5 stars

Love it!

This is a very good compilation of many of Bitch magazine’s articles from 1996 to 2006. There are so many things to love about this book.

Instead of throwing a bunch of articles together in an anthology, Jervis and Zeisler categorize the articles into broad groups such as Ladies and Gentlemen: Femininity, Masculinity, and Identity; The F Word; and Beauty Myths and Body Projects, just to name a few. Even within each category the articles vary greatly such as within Beauty Myths and Body Projects everything is discussed from facial hair to fat suits to vaginal reconstruction (a few of my personal favorites). While I may not agree with everything written in the articles, each one brought a unique perspective to mull over.

The styles vary by contributor, many of which utilize the satirical, sharp humor that made me love Bitch magazine in the first place.

If you like Bitch magazine and are looking for articles from previous issues or if you are at all interested in a subscription, this is a great book to start with because it gives a nice array of various Bitch-quality articles.

I enjoyed the wide variety of topics and the critical mentality in regard to everything about the media that Bitch is famous for. The last chapter, Talking Back: Activism and Pop Culture, ties the book up nicely with a call to action and strategies for fighting the ever-present battle against media misrepresentation and sexism (as well as other prejudice related sentiments) in media coverage.