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Bitches, Bimbos, and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes
Whatever life a woman leads, from biker chick to society girl, there's a stereotype she'll have to live down. The Guerrilla Girls, notorious for their outrageous take on women's issues, now tackle the maze of stereotypes that follow women from cradle to grave. With subversive use of information—and great visuals—they explore the history and significance of stereotypes like Old Maid, Trophy Wife, and Prostitute with a Heart of Gold. They tag the Top Types, examine sexual slurs, explain the evolution of butches and femmes, and delve into the lives of real and fictional women who have become stereotypes, from Aunt Jemima to Tokyo Rose to June Cleaver. The Guerrilla Girls' latest assault on injustice towards women will make people laugh, make them mad, and maybe even make them change their minds.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
14 people are currently reading
2608 people want to read
About the author
Guerrilla Girls
8 books117 followersThe Guerrilla Girls are feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. We use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture. We undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative in visual culture by revealing the understory, the subtext, the forgotten, the overlooked, the understated and the downright unfair. Our work has been passed around the world by our tireless supporters, who use us as a model for doing their own crazy kind of activism.
In the last few years, the Guerrilla Girls have appeared at over 100 universities and museums around the world. We created a large scale installation for the Venice Biennale, brainstormed with Greenpeace, and participated in Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK. In 2006, we unveiled our latest anti-film industry billboard in Hollywood just in time for the Oscars, appeared at the Tate Modern, London, and created large scale projects for Istanbul and Mexico City. In 2007 we dissed the Museum of Modern Art at its own Feminist Futures Symposium, examined the museums of Washington DC in a full page in the Washington Post, and exhibited large-scale posters and banners in Athens, Rotterdam, Bilbao, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Shanghai. In 2008-9, we did actions at the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles, Bronx Museum, New York, Ireland and Montreal.
The Guerrilla Girls’ work has appeared in The New York Times, The London Times, The New Yorker, and Bitch; on NPR, the BBC and the CBC; and in many art and feminist texts. We are the authors of stickers, billboards, posters and other projects, and several books including The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes and The Guerrilla Girls’ Art Museum Activity Book. Our latest book, The Guerrilla Girls' Hysterical Herstory of Hysteria and How it Was Cured, from Ancient times Until Now, will be published in 2010.
(From http://www.guerrillagirls.com/press/o...)
In the last few years, the Guerrilla Girls have appeared at over 100 universities and museums around the world. We created a large scale installation for the Venice Biennale, brainstormed with Greenpeace, and participated in Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK. In 2006, we unveiled our latest anti-film industry billboard in Hollywood just in time for the Oscars, appeared at the Tate Modern, London, and created large scale projects for Istanbul and Mexico City. In 2007 we dissed the Museum of Modern Art at its own Feminist Futures Symposium, examined the museums of Washington DC in a full page in the Washington Post, and exhibited large-scale posters and banners in Athens, Rotterdam, Bilbao, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Shanghai. In 2008-9, we did actions at the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles, Bronx Museum, New York, Ireland and Montreal.
The Guerrilla Girls’ work has appeared in The New York Times, The London Times, The New Yorker, and Bitch; on NPR, the BBC and the CBC; and in many art and feminist texts. We are the authors of stickers, billboards, posters and other projects, and several books including The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes and The Guerrilla Girls’ Art Museum Activity Book. Our latest book, The Guerrilla Girls' Hysterical Herstory of Hysteria and How it Was Cured, from Ancient times Until Now, will be published in 2010.
(From http://www.guerrillagirls.com/press/o...)
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April 10, 2016
For a long time Goodreads recommended Guerrilla Girls to me, but each time I saw the cover, I thought to myself that this book couldn’t be an academically informative feminist book, so I ignored it. I must confess that I misread Guerrilla as Gorilla because the cover itself showed a girl with a gorilla mask. To my surprise, this book was really good. I learned many new things.
This book is about stereotypes against women pervaded in the USA. But one can easily see that some of them are universal, or with a little difference they exist in other cultures too.
Not bad to know about Guerrilla Girls a little first:
Guerrilla Girls are a group of feminist artists that was formed in 1985 in response to sexual discriminations of Museum of Art’s exhibition. Among the 169 works, only 13 works by female artists were allowed to be in the museum. In an interview the show’s curator said that any artist who wasn’t in the show should rethink ‘his’ career.
After that they go to museums, universities and interviews anonymously with their gorilla masks on their face, no one knows their real names.
This book is written in 7 chapters and in each chapter the stereotypes of a specific category is explained:
Chapter one: Introduction: what’s in a name?
What does stereotype means? According to The Oxford English dictionary it means: A simplified conception or idea that gets invested with special meaning by a certain group of people. Guerrilla Girls say think of it this way: A stereotype is a box, usually too small that a girl gets jammed into. It’s a label that someone else gives you to make you less or more than you really are. Some of them are positive and most of them are negative.
Chapter two: From Cradle to Grave: the Top Stereotypes
This chapter starts with this sentence: THE FIRST TIME WE GET STEREOTIED IS IN UTERO. It was first in the early of 20th century that baby’s clothes were gendered, pink for girls and blue for boys.
Some of the stereotypes in this chapter are:
1. Daddy’s Girl: As the name suggests, a daddy’s girl is a girl who receives so much attention an encouragement from her father. While daddy’s girl is a good thing, no boy likes to be called Mama’s boy.
2. Tomboy: A girl who likes to benefit the advantages of acting like a boy – so having all of their freedom. Anybody may remember Joe March, the independent famous Tomboy sister in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
It’s a very bad thing. No one expects a girl to remain a tomboy, there is this danger that she becomes a homosexual.
Norman Rockwell called his 1953 painting of a tomboy (above) Triumph in Defeat. The GGs are disappointed in him: why didn’t he think of her as having WON the fight?
These days tomboy women (like women athletes) are encouraged to remain sexy too:
3. The Girl Next door: Mostly used in previous decades, when women were not as free as todays, a girl next door was a conventional suitable wife for an adventurer man. A girl next door always stayed at home – her future job was motherhood and homemaking. She’s Doris Day, Marie Osmond, Sandra Bullock, and Julia Roberts. She’s NOT Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna or Liu.
Not The Girl Next Door
4. Bimbo/Dumb Blonde: This stereotype comes from this tiresome sexist assumption that a woman can’t be both beautiful and smart. A bimbo never gets old, never asks questions, never gets tired of sex, and never tells.
A 1987 film, Full Moon Pictures
5. Femme Fatale/Vamp: She’s a devil who can seduce men easily. Many men die because of her beauty and inaccessibility or her tricks, like a vampire. Unfortunately it’s a fantasy of male mind; no more Femme Fatale can be seen these days.
Lilith by John Collier
6. Bitch/Ballbreaker: Who doesn’t know what bitch mean?! However these days it is experiencing a positive meaning. If anybody calls you a bitch you should know that you’re a woman who can defend herself. So be a real bitch but don’t let anyone else call you one.
When a man gives his opinion he’s a man, When a woman gives her opinion she’s a bitch .
– Bette Davis
“The difference between a Slut and a Bitch is that a Slut is someone who sleeps with everyone and a bitch is someone who sleeps with everyone but you”.
– Internet Joke
7. The Mother of All Stereotypes: Good or Bad, Sainted or Something: This is a stereotype that is widely used in any country in a form. It refers to Moms:
US.: MOTHERFUCKER
France: Son of a whore
Spain: I shit in the milk of your mother
….
8. Spinster/Old Maid: These are for unmarried girls. Old Maid was originally a children’s card games that in one of the cards there was a picture of a woman called old maid who remained single and whoever who had this in his hand would lose the game.
Spinster is a British term. In nineteen century spinning was one of the few jobs that a woman could do before getting married, and if a woman never could get married she was doomed to spin all her life.
Spinsters past and present:
Bronte sisters
Emily Dickenson
Greta Garbo
Condoleeza Rice
Other stereotypes in this chapter are: Hag/crone, Late Bloomers, Ageless babes, And finally wise Old women:
Left to right: Maria Tallchief, Gloria Steinem, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Jones
Chapter Three: Sex Objects: Girls who do, girls who don’t, girls who do girls
Although all the chapters are about sex, this chapter is really about sex; prostitutes, sex industry, brothels and their histories.
Let’s assume it is nineteenth century. There is a woman alone in a street of New York City. Her husband left her alone with a bunch of kids. By law, she can’t go to most schools, she can’t have her own property. She even can’t get divorce to marry another man. So what should she do?
She could use her tricks to attract men and after a while find a steady job in a brothel. If she’s lucky enough, she even can gather other girls around herself, set up a business and become a Madame herself.
Abilene dance hall, from The History of the Cattle Trade by Joseph McCoy
Stereotypes related to women in these works are: Madame, Call Girl, Prostitute with a Heart of Gold, Dominatrix, StreetWalker, “Ho, Hoochie, Mama, Slut, etc”.
Today a sexy woman can be a good girl. There are in fact girls who Do and are loved for it:
Pinnup Girl, Bombshell and foxy lady.
But a majority of women in this industry are assumed to be very bad and so have very bad kinds of stereotypes, usually the names of different animals: Cow, Whale, dog, Moose, Pig, etc. The authors of this book believe that animals, large and small, like all women, large and small, are beautiful in their own way.
A girl who doesn’t have sex?! She has probably something wrong with her. Stereotypes for this unusual creature: Prude, Cocketease, Ice queen and Fag Hag.
Girls who Do and Do and Do: Nympho; a stereotype related to girls with wild and uncontrollable sex urges.
Girls who do Girls: finally few female stereotypes that invented by, for and about women: Amy-John, Androdyke, Cofeminator, Dandysette, Dutch Girl, Dykeosaurus, Etelle, Fairy Lady, Gay Lady, Goose Girl, He-She, Lady-Lover, Lemonade, Les-Be-Friends, Lesbyterian, Mandyke, Muffet, Ruffle, Sistagirl, Tinkerbell, Tootsie, Two Spirit and Zami.
So then remains Sapphist and Lesbian: Sappho was a Greek poet (7th century B.C.) who wrote love poems for women and after that the romantic love between women has been tagged as “Sapphist”.
In the late nineteen century by growing the phenomenon of love among women, many women of Sappho who were in her home island of Lesbos, were called Lesbian.
An interesting fact in this chapter is about working class women who had to disguise themselves in male clothes in order to find job, or to be able to live in same sex, like Dr. James Barry, Ralph Kerwinieo and Billy Tipton. Their stories are quite interesting. Check their Wikipedia pages.
Dr. James Barry
Ralph Kerwinieo
Billy Tipton
Finally Girls who do girls and boys; bisexuals. Stereotype: LUG (Lesbian Until Graduation).
Chapter Four: Life Lessons: Real And Fictional women who became stereotypes
There were some women (fictional or real) who their lives became stereotypes, Like: Florence Nightingale, Aunt Jemima, Flapper, Carmen Miranda, Mother Teresa, Tokyo Rose, Rosie the Riveter, Lolita, Bra Burner/ Feminazi, Valley Girl, Biker Chick.
Flapper: In the early years of 20th century, after the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote, a group of young women, calling themselves Flappers, invented a new lifestyle different from those cumbersome conventional behaviors that society expected a woman should do. Wild women like Zelda Fitzgerald, Isadora Duncan, Josephine Baker, and Louise Brooks were considered Flappers. They had their own magazines, national organizations and manifesto.
Before Flapper Era
After Flapper Era
Mother Teresa: Who doesn’t know her?! But I didn’t know that she was against divorce, abortion and birth control.
Mother Teresa
Rosie the Riveter: A positive aspect of World War II was that many working woman could find job which had been considered male jobs before. Many girls went to work welding battleships, riveting airplane wings, and working behind the scenes in the army. They could work even better than men in industrial and building traits. Rose Bonavita Hickey set a record at the General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division by completing 3,345 rivets on a torpedo bomber in less than six hours. Seems like macho chauvinism had to keep its mouth shut while women performed jobs they’ve never allowed to do before.
Chapter five: Women’s work is never done: Find mate, be super mom, gt gd job, have fun
This chapter is for stereotypes related to women who has jobs. Stereotypes like: Debutante/Socialite, Gold digger, Trophy Wife, Soccer Mom, Stage Mom, Diva/ Prima Donna, Supermodel, Female Exec/Lady Boss, Anchorwoman.
Oh, well, I’m not going to write everything that GGs said here, if you have already been excited, read the book instead!
Chapter Six: Race and Religion: Presenting our own ethnic doll collection
Finally this chapter! Which has been seen provocative or racist by some reviewers here in Goodreads (so reducing their 4-5 starts to 1-2 stars). This chapter consists of pictures of some Barbie dolls dressed in way to show different ethnics – with descriptions that show their related stereotypes.
I don’t think they are racist; a Jewish, Catholic, Indian, Chines, Asian, Black, Latin American, Muslim living in USA, whether she likes it or not, has to face other stereotypes which refer to her ethnics or religion.
Nizreen, the Good Muslim Wife
Latisha, the Welfare Queen
Lauren, Jewish American Princess
This book is about stereotypes against women pervaded in the USA. But one can easily see that some of them are universal, or with a little difference they exist in other cultures too.
Not bad to know about Guerrilla Girls a little first:
Guerrilla Girls are a group of feminist artists that was formed in 1985 in response to sexual discriminations of Museum of Art’s exhibition. Among the 169 works, only 13 works by female artists were allowed to be in the museum. In an interview the show’s curator said that any artist who wasn’t in the show should rethink ‘his’ career.
After that they go to museums, universities and interviews anonymously with their gorilla masks on their face, no one knows their real names.
This book is written in 7 chapters and in each chapter the stereotypes of a specific category is explained:
Chapter one: Introduction: what’s in a name?
What does stereotype means? According to The Oxford English dictionary it means: A simplified conception or idea that gets invested with special meaning by a certain group of people. Guerrilla Girls say think of it this way: A stereotype is a box, usually too small that a girl gets jammed into. It’s a label that someone else gives you to make you less or more than you really are. Some of them are positive and most of them are negative.
Chapter two: From Cradle to Grave: the Top Stereotypes
This chapter starts with this sentence: THE FIRST TIME WE GET STEREOTIED IS IN UTERO. It was first in the early of 20th century that baby’s clothes were gendered, pink for girls and blue for boys.
Some of the stereotypes in this chapter are:
1. Daddy’s Girl: As the name suggests, a daddy’s girl is a girl who receives so much attention an encouragement from her father. While daddy’s girl is a good thing, no boy likes to be called Mama’s boy.
2. Tomboy: A girl who likes to benefit the advantages of acting like a boy – so having all of their freedom. Anybody may remember Joe March, the independent famous Tomboy sister in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
It’s a very bad thing. No one expects a girl to remain a tomboy, there is this danger that she becomes a homosexual.
Norman Rockwell called his 1953 painting of a tomboy (above) Triumph in Defeat. The GGs are disappointed in him: why didn’t he think of her as having WON the fight?
These days tomboy women (like women athletes) are encouraged to remain sexy too:
3. The Girl Next door: Mostly used in previous decades, when women were not as free as todays, a girl next door was a conventional suitable wife for an adventurer man. A girl next door always stayed at home – her future job was motherhood and homemaking. She’s Doris Day, Marie Osmond, Sandra Bullock, and Julia Roberts. She’s NOT Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna or Liu.
Not The Girl Next Door
4. Bimbo/Dumb Blonde: This stereotype comes from this tiresome sexist assumption that a woman can’t be both beautiful and smart. A bimbo never gets old, never asks questions, never gets tired of sex, and never tells.
A 1987 film, Full Moon Pictures
5. Femme Fatale/Vamp: She’s a devil who can seduce men easily. Many men die because of her beauty and inaccessibility or her tricks, like a vampire. Unfortunately it’s a fantasy of male mind; no more Femme Fatale can be seen these days.
Lilith by John Collier
6. Bitch/Ballbreaker: Who doesn’t know what bitch mean?! However these days it is experiencing a positive meaning. If anybody calls you a bitch you should know that you’re a woman who can defend herself. So be a real bitch but don’t let anyone else call you one.
When a man gives his opinion he’s a man, When a woman gives her opinion she’s a bitch .
– Bette Davis
“The difference between a Slut and a Bitch is that a Slut is someone who sleeps with everyone and a bitch is someone who sleeps with everyone but you”.
– Internet Joke
7. The Mother of All Stereotypes: Good or Bad, Sainted or Something: This is a stereotype that is widely used in any country in a form. It refers to Moms:
US.: MOTHERFUCKER
France: Son of a whore
Spain: I shit in the milk of your mother
….
8. Spinster/Old Maid: These are for unmarried girls. Old Maid was originally a children’s card games that in one of the cards there was a picture of a woman called old maid who remained single and whoever who had this in his hand would lose the game.
Spinster is a British term. In nineteen century spinning was one of the few jobs that a woman could do before getting married, and if a woman never could get married she was doomed to spin all her life.
Spinsters past and present:
Bronte sisters
Emily Dickenson
Greta Garbo
Condoleeza Rice
Other stereotypes in this chapter are: Hag/crone, Late Bloomers, Ageless babes, And finally wise Old women:
Left to right: Maria Tallchief, Gloria Steinem, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Jones
Chapter Three: Sex Objects: Girls who do, girls who don’t, girls who do girls
Although all the chapters are about sex, this chapter is really about sex; prostitutes, sex industry, brothels and their histories.
Let’s assume it is nineteenth century. There is a woman alone in a street of New York City. Her husband left her alone with a bunch of kids. By law, she can’t go to most schools, she can’t have her own property. She even can’t get divorce to marry another man. So what should she do?
She could use her tricks to attract men and after a while find a steady job in a brothel. If she’s lucky enough, she even can gather other girls around herself, set up a business and become a Madame herself.
Abilene dance hall, from The History of the Cattle Trade by Joseph McCoy
Stereotypes related to women in these works are: Madame, Call Girl, Prostitute with a Heart of Gold, Dominatrix, StreetWalker, “Ho, Hoochie, Mama, Slut, etc”.
Today a sexy woman can be a good girl. There are in fact girls who Do and are loved for it:
Pinnup Girl, Bombshell and foxy lady.
But a majority of women in this industry are assumed to be very bad and so have very bad kinds of stereotypes, usually the names of different animals: Cow, Whale, dog, Moose, Pig, etc. The authors of this book believe that animals, large and small, like all women, large and small, are beautiful in their own way.
A girl who doesn’t have sex?! She has probably something wrong with her. Stereotypes for this unusual creature: Prude, Cocketease, Ice queen and Fag Hag.
Girls who Do and Do and Do: Nympho; a stereotype related to girls with wild and uncontrollable sex urges.
Girls who do Girls: finally few female stereotypes that invented by, for and about women: Amy-John, Androdyke, Cofeminator, Dandysette, Dutch Girl, Dykeosaurus, Etelle, Fairy Lady, Gay Lady, Goose Girl, He-She, Lady-Lover, Lemonade, Les-Be-Friends, Lesbyterian, Mandyke, Muffet, Ruffle, Sistagirl, Tinkerbell, Tootsie, Two Spirit and Zami.
So then remains Sapphist and Lesbian: Sappho was a Greek poet (7th century B.C.) who wrote love poems for women and after that the romantic love between women has been tagged as “Sapphist”.
I see he who sits near you as an equal of the Gods
For he can closely listen to your delightful voice
And that seductive laugh
That makes the heart behind my breasts to tremble.
In the late nineteen century by growing the phenomenon of love among women, many women of Sappho who were in her home island of Lesbos, were called Lesbian.
An interesting fact in this chapter is about working class women who had to disguise themselves in male clothes in order to find job, or to be able to live in same sex, like Dr. James Barry, Ralph Kerwinieo and Billy Tipton. Their stories are quite interesting. Check their Wikipedia pages.
Dr. James Barry
Ralph Kerwinieo
Billy Tipton
Finally Girls who do girls and boys; bisexuals. Stereotype: LUG (Lesbian Until Graduation).
Chapter Four: Life Lessons: Real And Fictional women who became stereotypes
There were some women (fictional or real) who their lives became stereotypes, Like: Florence Nightingale, Aunt Jemima, Flapper, Carmen Miranda, Mother Teresa, Tokyo Rose, Rosie the Riveter, Lolita, Bra Burner/ Feminazi, Valley Girl, Biker Chick.
Flapper: In the early years of 20th century, after the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote, a group of young women, calling themselves Flappers, invented a new lifestyle different from those cumbersome conventional behaviors that society expected a woman should do. Wild women like Zelda Fitzgerald, Isadora Duncan, Josephine Baker, and Louise Brooks were considered Flappers. They had their own magazines, national organizations and manifesto.
Before Flapper Era
After Flapper Era
Mother Teresa: Who doesn’t know her?! But I didn’t know that she was against divorce, abortion and birth control.
Mother Teresa
Rosie the Riveter: A positive aspect of World War II was that many working woman could find job which had been considered male jobs before. Many girls went to work welding battleships, riveting airplane wings, and working behind the scenes in the army. They could work even better than men in industrial and building traits. Rose Bonavita Hickey set a record at the General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division by completing 3,345 rivets on a torpedo bomber in less than six hours. Seems like macho chauvinism had to keep its mouth shut while women performed jobs they’ve never allowed to do before.
Chapter five: Women’s work is never done: Find mate, be super mom, gt gd job, have fun
This chapter is for stereotypes related to women who has jobs. Stereotypes like: Debutante/Socialite, Gold digger, Trophy Wife, Soccer Mom, Stage Mom, Diva/ Prima Donna, Supermodel, Female Exec/Lady Boss, Anchorwoman.
Oh, well, I’m not going to write everything that GGs said here, if you have already been excited, read the book instead!
Chapter Six: Race and Religion: Presenting our own ethnic doll collection
Finally this chapter! Which has been seen provocative or racist by some reviewers here in Goodreads (so reducing their 4-5 starts to 1-2 stars). This chapter consists of pictures of some Barbie dolls dressed in way to show different ethnics – with descriptions that show their related stereotypes.
I don’t think they are racist; a Jewish, Catholic, Indian, Chines, Asian, Black, Latin American, Muslim living in USA, whether she likes it or not, has to face other stereotypes which refer to her ethnics or religion.
Nizreen, the Good Muslim Wife
Latisha, the Welfare Queen
Lauren, Jewish American Princess
April 14, 2010
pink was originally for boys and blue for girls.
tomboys were boys who drank too much and carried on with wenches in the 16th century, in the 19th century it meant a crude, immodest woman...
spinsters are so named because it was one of the few jobs a woman could do for pay before she got married. .. ones who never married were doomed to spin for the rest of their lives.
"Between 1880 and 1900, 10 percent of all women in the U.S. were single, but a whopping 50 percent of those who went to college remained spinsters their entire lives. Did they learn something new in school? Or was it just that, even then, men didn't like smart women?
By the end of the 19th century, women had won the right to keep their wages, own property, inherit wealth, and even to divorce. But it was still not okay for them to live alone. Some working women from the middle and upper classes banded together and lived as extended families. They formed what was known as "Boston marriages," complete with shared beds, love letters, and anniversary celebrations.
One celebrated Boston marriage was between four women known as the Red Rose Girls, after the Philadelphia estate where they lived. Three were prominent illustrators, the fourth acted as the housekeeper. They all took a secret surname, Cogs, an anagram of their initials, and pledged to live together forever...." p.32
tomboys were boys who drank too much and carried on with wenches in the 16th century, in the 19th century it meant a crude, immodest woman...
spinsters are so named because it was one of the few jobs a woman could do for pay before she got married. .. ones who never married were doomed to spin for the rest of their lives.
"Between 1880 and 1900, 10 percent of all women in the U.S. were single, but a whopping 50 percent of those who went to college remained spinsters their entire lives. Did they learn something new in school? Or was it just that, even then, men didn't like smart women?
By the end of the 19th century, women had won the right to keep their wages, own property, inherit wealth, and even to divorce. But it was still not okay for them to live alone. Some working women from the middle and upper classes banded together and lived as extended families. They formed what was known as "Boston marriages," complete with shared beds, love letters, and anniversary celebrations.
One celebrated Boston marriage was between four women known as the Red Rose Girls, after the Philadelphia estate where they lived. Three were prominent illustrators, the fourth acted as the housekeeper. They all took a secret surname, Cogs, an anagram of their initials, and pledged to live together forever...." p.32
August 13, 2019
Read it. Very surprised don’t let the title stop you. Read it
December 26, 2007
I've read all the Guerilla Girls' books, and they're as educational for their type, design, and layout as for their feminist content. While I like the BEDSIDE COMPANION TO WESTERN ART (probably their best-seller), I prefer B,B, &B. It's a good resource for male writers to help understand how NOT to depict your female characters---how to find a certain space of empathy to leap the gender gap, in other words.
If you're not aware of the GGs, check out their website or their Wikipedia entry. They've been around for nearly 25 years and are best known for their 1989 "weenie count," at which they demonstrated how disproportinately nude women outnumbered women artists at the NY Met (85 to 5 percent, or so). They're a fun, innovative group---maybe not as cutting edge in terms of performance art as other famous "shock" feminists, but still great.
If you're not aware of the GGs, check out their website or their Wikipedia entry. They've been around for nearly 25 years and are best known for their 1989 "weenie count," at which they demonstrated how disproportinately nude women outnumbered women artists at the NY Met (85 to 5 percent, or so). They're a fun, innovative group---maybe not as cutting edge in terms of performance art as other famous "shock" feminists, but still great.
March 22, 2016
As could have been predicted, I loved this book. This focuses exclusively on female stereotypes and was written recently enough to include the likes of Britney Spears and other pop culture phenomenons. The Guerrilla girls go to town here - they really cover every stereotype you can possibly imagine, which makes their point through that alone: there are too many "ways" one can be put in a box as a woman. Why can't women just be who they are, and accepted as such? Why do we need to be categorized?
This is a short read but has a LOT to unpack in it. It's definitely worth a dip if you need help with media literacy - this book has every female trope covered. I highly recommend it!
This is a short read but has a LOT to unpack in it. It's definitely worth a dip if you need help with media literacy - this book has every female trope covered. I highly recommend it!
July 28, 2011
I loved this book. It was funny and simple enough to be an introductory feminist book but also insightful enough that a long-time feminist like me could find new and interesting interpretations. It would be the perfect book for the young girl in your life who could use some feminism or your "I'm not a feminist but..." friend.
December 25, 2021
Awesome. Basically an encyclopedia of female stereotypes written and illustrated with the usual Guerrilla Girls stylistic verve.
April 8, 2016
خوندنش به علاقمندان حوزه ی فمینیسم توصیه میشه. کتاب در واقع توضیح جامع و دقیقیه از همه ی کلیشه (استریوتایپ ) های زنانه . لحن ساده ی کتاب و تصاویر متنوع باعث جذابیت کتاب میشه . با وجود ظاهر ساده و دوست داشتنی خیلی پرمحتواست و اطلاعات مفید زیادی به خواننده میده.
گِریلا گرلز گروه متنوعی از هنرمندان، نویسندگان و فیلمسازان فمینیست هستند که از دهه ۱۹۸۰ در نیویورک گرد آمدند. آنها برای استفاده از هنر اعتراضی جهت ارتقای زنان و اقلیتهای نژادی در هنر شهرت دارند. در سال ۱۹۸۵ در نیویورک نمایشگاهی به نام «همایش بینالمللی نقاشی و مجسمهسازی» برگزار شد که از بین ۱۶۹ هنرمند شرکت داده شده در آن فقط ۱۳ نفر زن بودند و از نظر نژادی نیز تمام هنرمندان سفیدپوستانی از آمریکا یا اروپا بودند. گریلا گرلز برآن شدند که فعالیت منسجمی برای شرمنده کردن جو حاکم بر جامعه هنری آغاز کند که امروزه فعالیتشان بسیار گستردهتر
است و تورهای جهانی نیز برگزار میکنند (برگرفته از ویکی پدیا)د
پی دی اف انگلیسی کتاب رو ازاینجا می تونید دانلود کنید
الهام اون قدر خوب نوشته که نیازی به دوباره نویسی من و توضیح بیشتر نیست. ریویوی الهام رو هم از اینجا مطالعه کنید.
گِریلا گرلز گروه متنوعی از هنرمندان، نویسندگان و فیلمسازان فمینیست هستند که از دهه ۱۹۸۰ در نیویورک گرد آمدند. آنها برای استفاده از هنر اعتراضی جهت ارتقای زنان و اقلیتهای نژادی در هنر شهرت دارند. در سال ۱۹۸۵ در نیویورک نمایشگاهی به نام «همایش بینالمللی نقاشی و مجسمهسازی» برگزار شد که از بین ۱۶۹ هنرمند شرکت داده شده در آن فقط ۱۳ نفر زن بودند و از نظر نژادی نیز تمام هنرمندان سفیدپوستانی از آمریکا یا اروپا بودند. گریلا گرلز برآن شدند که فعالیت منسجمی برای شرمنده کردن جو حاکم بر جامعه هنری آغاز کند که امروزه فعالیتشان بسیار گستردهتر
است و تورهای جهانی نیز برگزار میکنند (برگرفته از ویکی پدیا)د
پی دی اف انگلیسی کتاب رو ازاینجا می تونید دانلود کنید
الهام اون قدر خوب نوشته که نیازی به دوباره نویسی من و توضیح بیشتر نیست. ریویوی الهام رو هم از اینجا مطالعه کنید.
June 1, 2014
This book had some interesting historical information, but the last chapter satirizing racist and cultural stereotypes was actually just racist. They could have done the last chapter like they had done all the other chapters (historical background of the stereotype + examples from media/pop-culture), but for some reason they decided to make racist barbies and with press-release style racist descriptions. I also found it funny that they tried to include racist stereotypes against white women when "white trash" is more of a classist term, and the stereotype about white women dating black athletes isn't even comparable to actual racist terms like welfare queen, geisha, spicy latina, etc.
August 23, 2012
0 stars would have been better for this book. It should be re-named 'The Idiots Guide to Female Stereotypes'. When dealing with the issue of racial stereotypes, they said something like 'Some of these names are so disturbing, we've decided to dress up barbie dolls to highlight the aspects of ethnicity stereotyped in popular culture' - cue the 'Welfare Queen' doll and the 'Asian Princess' Barbie ... Tasteful. You just can't fault that logic.
A swift return to a dark, damp corner of the library I think.
A swift return to a dark, damp corner of the library I think.
October 6, 2012
Just to mix it up a bit, everyone knows the various female stereotypes --girl next door, bitch, old maid, supermom etc. Guerrilla Girls are a real group(based mostly in NYC) of anonymous women trying to make us more aware of these stereotypes in various ways. Getting ready for their artwork shown in the Elles exhibit at Seattle Art Museum. One of their goals is to put pressure on museums to showcase more women artists.
February 21, 2015
I feel like yes there are damaging stereotypes, but some that are listed as negative are being embraced as positive these days so maybe it's already out of date? I don't know. I also really hated how judgmental this book was. Ironic too.
September 28, 2007
I volunteered at KBOO just so I could meet The Guerrilla Girls. They gave me a copy of this book for free. I peed myself a little.
June 1, 2008
If you've ever been called a "bitch", or any of the hundreds of other names people call women, you need to read this book.
October 29, 2008
"reinventing the 'F' word---Feminism..." fun read.
May 1, 2017
A 101 of feminism for teenagers
January 31, 2025
for class
May 30, 2015
Short and concise, this book offers a handy guide to the stereotypes and labels we have come to use, associate and internalize not only as women against each other but also against ourselves. Not only does it give a history of these harmful ideas, but also a critical viewpoint that is thought provoking and persuasive. The tabloid-like layout only emphasizes the marketable aspect of some of these tropes, which are used and recycled excessively throughout the media. This is useful (and important) guide that is suitable for everyone and is a great introduction to feminism and critical thinking. I would also recommend this to (impressionable) teenagers who may or may not be having problems with these notions and labels.
December 18, 2013
Good book, but the authors have committed a major error by assuming Lolita survives the book--actually it's said fairly early on that she died in childbirth, though because the author gives her married name (which is only mentioned one other time I think) you can't blame them for missing it. But that problem really does demonstrate my issue with the GGs as a whole which is that they tend to miss the minutiae as they take a predominantly over-arching, generalized view of things.
April 29, 2012
Las guerrilla girls, no me cabe duda, a más de uno le resultaran poco agradables, pues entre críticas y un humor que abunda en acidez y sarcasmo es difícil no salir espinado. El libro es corto, digerible y, tal como el titulo lo sugiere, profundiza en la amplia variedad de estereotipos sexistas que existen sobre la mujer.
February 13, 2008
This book is so rad and would be so fun to use with a class. It's basically like TV in book form -- really visual, lots of little boxes to hold your attention, and very entertaining. It be a great gift for a teen.
November 22, 2016
It was a short quick read. I liked how they broke down where certain stereotypes came from. I would have preferred it to be longer but I didn't mind. It was a good read for wanting a glance at the stereotypes women have to fight against.
May 4, 2007
Guerilla Girls will forever and always ROCK!
January 14, 2008
I'm bringing books with pictures back
March 27, 2008
I need to give this to every child I come across.
June 13, 2009
A good, quick book showcasing the different stereotypes that all women will face throughout their lives.
wishlist
June 18, 2009Saw this on Goodreads and thought it looked interesting.
November 9, 2009
Fun. Great idea and glad they do what they do but it is best for a teen and not a source of a lot of inforamtion.
December 3, 2009
great, informative, a gift to all
November 5, 2012
This is a funny tongue in cheek overview of some important feminist concepts. I am thinking of incorporating it into my gender and sexuality class!
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