Blog Stalker: Bitch PhD

Reader Sarah Pierce talks about why she logs onto the feminist blog every morning, while blogger Tedra Osell shares what keeps her blogging

By Kate Rockwood
Published: September 24th, 2007 | 4:03pm

Tedra Osell, a 39-year-old literature professor living in Venutra, California, blogs every day at blogspot.com about feminist issues big and small. And across the country Sarah Pierce, a 29-year-old Buffalo native, logs on every morning to savor each word.

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SARAH PIERCE, READER OF BITCH PHD

How would you describe the blog?
It’s mostly a feminist blog dealing with news items and her take on them. It’s very intelligent and smart-alecky.

When did you start reading the blog?
3.5 years ago.

How did you hear about it?
I read about her blog in Bitch magazine.

How often do you read or check the site?
I tend to check it every day, usually when I’m feeling snarky. Sometimes if there’s a big news story I check in on her just to see if she’s responded.

What’s your favorite entry?
Tedra wrote an entry about this man who was arrested for knocking his wife out with sedatives and raping her. Bitch PhD had a really great response as to how wrong that was, but she also had a great response to the [newspaper] commentators, who were saying it wasn’t rape.

What burning questions do you want to ask the blogger?
I’ve always wondered, does she ever get discouraged by all of the misogynist comments she gets or do they drive her a little more?

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TEDRA OSELL, BLOGGER OF BITCH PHD

How would you describe the blog?
It started off as an academic blog but ultimately everything I write is informed by being a feminist in 21st century America.

When did you first start the blog?
July 2002

What motivated to you start blogging?
When I got pregnant with my son I was writing my dissertation and I found HipMama.com, which at the time had discussion forums. Eventually the forums went down and a bunch of the women started LiveJournals.

How often do you post?
I try to blog every morning but if I read something that’s particularly annoying or grabs me for some reason, those are the days that I’ll do two or three posts.

What’s a really memorable post?
One that got and continues to get comments is an analysis of four different kinds of nice guys and why men who call themselves nice guys really aren’t. It still gets comments from self-identified nice guys telling me basically what a bitch I am.

What’s off-limits on the blog?
I won’t talk about my personal life if it feels like it’s violating someone else’s private realm. But that also bothers me in terms of what I want to do with the blog. There are things that I would like to say, such as how I interpret a domestic fight about housework and what I think it means about my place in the world. I think it has broader repercussions but I don’t want to expose my husband in that way.

Do misogynist comments piss you off or spur you on? The total strangers who leave drive-by comments like, “You really are a bitch.” I’m like, “Whatever.” That’s part of the reason the blog has the title it has, because it’s meant to evoke that. I know that the stuff I’m writing reads as bitchy and part of my point is, it shouldn’t.