this says “you can get away…WITH MURDER!”  I’m thinking that it says “if you go and get yourself some cancer, you can get away…WITH MURDER!”
5. Obama to health care: I’m never gonna give you up, I’m never gonna say good-bye.  I’m never gonna run around….and hurt you.
6. Kinta Stanton, a defendant in last year’s assault of a Philly Starbucks manager, testified in court on Thursday morning.  Philly residents are showing their respect for civil rights and the law by decrying the defendants’ rights to a trial.  I guess you’re only innocent until proven guilty if you are a cop.
7. I have nothing against suicide.  I do, however, have something against suicide when it prevents me from going to Chinatown to get some Boba drink.
8. Chow.com reports on the comeback of alcoholic punch and makes me jealous of New Yorkers.
9. I feel dirty about supporting him in any way, but I do like this small piece by John Stossel re: “Obamacare.”
10. Michael Vick’s pit bulls have been rehabilitated.  I’m waiting to see a story about him donating a nice chunk of change to the rescue who had to take of his dogs, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
11. In shocking news, the guy whose (until recently) only claim to fame was a crappy pop-country song with a line dance might not be the best person to give out parenting advice.
12. According to a Canadian study, injections of prescription grade heroin are much more effective at treating heroin addiction than methadone.  I’m a little bummed, because I thought the article might be the heroin equivalent of your parents making you smoke an entire pack of cigarettes.
13. Google books is run by a bunch of meanieheads who just want to hurt intellectuals!  Right, because most of the country is buying books and not garbage like Every Thug Needs a Lady.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

Lok down yer goggies, Michael Vick iz in town!

Imagine my surprise earlier this evening when I learned that Michael Vick, former Atlanta Falcon and current douchebag extraodinaire, was signed to the good ol’ Iggles today.  At the risk of polluting the interwebz with yet another opinion about insipid bullshit that shouldn’t be worth my time (or yours), I felt compelled to ask two questions to the “Michael Vick has served his time” crowd:

Does that mean you’re all against sex offender registries created through Megan’s Law?  After all, those sex offenders have “served their time,” so don’t they deserve a second chance and deserve to not have their personal information broadcast all over the internet?

I’m just wondering why people who have paid their debt to society deserve to have their lives ruined over statutory rape charges, pissing on the side of a building, or streaking, yet a man who admitted to and was convicted of running a dog fighting ring should be allowed to retain his multi-million dollar job.  Oh, why he should be able to keep that job despite the contract he signed which undoubtedly had a morality clause, which typically covers things that give your employer bad PR.

But it’s cool, because he paid his debt to society!  He ran a large, organized operation that was very punishable under RICO (had his plea bargain not been accepted), and Vick got very lucky that he is as famous as he is or I doubt he would have gotten out of his legal troubles.  Now, he gets to run ads for the Humane Society that basically say “I’m Michael Vick, and I’m just sorry I got caught” and everyone is buying his snow job about being a changed man.

I’m steeling myself for an onslaught of “the crimes just aren’t the same” comments, despite the fact that this isn’t my gripe.  My gripe is that there is a lot of overlap between the “Michael Vick paid his debt to society” crowd and the “sex offender registries are 100% awesome” crowd.

Frankly, something just ain’t right about that.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

I, being the smartass I am, put up a humorous status stating that I “did NOT cause the Facebook dramz responsible for a million kids at Broad & South.” Because, well, there’s too damn much lulziness to go around about this idiotic situation. This prompts me to get the following moronic friend request:

My name is Timothy from Fox 29 News. I was hoping you might be able to tell me more about the “Facebook dramz” you said might have caused the riots on and around South Street last night.

Really? Really?

My response:

If you were actually affiliated with the media, why bother me – a nobody – about the rioting that occurred at Broad and South early this morning? Why the fuck do you think I – a 30 year old white woman – would have some hot lead on rioting that (from what I’ve been told) involved predominantly 14-18 year old African-American young men?

It’s called Google. Acquaint yourself with it and stop bothering uninvolved people through social networking sites. I have my privacy settings so high so that assholes like you can’t bother me on it.

I sure hope this doesn’t start another night of rioting. Sorry, Timbo!

I did a quick Google search a few minutes ago and learned that we were lucky enough to register on Jill Stanek’s radar. We also got an entire post dedicated to us over at Life Advocates. As immature as it might be, I’m very tempted to pop over to both blogs and thank them for the attention. Hey, FMLA can always use more members.

Some observations:

The implication (of one of the blogs, I think Ms. Stanek’s) that all — or at least most — pro-choicers were born post-Roe is hilarious. My mother was my age when she had me, making her born way pre-Roe, and she ranted to me about “pro-life” clinic protesting and why she thinks it’s fucking stupid.

“May the fetus you save be gay” is mean? I’ll agree that it is a slightly problematic sign and I can understand why people would find it distasteful for many reasons, but mean? I could understand if you think it’s mean to that fetus because the Christian Right is generally both homophobic and anti-choice, but I don’t understand why else it would be mean….unless…you think it’s mean because you are homophobic! I know, I know. Crazy talk, right?

I know the guy holding the “Keep Bush out of my bush” sign. IIRC, he grabbed it because there were no other “generic” signs that would apply to men and we all need a little bit of humor to break up the tension. So why attack his gender and/or his looks? How on earth is that appropriate? If you homophobic, sexist bigoted fucks want me to NOT VIEW YOU AS HOMOPHOBIC, SEXIST BIGOTED FUCKS, then don’t act like fucking idiots, k?

Blah blah, we love abobo. I get it. It’s not that I think keeping abortion a decision between me and my doctor is hot, it’s that I think abortion is SEXY!

Hmm. Now I kinda want an “Abortion is SEXY!” shirt. And it’s all because of these horrible writers who don’t understand context, let alone the entire situation.

If I were an asshole, I advise everyone photographed to start flooding these bloggers with emails stating that they did not receive written permission to publish their likeness on their blogs. But I’m a pretty nice person, so I won’t.