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90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality
Perfect for fans of Peggy Orenstein, Rebecca Traister, and Lindy West, this incisive, timely book pierces our nostalgic 1990s “girl power” bubble to reveal a decade that drastically undermined a century of gains for American women, creating a toxic culture that persists today.
The close of the 20th century promised a new era of gender equality. However, the iconic women of the 1990s—such as Hillary Clinton, Courtney Love, Roseanne Barr, Marcia Clark, and Anita Hill—earned their places in history not as trailblazers, but as whipping girls of the media. During this decade, American society grew increasingly hostile to women who dared to speak up, challenge power, or defy rigid expectations for female behavior.
Deeply researched yet thoroughly engaging, 90s Bitch untangles the complex history of women in the 1990s, exploring how they were maligned by the media, vilified by popular culture, and objectified in the marketplace. In an age where even a presidential nominee can be derided as a “nasty woman,” it’s clear that the epidemic of casting women as bitches persists. To understand why we must take a long, hard look back at the 1990s—a decade in which female empowerment was twisted into bitchification and exploitation.
Yarrow’s thoughtful, clear-eyed, and timely examination is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand gender politics and how we might end the “bitch epidemic” for the next generation.
The close of the 20th century promised a new era of gender equality. However, the iconic women of the 1990s—such as Hillary Clinton, Courtney Love, Roseanne Barr, Marcia Clark, and Anita Hill—earned their places in history not as trailblazers, but as whipping girls of the media. During this decade, American society grew increasingly hostile to women who dared to speak up, challenge power, or defy rigid expectations for female behavior.
Deeply researched yet thoroughly engaging, 90s Bitch untangles the complex history of women in the 1990s, exploring how they were maligned by the media, vilified by popular culture, and objectified in the marketplace. In an age where even a presidential nominee can be derided as a “nasty woman,” it’s clear that the epidemic of casting women as bitches persists. To understand why we must take a long, hard look back at the 1990s—a decade in which female empowerment was twisted into bitchification and exploitation.
Yarrow’s thoughtful, clear-eyed, and timely examination is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand gender politics and how we might end the “bitch epidemic” for the next generation.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2018
169 people are currently reading
8029 people want to read
About the author
Allison Yarrow
4 books55 followersAllison Yarrow is an award-winning journalist and National Magazine Award finalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox, and many others. She was a TED resident and is a grantee of the International Women’s Media Foundation. She produced the VICE documentary Misconception and has appeared on the Today show, MSNBC, NPR, and more. Yarrow was raised in Macon, Georgia, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. (From the author's website)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 290 reviews
July 8, 2018
4.5 ~* Only 90s kids will remember *~ … No, but actually as someone who was born in and grew up in the 90s I wasn’t aware of most of the content in this book while it was happening. 90s Bitch details the way women were treated in the media and pop culture during the 90s and how the promise of gender equality didn’t pan out. I LOVED this book. It gave me so much more of an understanding of sexism and the treatment of women during the 90s.
A lot of the events covered here are things I had a little bit of knowledge about, but had never researched at any depth. So it was really interesting to be learning new things about Monica Lewinsky, Marcia Clark, Anita Hill, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and so many other women. Much of the book is examining the sexist ways, and it some cases racist ways, these women were treated by the media and society at large. It was illuminating that many women didn’t even realize the overt sexism at the time, but have only realized it while looking back.
Apart from profiling certain key women the book also discusses certain waves or trends in media and society, such as riot grrrl, “girl power,” Victoria’s Secret, and the obsession with being “girlish” or young. It was interesting and disheartening to read about the rebellion of the riot grrrl movement being watered down into “girl power” just to be used by marketers to sell products.
I’m not sure if I should call this a criticism, since the book points this out, but there definitely isn’t a balance between white women and women of color who are featured. Allison Yarrow points out the ways in which black women in the media and in culture were treated differently than their white counterparts. And she also writes about how queer women weren’t even taken into consideration when talking about the broad narrative of why girls self harm. Overall the book mostly discusses straight white women, because unfortunately that was definitely how a lot of popular culture and media was skewed back then.
I definitely recommend 90s Bitch to anyone who’s looking to learn more about feminism and sexism in the 90s. It’s very readable non-fiction. Statements are backed up with sources, but it never feels too academic or dense.
Also, I made this 90s Bitch playlist on Spotify because I got super amped after reading this.
A lot of the events covered here are things I had a little bit of knowledge about, but had never researched at any depth. So it was really interesting to be learning new things about Monica Lewinsky, Marcia Clark, Anita Hill, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and so many other women. Much of the book is examining the sexist ways, and it some cases racist ways, these women were treated by the media and society at large. It was illuminating that many women didn’t even realize the overt sexism at the time, but have only realized it while looking back.
Apart from profiling certain key women the book also discusses certain waves or trends in media and society, such as riot grrrl, “girl power,” Victoria’s Secret, and the obsession with being “girlish” or young. It was interesting and disheartening to read about the rebellion of the riot grrrl movement being watered down into “girl power” just to be used by marketers to sell products.
I’m not sure if I should call this a criticism, since the book points this out, but there definitely isn’t a balance between white women and women of color who are featured. Allison Yarrow points out the ways in which black women in the media and in culture were treated differently than their white counterparts. And she also writes about how queer women weren’t even taken into consideration when talking about the broad narrative of why girls self harm. Overall the book mostly discusses straight white women, because unfortunately that was definitely how a lot of popular culture and media was skewed back then.
I definitely recommend 90s Bitch to anyone who’s looking to learn more about feminism and sexism in the 90s. It’s very readable non-fiction. Statements are backed up with sources, but it never feels too academic or dense.
Also, I made this 90s Bitch playlist on Spotify because I got super amped after reading this.
June 19, 2018
3.5 stars. I liked this - it’s a good overview of how conservative backlash and media marketing strategies worked against very high profile women in politics, entertainment, and crime. There are some rough transitions between subjects that I think could have been done better. I feel like some areas could have been fleshed out with more examples - there is a conspicuous absence of Janet Jackson (how can anyone forget her 90s release “Janet”? The “If” video, lordt) and Daria (and there was an easy opportunity when talking about Girl Power and the “self-esteem” remedy, which Daria tackled head-on).
Addendum: this book, while the author tries to cover some culture related to POC (mostly rap culture/Living Single, and Anita Hill, of course), it is very white and heteronormative, just FYI
Addendum: this book, while the author tries to cover some culture related to POC (mostly rap culture/Living Single, and Anita Hill, of course), it is very white and heteronormative, just FYI
December 6, 2021
This was a secondary optional pick for one of my IRL book clubs (I'm in two now and it is great; the next person I see making fun of book clubs gets a virtual punch in their sensitive bits—book clubs are friendship, books, and food, fuck you) and I'm glad I read it, although it was a far from a perfect read. When it was on, I really enjoyed it. When it was off, steam came out of my ears.
The perspective this book takes is to reexamine basically the entirety of mainstream pop culture and news from 1990 to 1999 through the lens of how GIRL POWER WAS A LIE. And she does mostly make a compelling case. From inside the 90s things seemed pretty progressive. Looking back, things were gross.
She takes a look at nearly everything in the scope she's set for herself (I think to the book's detriment): TV, movies, the music industry, politics, and big news stories. I thought she served the real-life stuff well (examination of real life figures like Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, Marcia Clark, Monica Lewinsky) and did a pretty poor job of talking about the fictional stuff. Those sections were more miss than hit for me, because she doesn't take the time to provide context for most of the things she's discussing. The exception to this is the Beverly Hills 90210 section. Lots of context there, and it's no accident that section goes so much better than when she tries to talk about anything else, when it feels like she's just cherry-picking examples to prove her points, and often picking bad examples. I lost it when she called Dana Scully a harpy, implying that the character was a shrew created by a man to make the male lead look better, and didn't come back to listening to the book for a while. It must also be noted that even though the 90s themselves were full of awful or non-existent queer or non-white pop culture, the book doesn't do super well by them either.
I actually really liked the sections on Marcia Clark, Monica Lewinsky, and Anita Hill the most. The news coverage of women in the 90s (and let's be honest, still today for the most part) was disgustingly misogynistic, but like in a sneaky way. We were so steeped in it most people didn't even realize. She does a good job showing the ways that various parts of culture collided to portray these women the way it did, and the feedback loop of people creating culture and then being fed and reinforced it.
To sum up, this book is worth a chance, but I wouldn't buy it. Get it from the library or listen to it on SCRIBD.
The perspective this book takes is to reexamine basically the entirety of mainstream pop culture and news from 1990 to 1999 through the lens of how GIRL POWER WAS A LIE. And she does mostly make a compelling case. From inside the 90s things seemed pretty progressive. Looking back, things were gross.
She takes a look at nearly everything in the scope she's set for herself (I think to the book's detriment): TV, movies, the music industry, politics, and big news stories. I thought she served the real-life stuff well (examination of real life figures like Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, Marcia Clark, Monica Lewinsky) and did a pretty poor job of talking about the fictional stuff. Those sections were more miss than hit for me, because she doesn't take the time to provide context for most of the things she's discussing. The exception to this is the Beverly Hills 90210 section. Lots of context there, and it's no accident that section goes so much better than when she tries to talk about anything else, when it feels like she's just cherry-picking examples to prove her points, and often picking bad examples. I lost it when she called Dana Scully a harpy, implying that the character was a shrew created by a man to make the male lead look better, and didn't come back to listening to the book for a while. It must also be noted that even though the 90s themselves were full of awful or non-existent queer or non-white pop culture, the book doesn't do super well by them either.
I actually really liked the sections on Marcia Clark, Monica Lewinsky, and Anita Hill the most. The news coverage of women in the 90s (and let's be honest, still today for the most part) was disgustingly misogynistic, but like in a sneaky way. We were so steeped in it most people didn't even realize. She does a good job showing the ways that various parts of culture collided to portray these women the way it did, and the feedback loop of people creating culture and then being fed and reinforced it.
To sum up, this book is worth a chance, but I wouldn't buy it. Get it from the library or listen to it on SCRIBD.
July 14, 2020
Updating my star rating to five stars from four since I can't stop thinking about it.
___
“We now know not to be surprised by today’s misogyny, because it was seeded and cultivated decades ago when bitchifying any woman, every women, was just the way things were. Knowing this history is how we stop it from repeating. We can actually put our 90s nostalgia to potent use.”
The moment I was made aware of 90s Bitch, I knew I had to read it. Some say that being born in 1992 makes me a 90s child, but I don’t remember much from the 90s and the things I do remember are from the late 90s. 90s Bitch offered me the chance to learn about 90s culture through a feminist lens.
90s Bitch covered sex, violence, workplace, and other topics through specific women. There are portions of the book that focused on Hillary Clinton, the first bitch, Monica Lewinsky, Marcia Clark, Courtney love, Roseanne Barr, and others. The way these women were treated because of their appearances or behaviors serve as examples of the bitchifaction of women who did not fit the traditional female role.
The chapters that focused on Hillary Clinton and Marcia Clark were the chapters that resonated with me the most. After closely following the 2016 presidential election and assuming, like everyone else, Clinton’s inevitable success, I was crushed and bewildered thinking that women had finally gained footing in the battle for equality only to be cruelly reminded otherwise. After 90s Bitch, I have a new appreciation for Clinton and her relentless determination to break the ultimate glass ceiling. Clinton was dragged through the mud for her appearance, intelligence, and ambition. Even when she caved to conform to the medias’ relentless abuse, she was still criticised. Sure, Clinton has made mistakes, but name me a male of equivalent stature that was treated just as poorly and has still not been forgiven to this day.
Yarrow divided 90s Bitch into chapters based on a specific topics like sex, workplace, anger, femininity, violence, etc. Though all the topics are related to one another, Yarrow’s writing is clear and concise as she makes her arguments and proves them tenfold. The many quotes found throughout 90s Bitch have not aged well and if these people are not ashamed then Yarrow’s point is proven further.
I wish we could say that the 90s were what women expected when 1992 was named The Year of Women. I wish we could say that with every subsequent year women made irrefutable strides that still stand today. Unfortunately, 90s Bitch tells the story of how the media shaped the angry Grrl Power movement into the more subtle and less powerful Girl Power movement into the beginning of the 2000s’ tendency to hyper-sexualized young women with the introduction of Britney Spears.
Overall, 90s Bitch is an infuriating account of the 90s through a feminist lens as it recounts the strides women made in the battle for equality and the relentless attacks the media delivered those on the frontlines. Today’s continued battle for equality is informed by the past, so it’s important to remember that the sacrifices made today are worth it for a better tomorrow.
___
“We now know not to be surprised by today’s misogyny, because it was seeded and cultivated decades ago when bitchifying any woman, every women, was just the way things were. Knowing this history is how we stop it from repeating. We can actually put our 90s nostalgia to potent use.”
The moment I was made aware of 90s Bitch, I knew I had to read it. Some say that being born in 1992 makes me a 90s child, but I don’t remember much from the 90s and the things I do remember are from the late 90s. 90s Bitch offered me the chance to learn about 90s culture through a feminist lens.
90s Bitch covered sex, violence, workplace, and other topics through specific women. There are portions of the book that focused on Hillary Clinton, the first bitch, Monica Lewinsky, Marcia Clark, Courtney love, Roseanne Barr, and others. The way these women were treated because of their appearances or behaviors serve as examples of the bitchifaction of women who did not fit the traditional female role.
The chapters that focused on Hillary Clinton and Marcia Clark were the chapters that resonated with me the most. After closely following the 2016 presidential election and assuming, like everyone else, Clinton’s inevitable success, I was crushed and bewildered thinking that women had finally gained footing in the battle for equality only to be cruelly reminded otherwise. After 90s Bitch, I have a new appreciation for Clinton and her relentless determination to break the ultimate glass ceiling. Clinton was dragged through the mud for her appearance, intelligence, and ambition. Even when she caved to conform to the medias’ relentless abuse, she was still criticised. Sure, Clinton has made mistakes, but name me a male of equivalent stature that was treated just as poorly and has still not been forgiven to this day.
Yarrow divided 90s Bitch into chapters based on a specific topics like sex, workplace, anger, femininity, violence, etc. Though all the topics are related to one another, Yarrow’s writing is clear and concise as she makes her arguments and proves them tenfold. The many quotes found throughout 90s Bitch have not aged well and if these people are not ashamed then Yarrow’s point is proven further.
I wish we could say that the 90s were what women expected when 1992 was named The Year of Women. I wish we could say that with every subsequent year women made irrefutable strides that still stand today. Unfortunately, 90s Bitch tells the story of how the media shaped the angry Grrl Power movement into the more subtle and less powerful Girl Power movement into the beginning of the 2000s’ tendency to hyper-sexualized young women with the introduction of Britney Spears.
Overall, 90s Bitch is an infuriating account of the 90s through a feminist lens as it recounts the strides women made in the battle for equality and the relentless attacks the media delivered those on the frontlines. Today’s continued battle for equality is informed by the past, so it’s important to remember that the sacrifices made today are worth it for a better tomorrow.
August 6, 2020
The 1990s are currently being idealized and remembered fondly, but as this book articulates, the decade was not a fun, forward-thinking time for everyone, especially if you were female. As someone who was a teenager during the time, I agreed with the book's premise: The '90s were mean.
The end of the 20th century was a time when old mores and conformity ran straight into a looser raunch culture, the result being that if you didn't follow the accepted way of acting, looking, and dressing, you were frequently pummeled with insults of an especially crude, and usually graphically sexual, nature. This took place everywhere from the school bus and the lunchroom for students, to the media and political arena for high-profile women who stepped "out of line."
While I disagree that any woman who became nationally-known should be viewed as a champion of women's rights, this book is an interesting re-framing of multiple "scandals" of the decade as frequently based more upon misogyny than the actual behavior by the women in the center of the firestorm.
If you remember the decade well, you will no doubt have many memories dredged up by the stories Yarrow covers. I recalled making a Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan comic strip and remembered my opinions of the big female musical acts of the era, such as Fiona Apple (loved) and Alanis Morissette (hated). I also had plenty of memories of far less ephemeral things, and considered how bullies of the 1990s, both male and female, were taking their cues from the culture at large.
The end of the 20th century was a time when old mores and conformity ran straight into a looser raunch culture, the result being that if you didn't follow the accepted way of acting, looking, and dressing, you were frequently pummeled with insults of an especially crude, and usually graphically sexual, nature. This took place everywhere from the school bus and the lunchroom for students, to the media and political arena for high-profile women who stepped "out of line."
While I disagree that any woman who became nationally-known should be viewed as a champion of women's rights, this book is an interesting re-framing of multiple "scandals" of the decade as frequently based more upon misogyny than the actual behavior by the women in the center of the firestorm.
If you remember the decade well, you will no doubt have many memories dredged up by the stories Yarrow covers. I recalled making a Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan comic strip and remembered my opinions of the big female musical acts of the era, such as Fiona Apple (loved) and Alanis Morissette (hated). I also had plenty of memories of far less ephemeral things, and considered how bullies of the 1990s, both male and female, were taking their cues from the culture at large.
July 21, 2018
Okay book. The beginning, which deals with the rise of Victoria’s Secret, and the end, which discusses the Girl Power movement, were particularly interesting. The author frequently presents her opinions on situations/women’s personalities as if they are facts. I found this problematic. Additionally, I thought the book leaned too heavily on opinion quotes from newspapers and prominent individuals. There’s always going to be some sexist asshole out there with a platform. The issue isn’t whether some people in the 90s were sexist. Obviously that’s true. This issue is whether the 90s was, according to the back cover, “a decade in which female empowerment was twisted into objectification, exploitation, and subjugation.” I agree with the author that it was, but I wish the book conveyed its point primarily through statistics and popular cultural phenomena (hence why the parts about Beverly Hills 90210, Victoria’s Secret, and Girl Power were the most interesting & persuasive parts of the book) instead of stories about unpopular famous women. The vilifications of Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, and Marcia Clark were blatantly sexist. Other parts of the book were more questionable. I think mainly I took issue with 90s Bitch because it didn’t seem very objective and that’s what I (and I would assume most people) look for in non-fiction.
July 17, 2018
It’s amazing how much I missed in the media growing up in the 90s. The author challenges you to revisit those times and remember the women who were criticized in a redeeming light. There aren’t any “new” facts, just what the media didn’t want to portray to sell stories at the time. A must-read for all feminists!
August 20, 2018
To be called a bitch is contextual and gendered. If a woman is called a bitch in anger, it is demeaning. If a man is called one in anger, it is not just demeaning, but an attack on their masculinity. And then there are those, like myself, who embrace the term as one of strength. Sometimes women use it as a term of endearment, "You are a strong bitch!" Other times we translate the attack and flip is back to the offender, "You're damn right I'm a bitch!" But how does the word impact our daily lives and politics? From Brenda versus Kelly to Tonya versus Nancy, Allison Yarrow's careful examination of who gets called a bitch reveals why the feminist movement failed to make the progress it should have in the 1990s and its ramifications to our lives today.
You may wonder how one word has so much power. That is why "90s Bitch" is a must read, especially for everyone who grew up in the 1990s.
By examining both sides of different scandals such as Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Yarrow unpacks how the media and our reactions helped to fuel the unraveling of feminist goals that we still feel today. Hillary began the 1990s as the number one bitch. She was an unconventional First Lady who offended many who believed in the traditional doting wife model. Hillary offended many with her comment about not staying home to bake cookies, but once challenged to a bake-off, worked her ass off to win it. Many felt she wasted any goodwill by the revelations of Bill's infidelity by staying with him. On the other hand, Monica was rarely afforded support due to a massive case of slut-shaming. One thread Yarrow misses in this conversation is the reality that the Republicans had taken over Congress and the defense of Bill was one of political will, especially in light of Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde's history of infidelity. Yarrow's indictment of feminist leaders is a hard pill to swallow for those of us lived through the moment, even if we have a sneaky suspicion that Bill deserved to be impeached for preying on an intern. But what Yarrow does is not just reveal the flaws of 1990s feminism in relation to the Bill Clinton affair, but how the bitchification of Monica prevented a better analysis of the situation.
Again and again Yarrow reexamines how the trope of bitch derailed feminist progress in the 1990s. You may have lived through the 90s, but that means you likely took a side and Yarrow shows us that the only side of have was the movement's side.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
You may wonder how one word has so much power. That is why "90s Bitch" is a must read, especially for everyone who grew up in the 1990s.
By examining both sides of different scandals such as Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Yarrow unpacks how the media and our reactions helped to fuel the unraveling of feminist goals that we still feel today. Hillary began the 1990s as the number one bitch. She was an unconventional First Lady who offended many who believed in the traditional doting wife model. Hillary offended many with her comment about not staying home to bake cookies, but once challenged to a bake-off, worked her ass off to win it. Many felt she wasted any goodwill by the revelations of Bill's infidelity by staying with him. On the other hand, Monica was rarely afforded support due to a massive case of slut-shaming. One thread Yarrow misses in this conversation is the reality that the Republicans had taken over Congress and the defense of Bill was one of political will, especially in light of Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde's history of infidelity. Yarrow's indictment of feminist leaders is a hard pill to swallow for those of us lived through the moment, even if we have a sneaky suspicion that Bill deserved to be impeached for preying on an intern. But what Yarrow does is not just reveal the flaws of 1990s feminism in relation to the Bill Clinton affair, but how the bitchification of Monica prevented a better analysis of the situation.
Again and again Yarrow reexamines how the trope of bitch derailed feminist progress in the 1990s. You may have lived through the 90s, but that means you likely took a side and Yarrow shows us that the only side of have was the movement's side.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
September 12, 2018
90s Bitch is brilliant! Once I've opened it, I just could not put it down, it was absolutely riveting.
I was 15 in 1990 so 90s pop culture feels like very familiar territory to me and yet, this book made me realize how much I've missed, all kinds of subtext I just didn't get because I was so young at the time.
90s Bitch provided A LOT of food for thought and also embarked me in a spiral of googling, reading articles, watching old interviews and tv show teasers on Youtube, adding lots of stuff on various wishlists because it made me eager to know even MORE.
It ends on a sad note, stating that yeah, we've come a long way and yet there is still so much to do, but it gave me a lot of energy and made me feel stronger (knowledge is power, I guess? Something like that).
I was 15 in 1990 so 90s pop culture feels like very familiar territory to me and yet, this book made me realize how much I've missed, all kinds of subtext I just didn't get because I was so young at the time.
90s Bitch provided A LOT of food for thought and also embarked me in a spiral of googling, reading articles, watching old interviews and tv show teasers on Youtube, adding lots of stuff on various wishlists because it made me eager to know even MORE.
It ends on a sad note, stating that yeah, we've come a long way and yet there is still so much to do, but it gave me a lot of energy and made me feel stronger (knowledge is power, I guess? Something like that).
August 5, 2024
Super interessant, maar had graag wat meer analyse en minder voorbeelden. Wel leuk dat ik nu meer voorbeelden heb om de wereld gefundeerd te haten lol
July 22, 2022
Have been reading this book in small doses for months, and while normally that would mean I don't actually enjoy the book, definitely not the case with this one. 90s Bitch is well-researched and meticulously formatted, and Yarrow is able to tie together pop culture topics and celebrities like Melrose Place and Ally McBeal and the Courtney Love/Kurt Cobain relationship, within a historical context of analyzing 90s news stories that still maintain relevance today- from Anita Hill's sexual harassment testimony (and how she was mistreated by our now-President Biden) to the Lorena Bobbit and OJ Simpson trials, to comparisonns of the 2016 elections and those in the 90s "year of the woman" congressional elections, and all the inherent misogynistic undertones of these stories and their media coverage, in a way that begs readers to sit with all the information given, and pay attention to what has, and more importantly, what has NOT changed over the past 3 decades, for women. Finishing the book just after the overturn of Roe v Wade was actually kind of heartbreaking, as what little optimism the author was able to portray when the book was published in 2018, seems to be kind of...gone, and our political climate has only become worse and more bitterly divided, with conservative white women having clearly joined the wrong side and damaging our prospects for progress on so many of the issues discussed throughout the book.
At any rate, I thought the writing was top notch, and the points salient,and as a woman who came of age in the 1990s, so MUCH of this book resonated with me on a personal level. For a 400+ page nonfiction tome on feminism and sexism, I thought it was a fantastic read. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
At any rate, I thought the writing was top notch, and the points salient,and as a woman who came of age in the 1990s, so MUCH of this book resonated with me on a personal level. For a 400+ page nonfiction tome on feminism and sexism, I thought it was a fantastic read. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
January 24, 2022
It's been days since I finished this and I can't stop thinking about it.
As a 90s kid, I nostalgically remember that decade as a stepping stone to today's feminism and to the woman I am today, and to look back on the politics, pop culture and media and analyze that, actually? It was all pretty sexist and very disheartening fueled my feminist rage, and that's always a good sign if you ask me. It made me want to go out and do things and continue living as unapologetically as I do now.
Allison Yarrow manages to pack as much information as she can in this book while making it flow nicely. An entertaining and informative read. I 100% recommend reading it, especially if you grew up during the 90s.
As a 90s kid, I nostalgically remember that decade as a stepping stone to today's feminism and to the woman I am today, and to look back on the politics, pop culture and media and analyze that, actually? It was all pretty sexist and very disheartening fueled my feminist rage, and that's always a good sign if you ask me. It made me want to go out and do things and continue living as unapologetically as I do now.
Allison Yarrow manages to pack as much information as she can in this book while making it flow nicely. An entertaining and informative read. I 100% recommend reading it, especially if you grew up during the 90s.
February 1, 2019
Well that was depressing.
I would liked to have seen more in the way of positive developments... TV shows and characters, artists, movies... Anytime she sort of mentioned one she brushed it off and moved on. Still, she covered a lot of stuff I barely remembered or viewed differently when I was growing up in it.
I would liked to have seen more in the way of positive developments... TV shows and characters, artists, movies... Anytime she sort of mentioned one she brushed it off and moved on. Still, she covered a lot of stuff I barely remembered or viewed differently when I was growing up in it.
April 21, 2020
Yarrow presents an interesting argument that the 90s, no matter how much girl power was presented, was actually full of sexism and the overt sexualization of girls and women.
Overall I found the cultural examples she used to be good, even though I had to google a couple of them. But there was also a theme of presenting examples or statistics, and then not explaining the importance of them whatsoever. So, Yarrow would essentially bring up and then immediately drop something that I thought would've been a great addition to her argument, or just interesting.
I enjoyed reading about how the Riot Grrl movement "transitioned" into the Girl Power movement while leaving behind everything the former represented. I used to think of the 90s as a great moment of feminism, but after reading this I have to rethink that.
Yarrow shows individuals who pushed feminism, but in the end, the media and consumers essentially said fuck that, and either commercialized everything (yay capitalism!) Or made these women out to be absolutely horrible bitches.
Overall I found the cultural examples she used to be good, even though I had to google a couple of them. But there was also a theme of presenting examples or statistics, and then not explaining the importance of them whatsoever. So, Yarrow would essentially bring up and then immediately drop something that I thought would've been a great addition to her argument, or just interesting.
I enjoyed reading about how the Riot Grrl movement "transitioned" into the Girl Power movement while leaving behind everything the former represented. I used to think of the 90s as a great moment of feminism, but after reading this I have to rethink that.
Yarrow shows individuals who pushed feminism, but in the end, the media and consumers essentially said fuck that, and either commercialized everything (yay capitalism!) Or made these women out to be absolutely horrible bitches.
August 7, 2019
The beginning of this book threatens to ruin the 90s era that I hold dear, and I was relieved to find that the book was simply too poorly put together to succeed in any unraveling of my childhood.
The first half of the book discusses women in television and the roles they played that emphasized a certain type of woman that Yarrow argues, were examples of the decades quest for 'bitchification.' And while I agree that yes, women were often too thin and eating disorders were somewhat glorified, and fat shaming through humor was evident...I was disappointed by the overall examples provided.
I don't condone fat shaming but I think jokes of that nature were written into television in the 90s because overall people were healthier and thinner, so being overweight was the exception not the norm. I don't think it was ok that we made these jokes but I think they drew a laugh because there was such a thing as 'the fat kid in school' that our immature minds were ready to laugh at. Now, we've become much more accepting of other body sizes and fat jokes don't work, not just because of our matured minds and hearts, but because a lot of people are overweight. The 90s was definitely a time where being different for any reason, weight, or the clothes your parents bought you, or the things you liked, made you a target for teasing. I wasn't overweight but was bullied and teased incessantly because my mom bought my clothes from goodwill not Limited Too like the popular girls. And now being overweight isn't different, and I would like to think that we have stopped ostracizing those who are different for any reason.
Yarrow mentions the hyper sexualization of certain singers of the time, but I don't know what era in time we haven't sexualized musical artists. Even Elvis Presley, fully clothed, was sexualized and at the time, a controversial artist just for the way he danced. Some parts of this book felt like Yarrow wanted to sexualize everyone, and it bordered on creepy as she described some people being made to look like sexy little girls, whom I didn't see in the same light, thus making it seem more and more that she has some weird twisted up desire to sexualize them and make that comparison. It's as if she said, 'we put bows in their hair because we wanted to make them young but also sexy' she doesn't mention bows as an example but this is the type of argument she makes. One example she did highlight was Lisa Loeb's Stay and she said how the dress she wore was shortened for the music video to emphasize a baby girl look. I actually pulled up the music video to jog my memory and she is wearing black leggings, making the length of the dress almost irrelevant. And it's a black dress, nothing about her look reminds me of a child, but Yarrow desperately wants to make this about infantasizing women.
I won't walk you through every point or argument that I disagree with, so I'll try to summarize the rest of my thoughts here.
Organization was poor. The show Friends comes up in 4-5 chapters along with 90210, and political scandals. I found it frustrating to read that she wrote the book like a merry-go-round and I think her intention was to 'weave' her points together but it felt like she was never effectively making a point to move on, but wanted to ramble her way to a full-length book.
Most of her examples she gave, have similar examples we could pull from the 80's and today. Being killed by the baby's father is still the number 1 non-medical cause of death for pregnant women, that wasn't unique to the 90s. Musical artists are still being hyper sexualized and we don't have to look far for examples such as Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry, etc. While I do think some of the characterization of 90s TV shows has changed in how women are portrayed, you could argue ALL reality TV portrayal is pretty much universally unflattering towards women, i.e. the Kardashians. I don't think that society has a desire to infantalize women now or then, but Yarrow seems to have a fetish for it. And I think if anything, the perceptions of body and expectations for young girls has gotten worse than it was in the 90s, not better. Girls as young as 10 are learning to contour their face and master the art of makeup, which isn't necessarily always harmful if they enjoy the art form but appears to be a reflection of holding up to new and higher beauty standards. Young girls aren't just wishing to be thin, and maybe don't desire to have the boob jobs of the 90s, but plastic surgery seems to be growing in popularity with celebrities like the Kardashians making it seem normal and necessary.
Honestly, I'd take 90s feminism over today any day. Sorry Yarrow, as much as you want to ruin 'girl power' for me, and tell me it was about consumerism, FOR ME as a kid, it was about girl power and an 'equalization of the sexes' and a reminder that we were strong and can do anything, and that most of all we were most powerful when we stuck together instead of working against each other as girls. And Lisa Frank isn't some evil consumerism company, she made fun school supplies and toys that I still have fond memories of.
I don't know what can be learned from the 90s around feminism and female portrayals in the media. I'm SURE there is a key learning there or a phenomenon that came out of all of that. But Yarrow just didn't seem to grasp it in her attempts. Citing one-off news headlines, and opinions of newspapers wasn't all that convincing to try and tell me that society as a whole felt a certain way about any of her examples. If you go searching for soundbites you can find any soundbite your soul desires. But I didn't come to this book looking for soundbites, I wanted a wholly constructed theory and research into the 90s 'bitchification,' but this book didn't deliver that.
The first half of the book discusses women in television and the roles they played that emphasized a certain type of woman that Yarrow argues, were examples of the decades quest for 'bitchification.' And while I agree that yes, women were often too thin and eating disorders were somewhat glorified, and fat shaming through humor was evident...I was disappointed by the overall examples provided.
I don't condone fat shaming but I think jokes of that nature were written into television in the 90s because overall people were healthier and thinner, so being overweight was the exception not the norm. I don't think it was ok that we made these jokes but I think they drew a laugh because there was such a thing as 'the fat kid in school' that our immature minds were ready to laugh at. Now, we've become much more accepting of other body sizes and fat jokes don't work, not just because of our matured minds and hearts, but because a lot of people are overweight. The 90s was definitely a time where being different for any reason, weight, or the clothes your parents bought you, or the things you liked, made you a target for teasing. I wasn't overweight but was bullied and teased incessantly because my mom bought my clothes from goodwill not Limited Too like the popular girls. And now being overweight isn't different, and I would like to think that we have stopped ostracizing those who are different for any reason.
Yarrow mentions the hyper sexualization of certain singers of the time, but I don't know what era in time we haven't sexualized musical artists. Even Elvis Presley, fully clothed, was sexualized and at the time, a controversial artist just for the way he danced. Some parts of this book felt like Yarrow wanted to sexualize everyone, and it bordered on creepy as she described some people being made to look like sexy little girls, whom I didn't see in the same light, thus making it seem more and more that she has some weird twisted up desire to sexualize them and make that comparison. It's as if she said, 'we put bows in their hair because we wanted to make them young but also sexy' she doesn't mention bows as an example but this is the type of argument she makes. One example she did highlight was Lisa Loeb's Stay and she said how the dress she wore was shortened for the music video to emphasize a baby girl look. I actually pulled up the music video to jog my memory and she is wearing black leggings, making the length of the dress almost irrelevant. And it's a black dress, nothing about her look reminds me of a child, but Yarrow desperately wants to make this about infantasizing women.
I won't walk you through every point or argument that I disagree with, so I'll try to summarize the rest of my thoughts here.
Organization was poor. The show Friends comes up in 4-5 chapters along with 90210, and political scandals. I found it frustrating to read that she wrote the book like a merry-go-round and I think her intention was to 'weave' her points together but it felt like she was never effectively making a point to move on, but wanted to ramble her way to a full-length book.
Most of her examples she gave, have similar examples we could pull from the 80's and today. Being killed by the baby's father is still the number 1 non-medical cause of death for pregnant women, that wasn't unique to the 90s. Musical artists are still being hyper sexualized and we don't have to look far for examples such as Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry, etc. While I do think some of the characterization of 90s TV shows has changed in how women are portrayed, you could argue ALL reality TV portrayal is pretty much universally unflattering towards women, i.e. the Kardashians. I don't think that society has a desire to infantalize women now or then, but Yarrow seems to have a fetish for it. And I think if anything, the perceptions of body and expectations for young girls has gotten worse than it was in the 90s, not better. Girls as young as 10 are learning to contour their face and master the art of makeup, which isn't necessarily always harmful if they enjoy the art form but appears to be a reflection of holding up to new and higher beauty standards. Young girls aren't just wishing to be thin, and maybe don't desire to have the boob jobs of the 90s, but plastic surgery seems to be growing in popularity with celebrities like the Kardashians making it seem normal and necessary.
Honestly, I'd take 90s feminism over today any day. Sorry Yarrow, as much as you want to ruin 'girl power' for me, and tell me it was about consumerism, FOR ME as a kid, it was about girl power and an 'equalization of the sexes' and a reminder that we were strong and can do anything, and that most of all we were most powerful when we stuck together instead of working against each other as girls. And Lisa Frank isn't some evil consumerism company, she made fun school supplies and toys that I still have fond memories of.
I don't know what can be learned from the 90s around feminism and female portrayals in the media. I'm SURE there is a key learning there or a phenomenon that came out of all of that. But Yarrow just didn't seem to grasp it in her attempts. Citing one-off news headlines, and opinions of newspapers wasn't all that convincing to try and tell me that society as a whole felt a certain way about any of her examples. If you go searching for soundbites you can find any soundbite your soul desires. But I didn't come to this book looking for soundbites, I wanted a wholly constructed theory and research into the 90s 'bitchification,' but this book didn't deliver that.
May 30, 2024
If you were an impressionable woman in the 90s (tbh I'm still impressionable now, it's more like "if you were a woman in the 90s"), this is a must read.
90's Bitch provides the perfect addition of pop culture and marketing tactics to research similar to that in Peggy Orenstein and Amanda Montell's books or Beauty Sick by Renee Engeln.
This book deserves to absolutely blow up, I'm not sure how it hasn't already.
90's Bitch provides the perfect addition of pop culture and marketing tactics to research similar to that in Peggy Orenstein and Amanda Montell's books or Beauty Sick by Renee Engeln.
This book deserves to absolutely blow up, I'm not sure how it hasn't already.
Read
June 3, 2025Edit 6/3/25 Lord have mercy. Amy Fisher and Lorena Bobbitt. I remember being utterly disgusted by the moniker "Long Island Lolita," which is yet another example of shifting the blame to the woman. Also? That's a garbage book. I said what I said. Nabokov is writing about a pedofile. I do not care how pretty the sentences supposedly are. Gross.
Then there's Lorena Bobbitt. If you haven't watched the documentary about her, then I would highly recommend that you do so. It's not like she went straight to cutting off a penis, folks. She was beaten and raped and sodomized. The police had been called to their apartment multiple times. People had seen the bruises. One chilling fact from Yarrow that I hadn't put together is this: marital rape wasn't illegal in all 50 states until July 5 1993. When did Lorena Bobbitt reach the end of her rope? June 23, 1993. Wrap your mind around that: it was LEGAL for a husband to rape is wife for a good chunk of this country's history. Tell me you wouldn't start eying that butcher knife.
Also? Monoculture strikes again? What do all of these 90s women have in common? They were the butt of late night jokes. Fisher, Bobbit, Lewinsky, both Clintons, Reno, Hill, Clark, et al. Comedy has been used against us. Maybe we should use comedy against the status quo. /end June 3 update
Edit 5/26/25 I've been listening to this book again. I'm still beyond angry. Currently I'm in the chapter where Yarrow talks about Paula Cole.
At this point, Yarrow has successfully drawn parallels between how Anita Hill was treated at the beginning of the 90s and how Monica Lewinsky was treated at the end of that decade. The treatment of Anita Hill, in particular, makes me want to set something on fire. Imagine, if you will, a world in which Clarence Thomas's behavior didn't completely stymie Hill's career. Or imagine a world where Hill was our Supreme Court Justice and not him. The fact that he was ever in charge of the very government office that investigated sexual harassment cases is enough to make anyone bang their heads against the wall.
Then there's Lewinsky. Oh, she's a complicated case because she, as she famously told Barbara Walters, made a mistake. But did the punishment fit the crime? I think not.
In the next chapter Yarrow talks about Marcia Clark, another woman pushed out of litigation due to...sexism. Judge Ito had no respect for her. Her soon to be ex-husband dragged her through the mud. She has PTSD from how the media dissected her appearance. Ridiculous.
Next up? Hillary Clinton. Say what you will about Clinton, but she would've never been so divisive if she were a man.
Yarrow also talks about Janet Reno and Madeline Albright, two powerful women who were mocked at every turn. At this point she's quote enough Jay Leno jokes about allllll of these women, that he is currently on my shit list. One brief mention of Chelsea Clinton and how McCain once joked that Chelsea was ugly because Janet Reno was her father. McCain apologized to Bill, but not to Janet or Chelsea. I remember the late night jokes about Chelsea Clinton. Those are the words that scar young girls, and there was absolutely no call for dragging a child through the mud.
Imma have to hit pause on this one because it's making me soooooo angry.
So I guess I'll keep listening and I'll keep cussing people left and right for the way they've treated women. /May 26 edit
Why? Because I lived through the nineties, and looking at that time in retrospect proves Yarrow's point that the 90s were a backlash to any strides women made in the 70s and 80s. Rolling back Roe v Wade, Title 9, the Voting Rights Act, ACA, and anything else the current admin can get their hands on is rolling back any strides made for women and/or people of color. I'm tired, and I know I'm only tired from one intersection of my being, so all y'all who have multiples points, I salute you. You are incredible for pushing back against all of this unnecessary hatred.
Anyhoo, I've made it to Chapter 4 where Yarrow has discussed reclamation of the word bitch, Buffy, Charmed, how the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was ultimately sexist, and what happened to Dr. Elders. I got too mad to function. To sum up, Elders suggested that sex education should start when kids are younger (it should--in an age appropriate way), that sex ed shouldn't be abstinence based (because that doesn't work), and that masturbation should be taught as a part of sex education to combat AIDS and teen pregnancy ("self abuse" only "abuses" the self, yo). My takeaway was that Clinton should've resigned for being a horndog. Elders' comments were misrepresented and became the fodder for late night jokes. Because she was fired, our nation still suffers from higher rates of STDs than other developed nations. https://worldpopulationreview.com/cou...
Because she was fired, we also have among the highest rates of teen pregnancy among developed nations. https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet...
Maybe we should've listened to the Condom Queen.
So, maybe I'll come back to this book when I can handle it.
more on elders: https://www.newsweek.com/remember-tim...
Then there's Lorena Bobbitt. If you haven't watched the documentary about her, then I would highly recommend that you do so. It's not like she went straight to cutting off a penis, folks. She was beaten and raped and sodomized. The police had been called to their apartment multiple times. People had seen the bruises. One chilling fact from Yarrow that I hadn't put together is this: marital rape wasn't illegal in all 50 states until July 5 1993. When did Lorena Bobbitt reach the end of her rope? June 23, 1993. Wrap your mind around that: it was LEGAL for a husband to rape is wife for a good chunk of this country's history. Tell me you wouldn't start eying that butcher knife.
Also? Monoculture strikes again? What do all of these 90s women have in common? They were the butt of late night jokes. Fisher, Bobbit, Lewinsky, both Clintons, Reno, Hill, Clark, et al. Comedy has been used against us. Maybe we should use comedy against the status quo. /end June 3 update
Edit 5/26/25 I've been listening to this book again. I'm still beyond angry. Currently I'm in the chapter where Yarrow talks about Paula Cole.
At this point, Yarrow has successfully drawn parallels between how Anita Hill was treated at the beginning of the 90s and how Monica Lewinsky was treated at the end of that decade. The treatment of Anita Hill, in particular, makes me want to set something on fire. Imagine, if you will, a world in which Clarence Thomas's behavior didn't completely stymie Hill's career. Or imagine a world where Hill was our Supreme Court Justice and not him. The fact that he was ever in charge of the very government office that investigated sexual harassment cases is enough to make anyone bang their heads against the wall.
Then there's Lewinsky. Oh, she's a complicated case because she, as she famously told Barbara Walters, made a mistake. But did the punishment fit the crime? I think not.
In the next chapter Yarrow talks about Marcia Clark, another woman pushed out of litigation due to...sexism. Judge Ito had no respect for her. Her soon to be ex-husband dragged her through the mud. She has PTSD from how the media dissected her appearance. Ridiculous.
Next up? Hillary Clinton. Say what you will about Clinton, but she would've never been so divisive if she were a man.
Yarrow also talks about Janet Reno and Madeline Albright, two powerful women who were mocked at every turn. At this point she's quote enough Jay Leno jokes about allllll of these women, that he is currently on my shit list. One brief mention of Chelsea Clinton and how McCain once joked that Chelsea was ugly because Janet Reno was her father. McCain apologized to Bill, but not to Janet or Chelsea. I remember the late night jokes about Chelsea Clinton. Those are the words that scar young girls, and there was absolutely no call for dragging a child through the mud.
Imma have to hit pause on this one because it's making me soooooo angry.
So I guess I'll keep listening and I'll keep cussing people left and right for the way they've treated women. /May 26 edit
Why? Because I lived through the nineties, and looking at that time in retrospect proves Yarrow's point that the 90s were a backlash to any strides women made in the 70s and 80s. Rolling back Roe v Wade, Title 9, the Voting Rights Act, ACA, and anything else the current admin can get their hands on is rolling back any strides made for women and/or people of color. I'm tired, and I know I'm only tired from one intersection of my being, so all y'all who have multiples points, I salute you. You are incredible for pushing back against all of this unnecessary hatred.
Anyhoo, I've made it to Chapter 4 where Yarrow has discussed reclamation of the word bitch, Buffy, Charmed, how the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was ultimately sexist, and what happened to Dr. Elders. I got too mad to function. To sum up, Elders suggested that sex education should start when kids are younger (it should--in an age appropriate way), that sex ed shouldn't be abstinence based (because that doesn't work), and that masturbation should be taught as a part of sex education to combat AIDS and teen pregnancy ("self abuse" only "abuses" the self, yo). My takeaway was that Clinton should've resigned for being a horndog. Elders' comments were misrepresented and became the fodder for late night jokes. Because she was fired, our nation still suffers from higher rates of STDs than other developed nations. https://worldpopulationreview.com/cou...
Because she was fired, we also have among the highest rates of teen pregnancy among developed nations. https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet...
Maybe we should've listened to the Condom Queen.
So, maybe I'll come back to this book when I can handle it.
more on elders: https://www.newsweek.com/remember-tim...
August 14, 2024
if you’re into pop culture and gender, this one is a binge-worthy read.
no le doy 5 estrellas porque estoy de acuerdo con la autora. de hecho, nueve años después de su publicación, hay algunos sentimientos o conclusiones que podrían ser problematizadas. pero se las doy porque ha sido cósmico poder reflexionar sobre ello.
me hizo querer leer más. estoy pensando leer alguno de los textos que menciona. 🤭
no le doy 5 estrellas porque estoy de acuerdo con la autora. de hecho, nueve años después de su publicación, hay algunos sentimientos o conclusiones que podrían ser problematizadas. pero se las doy porque ha sido cósmico poder reflexionar sobre ello.
me hizo querer leer más. estoy pensando leer alguno de los textos que menciona. 🤭
February 27, 2019
I received this book from Goodreads.
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality is not exactly what I would call a "thoroughly engaging" read. I don't consider the unfair treatment of my gender in any time period a pleasurable read, particularly not when it involves the very recent past and my very own childhood, but I do believe it is an important subject to examine to understand the success the women's rights movement had on future generations and to closely document the iniquity and exploitation of women in the 90s to have a better idea on how to fix the here and now.
But, I don't think this book is the one to do it.
Allison Yarrow may have cleaned some of the dirt from the glass that has obstructed and villainized my view of some prominent women such as Marcia Clark and Hillary Clinton, but she didn't adequately explain some topics as thoroughly as I would have liked to be able to understand and make a definitive opinion other than the obvious: the 90s were sexist.
I consider this book a stepping stone for further reading on this subject, and not the ultimate go-to guide I think some are using it for.
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality is not exactly what I would call a "thoroughly engaging" read. I don't consider the unfair treatment of my gender in any time period a pleasurable read, particularly not when it involves the very recent past and my very own childhood, but I do believe it is an important subject to examine to understand the success the women's rights movement had on future generations and to closely document the iniquity and exploitation of women in the 90s to have a better idea on how to fix the here and now.
But, I don't think this book is the one to do it.
Allison Yarrow may have cleaned some of the dirt from the glass that has obstructed and villainized my view of some prominent women such as Marcia Clark and Hillary Clinton, but she didn't adequately explain some topics as thoroughly as I would have liked to be able to understand and make a definitive opinion other than the obvious: the 90s were sexist.
I consider this book a stepping stone for further reading on this subject, and not the ultimate go-to guide I think some are using it for.
November 25, 2018
First of all the 90's were an interesting time especially for women. Yarrow has done a great job examining the way powerful women of this era were treated through the media and our culture in general.
The 90's could have been so promising for gender equality. Stand out women that used their voices and spoke up should have been celebrated, instead they were manipulated by the media for breaking the mold of what societies expectations of female behavior was. They were then labeled as "Bitchy". This is something I think we still struggle with in society today.
Yarrow examines a wide range of women. From the music industry to political figures to fictional female characters as well.
Thoroughly researched and executed clearly and precisely 90's Bitch is a must read on gender politics! Understanding where we came from, and knowing what went wrong to change it for future generations. This one really makes you think. Enjoyed this one a lot! Out June 19th!
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
The 90's could have been so promising for gender equality. Stand out women that used their voices and spoke up should have been celebrated, instead they were manipulated by the media for breaking the mold of what societies expectations of female behavior was. They were then labeled as "Bitchy". This is something I think we still struggle with in society today.
Yarrow examines a wide range of women. From the music industry to political figures to fictional female characters as well.
Thoroughly researched and executed clearly and precisely 90's Bitch is a must read on gender politics! Understanding where we came from, and knowing what went wrong to change it for future generations. This one really makes you think. Enjoyed this one a lot! Out June 19th!
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
June 7, 2022
This was a really compelling read. Yarrow explores 90’s pop and political cultures through the lens of sexism and feminism and it paints a really fascinating (and rage inducing) picture of people and events that I am old enough to remember. In a lot of ways my youthful impressions are reflections of the conservative Americana I was raised in, and I found the exploration of these events with the hindsight of 30 years to be really enlightening. It’s pretty depressing how little has changed since then— but it did give me more understanding of the current ( and same old) treatment, sexualization, and “bitchification” women today are still dealing with, and how to better scrutinize the bullshit when it hits the news cycles.
October 18, 2018
It was sort of nice to go down memory lane as a 90s bitch myself, but the book is basically a catalogue of sexism and sexualization of girls etc rather than anything specific to the 90s. I suppose we could do this every decade, but I was expecting more of an analysis and an embedding the media landscape into the broader cultural feel of the time. Was there something to the Reagan era that made for this milieu of media? Was it war? Backlash? Susan Faludi's Backlash is a classic in the genre because it dissects and analyzes the trends instead of offering a catalogue. I suppose I was looking for that.
August 1, 2019
There is so much great analysis in this book and it’s well worth the read. It provides a lot of context and you can see a direct line from what happened in the 90s to where we are today. I’m giving it only 3 stars because there’s so much missing. I wanted more depth in how the media and corporations manipulated feminism for their own gain. It dives deep in the cultural response and impact, but leaves a lot to be desired on the media framework -who’s running it (i.e. white men) and what was left out of the narrative. It also leaves out the impact 90s media had on young girls of color. Solid book, but shouldn’t be considered a full view of 90s feminism in media.
July 16, 2021
I felt like I was seeing the 90s clearly for the first time while reading this book. So well researched and so thorough in fleshing out (and taking the sheen off) well-known cultural moments. Many significant women of the 90s are finally viewed through a lens free of sexism in this book, a benefit they didn’t have 30 years ago. I wish I could recommend this book to everyone.
September 16, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up. I have a lot of thought about this one! This book simultaneously triggered both my nostalgia and ptsd. Enjoyed the analysis, overall, and it got more intersectional with time. I would say, I think, that a lot of the points feel familiar, things I’ve heard on “You’re Wrong About” or depicted in the NYT documentary about Britney Spears, etc. One thing: why can’t trans women be included in this feminist rehashing of the nineties? The pop culture depiction of trans women in the nineties was a nightmare. I was even thinking in the chapter about men dressing as women on SNL, inherent transphobia of that in it of itself serving as a punchline, but the author never really goes there.
September 11, 2025
I am finally DONE. Switching to the audiobook helped. The last few chapters were interesting but throughout the beginning I found the author repeating the same stories and references over and over again. This book could have been shorter or maybe more succinct. There were also a lot of references to TV shows I did not know which made those chapters difficult to follow.
Read
July 15, 2025I don’t rate nonfiction but 5⭐️s.
March 20, 2024
great modern history account of some of the 90s women who were totally obliterated by society — for being to girly, too boyish, too anything. makes me want to read more recent history
September 30, 2018
Putting media depictions of womanhood under a microscope and exploring tropes as male fantasies, 90's Bitch dissects the decade's television hits, cultural trends, and socio-political zeitgeist. From the halls of the U.S. Senate to the court system and Oval Office, Annette Yarrow chronicles the lives of notable career women who came to prominence in the 90's only to face harsh double standards from the media and public. The author has compiled a stream of criticisms from tabloids, news anchors and other outlets, with the aim of exploring the way patriarchy undermines and attacks women who climb the ladder to political and official positions historically inhabited by men.
Yarrow confronts the lack of credible information given to young people about safe sex in the 1990's, and the failures of abstinence-only sex education. We see the rise of the male-created lingerie giant Victoria's Secret, the arrival of internet porn, and the emergence of celebrity Pick-Up Artists. The author takes us past the rosy retrospection and vapid nostalgia marketed at a modern-day I Love The 90's festival, complete with an "authentic 90's girl bedroom," to the harsh realities of a decade that gave rise to unprecedented levels of eating disorders and self-harming behavior in teenagers. Alarming figures show children as young as six resorting to dieting by the beginning of the decade.
This book is in every way a great reference to go back to, carrying wonderful and thought-provoking background on famous figures of the era, from Anita Hill to Courtney Love, and references dozens of works of film , television and music worth re-exploring alongside the text. The abominable quotations collected from Rolling Stone, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Seventeen often speak for themselves, framing female artists in terms of their sexual potential and filing them into "bad girl" stereotypes. On the other hand, candid artist interviews reveal the trauma of objectification in the limelight, especially as it relates to young celebrities .
Music lovers and haters will enjoy a chapter on singer Fiona Apple, whose debut music video led to her being shamed by the music press as "emaciated," and "too thin." Even the author of this book, for some reason, can't resist referring to her as "bird-necked." Yarrow then takes us back to her thought process as a teenager: "Apple did look like the cocaine-snorting model who frequently appeared in teen magazines, selling an androgynous fragrance or diet pills. I couldn't stand that her look was popular , mostly because my shape was the exact opposite." This is one of only a few personal anecdotes in which the author offers her own experiences to make a point . "I was Fiona Apple's target demographic , yet I absorbed the critiques of her and parroted them myself."
Readers will either love or hate the distinctive voice of Yarrow's writing, which jumps off the page with vehement urgency fitting its subject matter. Her tone is bleak to point of a dark sarcasm , speaking truth to power and calling out beloved pop culture institutions like Saturday Night Live, Friends and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. While I can't say that I agree with every idea expressed in 90's Bitch, it remains a powerful investigation that deserves to be read and discussed.
Yarrow confronts the lack of credible information given to young people about safe sex in the 1990's, and the failures of abstinence-only sex education. We see the rise of the male-created lingerie giant Victoria's Secret, the arrival of internet porn, and the emergence of celebrity Pick-Up Artists. The author takes us past the rosy retrospection and vapid nostalgia marketed at a modern-day I Love The 90's festival, complete with an "authentic 90's girl bedroom," to the harsh realities of a decade that gave rise to unprecedented levels of eating disorders and self-harming behavior in teenagers. Alarming figures show children as young as six resorting to dieting by the beginning of the decade.
This book is in every way a great reference to go back to, carrying wonderful and thought-provoking background on famous figures of the era, from Anita Hill to Courtney Love, and references dozens of works of film , television and music worth re-exploring alongside the text. The abominable quotations collected from Rolling Stone, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Seventeen often speak for themselves, framing female artists in terms of their sexual potential and filing them into "bad girl" stereotypes. On the other hand, candid artist interviews reveal the trauma of objectification in the limelight, especially as it relates to young celebrities .
Music lovers and haters will enjoy a chapter on singer Fiona Apple, whose debut music video led to her being shamed by the music press as "emaciated," and "too thin." Even the author of this book, for some reason, can't resist referring to her as "bird-necked." Yarrow then takes us back to her thought process as a teenager: "Apple did look like the cocaine-snorting model who frequently appeared in teen magazines, selling an androgynous fragrance or diet pills. I couldn't stand that her look was popular , mostly because my shape was the exact opposite." This is one of only a few personal anecdotes in which the author offers her own experiences to make a point . "I was Fiona Apple's target demographic , yet I absorbed the critiques of her and parroted them myself."
Readers will either love or hate the distinctive voice of Yarrow's writing, which jumps off the page with vehement urgency fitting its subject matter. Her tone is bleak to point of a dark sarcasm , speaking truth to power and calling out beloved pop culture institutions like Saturday Night Live, Friends and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. While I can't say that I agree with every idea expressed in 90's Bitch, it remains a powerful investigation that deserves to be read and discussed.
February 19, 2019
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality (Paperback)
by Allison Yarrow This is the title on the book.
from the library
90s bitch : the decade that destroyed the modern American woman by Yarrow, Allison, author.
This is the title listed in the library database.
This was written by a journalist. This appears to be written by that type of feminist that is hostile toward everyone and everything. So while I have only read a few chapters and the notes to the whole book, I am not sure if I will finish it. This book is an equal opportunity hostility tour de force. It seems to be hostile to women and men, to capitalism and media, to girls and boys, to sex, to sex education, and more.
Take thongs. Thongs are bad. Stores that sell them are bad. Monica L is bad. Barbara W who interviewed her is bad. The media stories about all these things are bad. Personally I find that they are uncomfortable and I don't wear them or see the point in wearing them. But for those who do and who choose to show that they do, that is bad. WHY? It signals availability which is bad. And why is that bad? don't get me started. When I see thongs above the pants I see a statement about sexual agency. That is a good.
Take the title Bitch. It is chosen because it supposedly characterizes the 90s attitude toward women. AY admits that it is an old word, hundreds of years old. So what makes it characteristic of the 90s? I was first called Bitch is the 70's. Another nursing student and I were at a small party. The presence of alcohol did not enhance the partying spirit. I announced that I needed to go home and study. One of the men accused me of getting something started that I wasn't going to finish and his parting words were, "Bitch." This was exactly the nasty attitude that alcohol had exacerbated and he was pissed that I wasn't going along with his intent of starting something sexual in the first place. I know what I like. My life was going some place and his wasn't. Hence, "Bitch". Not my problem.
Now as to Gender Equality, who promised us GE? Who even promised us human rights? I was on extended leave from the military at the time so I could go to school. Officer training school instructors just a few years before, weren't even enthusiastic about teaching us about the Geneva Conventions and legal orders. There was a lot of grumbling in the ranks that we shouldn't have to waste our time with the topic. Also let us not forget about race. All of the women used as examples, literary foci of this book, are white. If white women writers don't find some black women to stand up for we are part of the problem.
The notes look useful. Lot of good references.
see also:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/...
by Allison Yarrow This is the title on the book.
from the library
90s bitch : the decade that destroyed the modern American woman by Yarrow, Allison, author.
This is the title listed in the library database.
This was written by a journalist. This appears to be written by that type of feminist that is hostile toward everyone and everything. So while I have only read a few chapters and the notes to the whole book, I am not sure if I will finish it. This book is an equal opportunity hostility tour de force. It seems to be hostile to women and men, to capitalism and media, to girls and boys, to sex, to sex education, and more.
Take thongs. Thongs are bad. Stores that sell them are bad. Monica L is bad. Barbara W who interviewed her is bad. The media stories about all these things are bad. Personally I find that they are uncomfortable and I don't wear them or see the point in wearing them. But for those who do and who choose to show that they do, that is bad. WHY? It signals availability which is bad. And why is that bad? don't get me started. When I see thongs above the pants I see a statement about sexual agency. That is a good.
Take the title Bitch. It is chosen because it supposedly characterizes the 90s attitude toward women. AY admits that it is an old word, hundreds of years old. So what makes it characteristic of the 90s? I was first called Bitch is the 70's. Another nursing student and I were at a small party. The presence of alcohol did not enhance the partying spirit. I announced that I needed to go home and study. One of the men accused me of getting something started that I wasn't going to finish and his parting words were, "Bitch." This was exactly the nasty attitude that alcohol had exacerbated and he was pissed that I wasn't going along with his intent of starting something sexual in the first place. I know what I like. My life was going some place and his wasn't. Hence, "Bitch". Not my problem.
Now as to Gender Equality, who promised us GE? Who even promised us human rights? I was on extended leave from the military at the time so I could go to school. Officer training school instructors just a few years before, weren't even enthusiastic about teaching us about the Geneva Conventions and legal orders. There was a lot of grumbling in the ranks that we shouldn't have to waste our time with the topic. Also let us not forget about race. All of the women used as examples, literary foci of this book, are white. If white women writers don't find some black women to stand up for we are part of the problem.
The notes look useful. Lot of good references.
see also:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/...
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