Help Us Keep Bitching

by Latoya Peterson

So, I’m currently reading an advance copy of Tricia Rose’s new book, The Hip-Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip-Hop – And Why It Matters. I’ve already flagged pages to post as part of the “Quoted” series, as well as planning a few arguments around Rose’s ideas to post as part of the Hip-Hop Feminist canon. I even have an interview scheduled for next Tuesday, where I planned to spend about an hour dissecting the book with the author.

But unfortunately, y’all might not ever read my interview, or the article that was supposed to spring from our discussion.

That’s because on the day I received my contract in the mail, Bitch Magazine posted a video by Andi Zeisler and Debbie Rasmussen saying that they may not be able to publish the next issue because they don’t have the money. Bitch is $40,000 short of what they need to publish next month’s issue. (That’s how much it costs to publish an issue, y’all.)

So, please help.

If you like the fact that there is a magazine dedicated to a feminist critique of pop culture, please help by subscribing or donating.

If you don’t know what Bitch is, please check out their website and their back issues.

If you have a small business, an Etsy store, whatever, please consider taking out an advertisement.

And if you like what I do, and you like how I write, please help as well. Bitch is one of the few publications that will actually publish a lot of the things I write about, without me worrying about what gets filtered out, or if they are going to edit the racial/gender analysis out of my pitch.

I know there are about 5,000 of you reading Racialicious each day. (I’m not sure on how many people visit Feministe, where I am going to cross post this, but I hope a lot.) If half of you take the time to donate $5.00, we’ve raised $12,500.00 and we would be a quarter of the way there.

I already gave you a head start – I donated $10.

Here’s the video from Andi & Debbie:

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • NewsVine
  • Current
  • email
  • Print

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. Official Shrub.com Blog » Blog Archive » Bitch magazine needs your help! on 16 Sep 2008 at 10:29 pm

    [...] tip: Racialicious.   [link] Filed under Shrub.com Related « Reflecting on the murder of Melissa [...]

  2. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch! « Destiny’s Vegan Kitchen on 21 Sep 2008 at 11:36 pm

    [...] lovely feminist friends to donate to Bitch Magazine.  Pretty please!  I just read their plea on Racialicious & wanted to spread the word around a bit more.  I’ve been a subscriber for years & [...]

Comments

  1. Fatemeh wrote:

    I’m in this issue, too! My lovely mug is on the contributor page, so make sure to pick up a copy!

    AND GIVE. GIVE YOUR HEART OUT; these women work hard and have been around for a looooooong time. Too long to just give up now!!!

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 11:04 am

  2. LM wrote:

    Sending $15.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 11:33 am

  3. Meranda wrote:

    Why not just scan the issue and sell print copies online if anyone wants them? So many other small companies out there do this already.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 12:02 pm

  4. fireeyedgirl wrote:

    i’m definitely getting on this right away – i’ve loved bitch for a long time, and i remember being totally stoked to recognize your name & writing in several issues.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 12:08 pm

  5. Latoya Peterson wrote:

    Thanks so much!

    @Meranda –

    Yeah, that is a money saving tactic, but it doesn’t give you the visual pull like prominent newsstand placement does (that’s how I found the mag – I wasn’t involved in feminism then, I literally happened to see it) and on the internet, you are fighting harder for space. Sites on the internet are endless, but even in large bookstores, your eyes can scan the shelf.

    Finally, advertising and print and advertising on the web are two different animals. (And print is much more lucrative). Ceasing a print operation would probably negatively impact the advertising revenue. (Though this is all speculation from what I* know – Bitch’s situation may be different.)

    And then, there’s also reading in print vs. reading in digital, but I’ll leave that for another time.

    @Fatemeh – I saw your articles and I loves it! And your mug is fabulous.

    @ LM – HUGS!

    @Fireeyedgirl – Thanks for being stoked! I’ve been reading Bitch for about three years now, maybe four, and it was really cool to contribute to them. I really hope we can make this work.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 12:39 pm

  6. exhausted wrote:

    Bitch MUST be saved! I just donated.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 2:56 pm

  7. amateur editrix wrote:

    Much love to Bitch!
    Sending my lowly $10.

    -cat m.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 2:58 pm

  8. PureGracefulTree wrote:

    I admit I’d never heard of Bitch magazine before now, but I checked it out and liked what I saw. More importantly, though, is that I support YOU, LaToya, and by extension, any publication that prints your work. $25 to the cause!

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 3:14 pm

  9. G.K. wrote:

    Damn—Bitch is in financial trouble! Why has it got to be them,lord,why has it got to be them? It’s feminist magazines like them which have kept me sane over the years (props to Sassy,Hues and last but not least,Bust) in my quest to define myself as a feminist and a woman of color—sadly I’m unemployed, so I can’t donate jack, but I’ll try and get someone to get the latest issue for me,at least.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 4:21 pm

  10. Whitney wrote:

    That makes me really, really sad as a new subscriber. Bitch is one of my favorite publications. :-( If I had any extra money, I’d donate on top of my new subscription money.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 4:57 pm

  11. Jane wrote:

    This is really upsetting news! As far as feminist print publications go, Bitch is the only one that I can get really excited about (though I have a feeling I’d like make/shift, if I could find a copy), because I never feel like the magazine is trying to sell me something—I always get the feeling that the publishers are more interested in sparking healthy debate than anything else. In contrast, with some other feminist/lefty mags (specifically Bust), I always feel like the magazine is trying to sell me the same old shit repackaged in hipster aesthetics and “progressive” slogans.

    Anyway, here’s $15 to truly progressive and groundbreaking publication!

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 5:36 pm

  12. Dolly wrote:

    *Immediately rushes to renew subscription*

    I’ve only gotten 3 issues of Bitch, and I f’n love it. I can’t believe they’re going under, just as I’ve started getting into it! I’m definitely gonna help out. Thanks for letting me know, Racialicious. I would never have realized this was a problem otherwise.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 9:01 pm

  13. jen* wrote:

    Thanks for the heads up – I renewed, donated, posted a banner, and switched my charity on GoodSearch to Bitch [for the forseeable future].

    For those that don’t have anything to give – tell your friends to give, and hopefully this issue will be saved. In the meantime, use GoodSearch (http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx) to search the internets and you donate a penny per search. They don’t cut checks til the end of the year – but if we all work together, there’ll be a lil bit of change to help on the next issue.

    Posted 16 Sep 2008 at 11:27 pm

  14. T.M.A. wrote:

    Thank you for posting this, Latoya! I’ve been reading Bitch for the past three years or so. It’s a great publication that continues to engage, inspire, and (sometimes) challenge me.

    I just made my donation.

    *It was nice to see a familiar byline in the latest issue. Go, Latoya!

    Posted 17 Sep 2008 at 11:39 am

  15. Anna wrote:

    One good thing that’s coming out of the scary threat of losing Bitch is seeing so much passion from folks out there, from longtime readers to folks brand new to it. It warms my little heart!

    Other great reasons to support Bitch in any and all ways you can:

    They are committed to working with new writers who don’t have a sackful of clips behind them. Yay for emerging voices!

    They only have socially-responsible ads in the print pub, and no ads on their multimedia website. Yay for anti-consumerism!

    They are full of insightful, funny, whip-smart content. You (surely) won’t agree with every point, but it will make you think and laugh along the way.

    They are an independent nonprofit magazine, in a nation where only 6 conglomerates own just about every media you consume.

    Posted 17 Sep 2008 at 12:37 pm

  16. Whitney wrote:

    Thanks to everyone’s help, Bitch raised enough money to do the next issue! But that doesn’t mean their troubles are over… let’s all hope and pray that they get through this slump.

    Posted 18 Sep 2008 at 10:30 pm

« “Why are you trying to be black when you’re red?”
links for 2008-09-16 »