Heartless Bitches International
Heartless Bitches International is a humorous website primarily targeted at women. It was started as a joke in 1996 by Ottawa, Canada, software developer "Natalie P", satirizing the stereotype that all assertive, strong women are "heartless bitches". It is now a repository of thousands of articles, primarily dealing with the expectations and stereotypes that society tries to enforce on men and women, the problems they cause, and how to overcome them. The website particularly rejects "sappiness" and women considered excessively emotional. Heartless Bitches International claims it does not celebrate being insensitive, manipulative, selfish, cruel, or man-hating ; it celebrates the positive qualities in people, like assertiveness, self-reliance, and an unwillingness to be a martyr, which led to them being stereotyped as "heartless bitches". Apart from admiring these qualities, Heartless Bitches International does not have a party line or rigid set of beliefs, preferring its members to be open-minded and to trust themselves enough to make their own judgments. The website uses "bitch" to mean the backronym "Being In Total Control Honey". It was one of the earliest websites catered specifically toward women at a time when the World Wide Web was largely a male domain . It was nominated for a Webby Award in 2002 in the humor category. In 2001 it had over 6,500 members and about 65,000 page views per week. Content. Regular columns. The majority of HBI's content is user-submitted, but there are a number of semi-regular writers and columns: User-submitted. The majority of the articles on Heartless Bitches International are submitted by the readers, and are archived under the heading "Deal With It!" Pop culture. Examples of Heartless Bitchiness in popular culture. Other. There is also a shop selling "Heartless Bitch Meanies doll" as well as clothing. Membership . HBI also has a membership section. Applying for membership requires an essay on why the applicant is a Heartless Bitch. Applications deemed particularly bad are publicly ridiculed in the Weak of the Week section.