Yeah, she's ok. She makes fun of old women and fat women. What a rebel!

The thought I believe Fey was trying to convey, in "bitch is the new black", was, given what is passable for network tv, was in fact "bitch is the new nigger". Let's not be coy with what she meant. Frankly I find it completely repulsive.

It would seem that there has been some degeneration in this election cycle in terms of individuals who are invested in proving that the oppression facing women in this country outweighs the oppression facing Africans in America and African Americans in this country. This is the implication of 'bitch is the new nigger', as if society has already overcome its latent racism (which Fey's remarks highlight rather than diminish), and that now what really matters is issues of gender. I find quips like Feys, coming as it is from an affluent white woman, to be debilitating to the cause of universal human rights, and in actuality reflect the privilege that her white race affords her.

Yet if we are to truly serious in regard to issues of race and gender, then we must be willing to acknowledge our privilege at all levels and denounce oppression whenever it occurs, rather than be drawn into some churlish cockmanship of 'my oppression tops your oppression.'

The fact that there has been NO critical response to this comment by Fey, including it seems from you all (much to my surprise since I usually enjoy your blog), and the extent that it is taken as amusing by so many (to the extent that that night's episode was highlighted by a presidential candidate during a nationally televised debate), suggests how far we have yet to go with regards to race.

And so, 'nigger' is still 'nigger.' 'Bitch' is still 'bitch.' I don't find either particularly amusing, but maybe I just don't get the joke.

Excellent points, all -- it's amazing, just amazing the extent to which the Clinton campaign has skimmed the surface of the most obvious racism in its attempts to ward off the challenge from Obama: most blatantly in South Carolina with Bill's deliberate tactic of ghetto-izing his wife's opponent (O's just a, you know, ethnic candidate); then hardly more subtly by portraying the Illinois Sen as a jive-talkin black boy vooodoo talker (it's a cult!!); finally, when none of that worked, they've resorted to co-opting the label of underdog, oppressed minority, etc. (bitch is the new nigga). You nailed that one with your post. Truth is, the Clintons have taken every opportunity in the past, and since she became a Senator, to betray the interests of all their most loyal constituencies -- blacks, gays, anti-war people, and yes, women too.

Yoko Ono made this point many years ago and it was true since women are oppressed in more societies than 'blacks' (since black men oppress women in black societies).

But there doesn't need to be a contest of who is the more oppressed here in the USA.

I love this line: Then we must be willing to acknowledge our privilege at all levels and denounce oppression whenever it occurs.

So true.

perhaps I'm naive, but I thought "bitch is the new black" simply meant that it was now in style to be a bitch. (a la "pink is the new gray," or "yellow is the new neutral.") I'm pretty sure that's what she meant, though many seem to have understood her differently...

mykstra, I heard that the same way. it's a take on the fashion world's seasonal update on what is "the new black," i.e., the new, hip color that all truly fashionable people will be wearing. I actually talked to my partner about how the writer (I assume fey herself) walked right into a potential firestorm with that line and I was glad that most people seemed to understand what she was actually referencing.

I do however, think there are issues of race that haven't been dealt with yet in this primary cycle and we'll have to wait and see how they play out in the general. I think obama and the majority of his supporters deserve some credit for not making his race a central part of his pitch. I have heard a number of comments from clinton supporters on the fray who are *shocked* that more women aren't supporting her and who throw around sexism as misogyny as the culprits. I have yet to hear a single obama supporter say that a voter who supports another candidate must just be a racist.

that said, I don't think the rant was funny. I don't think snl is funny anymore, either. in the past I've liked tina fey, especially when she and jimmy fallon had each other to play off of. but her funniness is based on a cool, cynical delivery and she had too much personally invested in this particular set of lines to deliver them well. it just flopped, in my opinion.

I don't think Fey is making fun of old women and fat women as much as she is poking fun at women who cannot be who they are. What's wrong with being a 65 year old woman? Why must women look younger than their years in order to get respect?

i at first took the line to be referring to fashion but the thought occurred to me that there might be a racial implication there as well. i appreciate your awareness and thoughtful commentary on the line regarding that possibility.

personally, as a plain and simple line(fashion reference) i thought it was hilarious! but then again, i am 29 and i also grew up hearing the word n***er/n***a spoken by many of my age group and believe you me when my students(8th grade) think nothing of throwing either of those terms around in a casual manner. this is similiar to the fact that a fair amount of women my age don't mind referring to themselves as bitch, much of that based on what tina fey pointed out: bitches get things done. i don't even care if you call me a bitch. i will just agree with you.

however, it seems to me that n***er still carries much more historical baggage than bitch and the casual use of that word in mainstream society is going to be a long time coming, if in fact, it ever does. this gives tina's quip a much weightier implication.

Yeah well, considering over 80-90% of all black/African-American (I hate the latter, btw - what about people who're black and from the Caribbean/West Indies btw) are voting for Obama anyway, there's no cause for the Obama campaign calling any of them anything. And seeing the kind of videos and supporters the latter is getting to have, it is totally like a cult....the 'yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yeswecan yeswecan' cult