Okay gals, I get that in the first issue you have to explain who the bytches are, and why it’s necessary to use “bytches,” etc. But in Issue 2 you no longer need to go there. Fine, include incensed letters from offended readers, but you don’t need to rehash the explanation, it’s a little ho hum; a tart reply published alongside would be sufficient. Okay, enough bytching from me. This zine started out as an electronic venting ground, and then spread to print. It’s a big ol’ anthology of be-atches, bitching away, though not everyone is really that bytchy. I enjoyed some contributions very much, like “Eighties Heavy Metal Videos Are Good for the Feminist Soul” and the bytches logo “What Are You Looking At?” The little devilish looking girl is peachy, and there is quite a range of contributors. However, some of the content really wasn’t my bag. And, to pull an old college word out my ass, I even found one of the pieces to be uncomfortably ethnocentric. Check it out; if you’re just starting to let your inner bytch out this might be right up your alley, but if you’ve already been doing that for some time now this might be too elementary for you. (heze douglas)
Zine, #1 & 2, Anna and Carolina, $4.95, 50-60 pgs, www.shebytches.com