Bitchitorial
(The view from the Editor's Chair)
This month marks the seventh anniversary of Heartless Bitches International, if we count back to the time we put the site
up under the domain "Heartless-bitches.com".
Seven years.
It was impossible to conceive then, the effect this site would have on so many.
We started it as a *joke* - to make fun of gender stereotyping and the fact that strong, assertive women were so feared and denigrated
in our society. We'd had several beer (Canadian beer, so that's like a dozen of the US version), when we decided to go for it and wrote the first Manifesto. We never had any idea we would strike such an enormous collective chord.
The site now has thousands of pages of content, almost 7000 registered members, and a thriving "Community of Bitches" who interact through our
BitchBoard discussion forum. As hokey as it sounds, HBI has actually changed people's lives, and I find that both amazing and humbling.
Heartless Bitches International has taken on a life and breath of its own.
And this year is momentous too, in that it looks like we will finally get our US Trademark. We've been rejected
3 times in Canada because the parochial, antiquated Canadian Patent and Trademark office sees the name as
"obscene" or defamatory - no matter how many times our lawyers tried to argue the fact that the language has changed
and we are using the term to define a paragon rather than as an insult.
We've been through some hilarious and wild times as well as some pretty frustrating ones too - like the time a
certain individual tried to copycat the site under the domain "heartlessbitches.com".... (if you notice, we now own that
domain name too.) The week I found out about it, The Quote of the Week was from me, and it stated, "If imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery, then Litigation is the sincerest form of Thank-You".
You see, back in '96, the domain "heartlessbitches.com" was
taken by a porn site, so I registered "heartless-bitches.com". I figured that there would be no confusion between feminist humor and porn. If they hit the porn site
looking for us, then they'd KNOW, (as Bugs Bunny says) that they took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. But some time in late '98 or early '99, that porn site
went under and they let their registration on the domain lapse. Some clearly misguided individual figured she would
make a site very similar to HBI, but with much more low-brow humor, and run it in parallel. Fortunately for me, the Goddesses were
smiling in my direction and the plagiaristic fool was in Canada. Which meant I could litigate in Canada.
Their second mistake was to have a public discussion forum on their site. As soon as HBI members caught wind of the
copy-cat site, their forum was overrun. It seems that one of the founders of this
copycat site was a member of a firm that did web consulting, and she had written many articles about developing web sites - Including an article about the evils of plagiarism.
When HBI members posted excerpts from this article to the copycat discussion forum,
the postings were pulled and the poster's IP addresses were banned. This did not deter the members of HBI and
ultimately the copycat site pulled its discussion forum in embarrassment.
The long and the short of the story is that we ultimately gained the domain name "heartlessbitches.com" and continued forward with the
same amazing momentum.
So, what's in store for the future? Well, given that this site is run by volunteers, and this is more of a hobby for me than
anything else, where the site goes and what we do will really be dependent on the time and energy we all have available to put into it.
Right now, Jade is busy moving into and setting up her new house, so the Weak of the Week will be a bit behind
until she has time to catch up with it.
I recently returned from yet another trip to visit the Morrigan, where we
spent some time working on concepts for a book proposal (or two). Always the consummate hostess, she made sure that I checked my liver at
the door and kept me well fed and well hydrated after a night of drinking and brainstorming at one of Toronto's most infamous cougar bars. I expect
that our exploits will show up in a column at some point.
And on the entertainment front, the cool folks at Fox Searchlight sent
us some posters for the movie Bend it
Like Beckham, which we are giving away to our HBI members. Bend It
Like Beckham is a delightful British comedy about a young Indian woman,
Jess, who wants to play soccer (or Football as it is called in the UK),
much against the wishes of her very traditional parents. Jules, another
soccer-playing girl, sees Jess playing in the park and invites her to
try out for their women's team. The two girls have to dodge disapproving friends and
family in an effort to follow their dreams of playing professional soccer.
Despite the fact that Jules is not Indian, she still struggles societal pressures in the form of a mother
who is trying to force Jules into "girly-girl" behavior -
"There's a reason Sporty Spice is the only one without a fella!".
Bend It Like Beckham just opened here last week. I'd seen Gurinder
Chadha's previous film, Baji on the Beach, and loved it, so I was
anxious to see this latest production. I found it to be a
delightfully light-hearted Shakespearean-style tale replete with
star-crossed lovers, gender confusion, and many truly hilarious moments.
The film was interspersed with some (often humorously) pointed observations about
social conditioning and societal expectations. Juliet Stevenson played Paula, the mother of Jules,
with comedic brilliance and had us all cringing, groaning and laughing uproariously at her
fumblingly naive and narrow-minded character who tries desperately to stretch herself but lacks the
mental elasticity to truly get it.
We all agreed that the soundtrack is great. The only downside to the movie is that (without any serious spoilers here),
while they didn't have Jess give up her dreams for romance (thank gaggingly goodness!), I think a more
realistic ending would have been a bit more bittersweet, and not quite as saccharine as it ultimately was. But then,
that's Hollywood for you. It didn't spoil the film, and it's definitely worth seeing.
Back on the HBI front, we'll try to get site updates out every 2 weeks with membership updates weekly
wherever possible. The Bitchboard is thriving and I wish I had more time to participate in the
many interesting discussions taking place.
heartlessly,
-Natalie
Copyright© Heartless Bitches International (heartless-bitches.com) 2003, All Rights Reserved
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