Bitch is an independent, quarterly magazine published in Portland, Oregon. Its tagline is "a feminist response to pop culture". Bitch is published by the non-profit Bitch Media feminist media organization. The magazine includes analysis of current political events, social, and cultural trends, television shows, movies, books, music, advertising, and artwork. It has about 80,000 readers. Its editor-in-chief is Evette Dionne.
History
The first issue of Bitch was a ten-page feature, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, which started as a zine distributed out of the back of a station wagon in 1996, published in January 1996 in Oakland, California. Today, in addition to the quarterly magazine, they publish daily online articles, and weekly podcasts. The founding editors, Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler, along with founding art director Benjamin Shaykin, wanted to create a public forum in which to air thoughts and theories on women, gender, and feminist issues, interpreted through the lens of the media and popular culture. In 2001, a loan from San Francisco's Independent Press Association allowed Jervis and Zeisler to quit their current jobs and work on Bitch full-time and the magazine officially became a non-profit. Bitch celebrated its 10th anniversary in August 2006 by publishing a Bitch anthology entitled BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. Edited by Bitch founders Jervis and Zeisler, BITCHfest includes essays, rants and raves, and reviews reprinted from previous issues of Bitch magazine, along with new pieces written especially for the anthology. In March 2007, Bitch relocated from its offices in Oakland, California, to Portland, Oregon. The magazine's 50th issue was published in 2011. That same year, Bitch won an Utne ReaderIndependent Press Award for Best Social/Cultural Coverage. Bitch Media also hosts two podcasts. "Popaganda" is hosted by Amy Lam and Sarah Mirk, who discuss politics, news, and media. "Backtalk" is hosted by Amy Lam and Dahlia Balcazar, who review and discuss the week in popular culture through a feminist lens.
