Bitch Magazine, Bust Magazine and Hustler Sponsor “Tease-O-Rama”
Sep 23rd, 2008 by admin
Bust’s involvement doesn’t surprise me at all, but Bitch’s does. Bitch is supposed to embody a “feminist response to pop culture.” Hustler, of course, is the brainchild of Larry Flynt, whose daughter says he sexually abused her. And, Flynt gave us characters like “Chester the Molester,” images like women being ground in meatgrinders, Andrea Dworkin made into pornography, and unbelievable attacks on Aura Bogado of KPFK radio, for just a few.
Eh. Doing something like this is guaranteed to get the attention and the money of the people who still, far and away have it, men. Why bother with intelligence, thought, study, commitment, organizing, integrity, dignity when it’s so damned easy to sell out.
Heart
I’ve read Bitch magazine now and then, and it’s ok. Not great writing, and it has that superficial “hipness” so common these days. But somehow, I’m not surprised about this stupid sponsorship of strip shows for amateurs. I think when the magazine called itself “Bitch,” that was a real tip off that they didn’t get that this is the N-word for women. I really destest that word, I hate it when anyone uses it against women. I hate it when women use the F-word and all male sexual assault type vocabulary words. What can I say, the women’s movement became vulgar and ugly in its language along with the rest of the country.
The level of education and love of learning declined dramatically too. A lot of this is due to a sharp decline in the amount of reading people under the age of 30 are doing now. Not much reading, not much reflection, not much desire to read the best and the brightest. It’s what makes a lot of leftist/feminist thought today rather tedious. I always loved it that Andrea Dworkin had such a love of literature, and could so passionately discuss Tolstoy, among others.
Feminism could have risen to the academic heights, because it was off to a very good start. People could try to learn how to spell, and try to write better, but somehow this doesn’t happen either.
So is it any wonder that young women are falling for this porn con game, and is it any wonder that women are falling behind in intellectual ability because they have imitated the worst in mainstream pornification?
I read more vulgarity and swear words on this blog and other feminist sites than I ever do in the word of finance. Male dominated and button down though it might be, people are at least able to speak English in a respectful way. You never here “bitch”, the F-word etc. in these corporate worlds. People are exceptionally well spoken and literate. Learning is constantly encouraged, and it is a relief to work in environments like this.
I don’t know what to make of women participating in this nonsense, but I don’t understand why women do a lot of things women do. Women are just becoming pornified and more vulgar, perhaps as a reflection of the obscenity that is popular American culture. You tend to notice this more in the “entertainment capital” of the world.
When lesbians forgot about politics or seemed to just fall for the sexual obsession that is American culture, those lesbian groups becames unbearable to be in. It is the generation that adopted the word “bitch” as its mantra, the generation that lost the value of language itself. So now women think the F-word is actually a powerful tool of communication. I call it the banality of linguistic evil and degredation. (I suppose someone is going to whine about classism here, but if it is about literacy and beautiful language, then I’m all for classism — classicism actually
)
“Hear” not “here” ugh!
This is sickening to me. I spent a lot of time at the BUST forums, a number of years ago. I thought they were feminists, they said they were feminists, but they had entire threads devoted to the sexxeeness of BDSM, how empowering stripping is, etc. I wasted a lot of time there, arguing with people about porn. Most people there thought porn was hunky dory, la la la. Especially “feminist” porn. Ha! They really weren’t willing to challenge themselves, or think outside the box. The one good thing I got there was a referral to IBTP- they said I’d be “happier with the blamers.” And they were right, since the people at the BUST boards didn’t seem all that interesting in, ya know, sexism and stuff. Weird.
And there have been pleas all over the feminist blogosphere to donate money to Bitch magazine, to “save it!!!!”. Why the hell would a feminist support a magazine that supports Hustler? These women have swallowed a huge lie, and it saddens and sickens me :-(
Yeah, Chester the molester, so funny! Sexually abusing kids is so hilarious! Rape is funny too!!!! Sickening. How do these “feminists” justify this? It’s like doing a peace march and being sponsored by the U.S. army- doesn’t make any sense!!!!!
There just may be women (feminists) who haven’t seen Nikki Craft’s site, and the Hustler mag covers, the work of Chester the Mol*ster. I suggest anyone who is strong and steadfast go over there and find opportunities to post it, link it, name it clearly enough it can be found. Ask them how they can support a feminist magazine that is in collaboration with that?
I’m not naming names, but there are some pretty hard talking women on this board. Walk the talk.
When you go look at the logos for sponsors, the one for Bitch is so close to the one for the Center for Sex Positive Culture. For a moment, I thought they’d somehow become one and the same. Gross.
http://www.teaseorama.com/sponsors.html
One of the first things I thought when I looked at the Tease-O-Rama website was “Are there any male performers?” In the interest of seeing what the gender balance is, and sure enough: out of the hundred-plus acts they have featured only eleven of them feature men and a smaller number of those men perform as drag queens. I thought “Yup, sure enough, there’s still a massive gender imbalance and women are still largely the primary ones objectified and pornified.”
On the surface, this kind of show would fascinate me and since the performers all seem to be doing it genuinely because they enjoy doing what they do, I would be all in favor of such a production—IF. .
. . . . .If we lived in a society where sexuality is not founded in shame and ignorance and violence and humiliation, where rape does not exist, where everyone–man and woman has complete autonomy over their bodies and where woman’s humanity is recognized and upheld as equal to that of man.
Since we don’t live in such a world, I cannot condone such a thing and can only sigh and shake my head. It’s kind of a shame, since it mostly seems to be all about people who enjoy being sexy in their own way and want to share it, but the foundations it’s laid on (such as Hustler, obviously) mirror that of society’s unhealthy view of sexuality and exploitation of women and becomes apparent in even these ostensibly harmless playful acts by the huge imbalance in the sexes.
Sis I’ve done what you suggested. I’ve just sent comments and links to a UK feminist website which had also been widely publicising Bitch’s dire straits. I’ve also posed the question as to why a ‘feminist’ magazine is accepting sponsorship from a magazine which avidly promotes child sexual violence.
Just shaking my head Jennifer. It was bad enough on an internet group purporting to be a supportive of a new view of sexuality. But at least the miscreants kept their drivel there. Now on a feminist website?
I have some questions but I’m afraid to pose them here for the dump Heart would get. Best left. They’re rhetorical questions anyway.
Did anyone else notice the stereotypical ‘exotic generic Asian woman!’ drawing at the top of the page?
How pathetic!
I think Chester the Molester would be quite welcomed at this event–nothing like a homepage with the words “tease-o-rama” and “Girls! Girls! Girls!” lit together.
Oh and b–have you checked out what fine gems of wisdom the Center for Sex Positive Culture offers? Like, for ex., “Genitorture…the fine art of cunt torture.”
Don’t these people know we live in a patriarchy and females can get their genitalia tortured for free?
I was browsing at the book store the other day and picked up The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge M.D. Interesting chapter on the perversion of sex and pain.
“People with perversions often organize their lives around activities that mix aggression and sexuality, and they often celebrate and idealize humiliation, hostility, defiance (…) .”
We knew that, but I’m happy to see it in a book that is very popular and will be widely read by people looking for all aspects of brain function. It’s not a medical book, but is pitched to the lay person, particularly those who’ve had some brain injury.
I would say Doidge knows his work: BDSM recognized as a brain injury.
It’s a common book, so you can find it easily. Also, so can others who don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing.
Honestly, I’m not particularly surprised to read this–I’ve only skimmed Bitch once or twice, but in the issue I did look at, there was an article dissing radical-feminism. Rad-fems were described as “hairy”, unattractive, etc. (I guess there’s nothing worse than not living up to those male-formed concepts of attractiveness!).
I’m also aware Bitch has not been friendly to Andrea Dworkin….so, yeah.
I emailed feministing about it the other day, since I saw a plea for money on their site for Bitch magazine. Maybe they’ll post something about it. I won’t hold my breath though.
‘Feminist porn’ = contradiction in terms.
Producing anything depicting women as ‘whores’ (porne sing., pornai plural- refers to the slave women raped in the public brothels in classical Athens) is not feminist. It’s just a downright insult to those who suffered there.
Re: Centre for Sex Positive Culture
Also boasts a ‘owner and slave’ meeting. Yeah, slavery, dead sexy. Particularly for white slave owners who raped their female slaves. How can one treat such a historical injustice in such a way as to make it out to be entertainment? How can any person with integrity treat another human being as a slave? What the hell is going on here?!
I’ve never read Bitch magazine, but I agree with Satsuma about its name- the temptation to ‘reclaim’ insults is tempting, but ultimately something that was used to demean you and keep you subordinate cannot be reclaimed, as it was never yours to start with.
I was initially sympathetic when I heard that Bitch was going under, and thought it deserved saving. Now I’m not so sure. We don’t need yet another magazine that promotes pornification and the alienation of the self- we need the feminist alternative.
Clarification moment:
The above comment is not meant to suggest that women who engage in owner/slave play think slavery as an institution is/ was a good thing. Nor that by so acting they think ‘hey I’m supporting slavery’- obviously not. I’m not saying they are racist or anything like that.
I’m just saying that I cannot in good conscience use the word ’slave’ as a facet of entertainment, that I cannot and will not divorce it from the historical and present institution it refers to. Another way of looking it: I don’t think we would have ’slave play’ if we had not had the concept and institution of forced human labour and the actual ownership of human beings by other human beings.
Slaves, porn, S & M and all that other garbage out there. I can tell you right now I don’t associate with any women who even use swear words! Live in a verbal or sexual garbage dump, well find your own low level to associate with!
And none of the profits that you are taking on your trades come from the trading of corporations that make *their* profits on porn.
I see.
No, the companies I work with don’t do porn, they don’t make tobacco. There are thousands of really interesting and good companies out there. Take your pick and do the homework.
Stuck in poverty, get a group of 15-20 women together and share and learn. That’s another thing we did — we got a group of about 8 lesbians and studied investments and opened a group account.
We got training, we earned money, we shared it, we helped newcomers get into the game. One requirement we had was that each woman was in charge of researching a company and had to report back to the others. We teamed up and did research together. Three women bought a house together, and got out of renting. Groups can do all kinds of things Mary Sunshine, you are only limited by your thoughts. But if you get mad at the market or angry at women for wanting to be good with money, that’s not going to get you anywhere.
Since you don’t know what I invest in, and you don’t know my track record over the past 28 years or so Mary Sunshine, you come up with some concrete ideas about women and poverty. Provide some info rather than carping at lesbians who don’t want to be in poverty. I don’t know what it is, but I swear to god, women sometimes just want to fail, or seem to think it is noble.
There are good companies and bad, just as there are stupid women and smart women. There are good choices, better choices and worse choices in life. Learning from mistakes and setting a specific goal is the hallmark of all achieving people worldwide.
It’s why all these people come here from around the world. There are many women who are stuck in horrific countries and cultures, but this place has loads and loads of opportunity for women. Perhaps radical feminists will be the last to know this, but it’s true.
I’m not from the school of gloom and doom feminism. I figured if radical lesbian feminist analysis could decode patriarchy, it could also decode the market. Have never met any other radical lesbians who ever applied the lessons of Mary Daly to the market. Maybe that insight is unique to me.
Call it my practical nature, but I always wanted measurable results in life. I tend to look at things more economically. Hang out with dumb people, you’ll be dumb. Find people at a level you WANT to be at, and you’ll move to that level faster. It’s why ghettos are depressing places, because they are schools of failure, and yet people are trapped in them and don’t leave.
Apartment rents around my side of town are actually the same as apartment rents in really bad neighborhoods in L.A. By bad, I mean gangs, drugs, creepy guys harassing you on the streets. Teenage boys who like to torment women. People stay in those places when they could move. It is a poverty mentality.
Women need to get out of poverty mentality. There is a whole network of women on the web, and all of them could be out of poverty by grouping together.
Back when we began our little lesbian investment group over a decade ago, 6 of those women had never purchased an individual stock. So it was new to them. Some didn’t have a lot of money to put in the market to buy a quality stock, so we did it as a group. We had eight women, we wanted to buy stocks for about $2.50 to $5.00 per share.
Some women had only $25 to invest, some had a bit more. We divided the shares based on percentage contributed. We coached each other, and got better and better at this.
It was a collective process Mary Sunshine. As a result of this, many of the women who were in dead end jobs, got better paying jobs. One of our members went into financial services as a result of the stuff she learned in our group. Several women bought houses for the first time. It was a lot of fun.
That was a long time ago. We invited about 28 women to join, but only 8 showed up for the first meeting. You had to show up 100% of the time, you could never be absent, and you could never be late. Women who had that kind of drive and commitment were successful. We had a few women who came and went — couldn’t show up on time– we kicked them out of the group. Unheard of in the lesbian community at the time.
That’s what a group of women from all walks of life can do. Some of the women were in bad shape, but were sick of staying there. They wanted new knowlege and new opportunities. That was the thing about those women — they were positive and proactive. They didn’t whine and say whaaa i have no big bucks…waaaa I have a minium wage job….waaaa I don’t know how to________.
They said to quote you know who “Yes, we can!” and that ultimately is what separates the rich from the poor in this country.
It’s hard to say this, but it’s true. And I want feminists on this site to start saying “Yes we can!” more often.
I wrote an email to Bitch on this yesterday. Let’s hope they respond to it. I’ll show y’all what I wrote:
I’ve read your magazine for a few years, and found it witty, insightful, relevant and a needed magazine amongst all the mainstream sexist media. My purchase and reading of Bitchfest helped solidify my view of your publication. Imagine my chagrin, when a couple of day ago, I discovered that you had co-sponsored “Tease-O-Rama.” There are a few problematic things with this. You had just been requesting donations from your readers to continue publication of Bitch, while paying into a “business as usual,” supposedly liberated event. For example, less than 10% of the performers are male, with many of them being drag queens, leaving about 5% to be cis men. This reflects, not rejects, wider patriarchal society: women ARE the sex class–are seen as symbolizing sex. Biological males, on the rare occasion they are shown in a naked-for-others’-pleasure situation, are usually depicted as drag queens, as being more associated with “sex” and “femininity itself” than (whether born or trans) women are. Why, at an event that is supposedly “feminist” and “ironic,” are women and femininity still the objects of the viewers’ gaze?
A list of sponsors is here: http://www.teaseorama.com/sponsors.html, including a group who sell ostrich meat and feathers (which I object to as a vegan/animal rights activist) and the Center for Sex Positive Culture, which is dedicated to BDSM, including slave play and “genitorture…the art of cunt torture.” Another of the more troubling was that the event is also sponsored by Hustler. I hope I don’t need to explicate the antifeminism inherent in both Larry Flynt and his empire (eg Barely Legal, racist cartoons, constant feminist bashing). I sincerely hope you rethink your sponsoring of this event. It is leading readers to question their commitment to subscribing and promoting Bitch; I for one, will either “girlcott” or continue supporting you, depending on how you handle this. The ball is in your court.
Sincerely,
Winnie Small
(not part of letter): Whoa, Satsuma…you are full of classism, pro-capitalism, and poorbashing. You engage so fully with the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” thinking, which only supports the status quo, and its feminisation of poverty, and the racism within capitalism.
Satsuma, is AIG one of those good companies you work with? It has been subject to several investigations for misleading accounting, to put it mildly, and is currently part of the massive FBI investigation.
FBI Began Investigating AIG in March
Not to mention, a lot of mainstream, “family-friendly” and whatnot companies profit off of porn, eg General Electric, Rogers Communications, DirecTV, AT&T, Time Warner, Robert Murdoch, Marriott and Hilton hotel chains, etc. I doubt Satsuma is tied to NO corporations that profit off of porn.