Customer Reviews

Bitches, Bimbos, and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Guerilla Girls are cool. I am not disputing that. I am also not disputing that what they say in this book is true. It is.

I just wouldn't waste my money on it. It's sort of like cotton candy. By the time you're halfway through eating it, you're sick to your stomach and mad you wasted your money. There's nothing new in this book. It's not very indepth; on the contrary, I found it too simplistic.

Instead of calling it "intelligent," I would call it "cute." It might be okay for someone who is "just starting out" in feminism, so to speak, but if you've read a dozen books or more it's going to be the same old same old and you probably won't like it.

I didn't buy it. I read it sitting in the bookstore. And I'm glad I didn't waste my money.

I love the Guerilla Girls site and I love what they stand for. The new book about stereotypes of women is fun and informative. The section on Tokyo Rose is enlightening and rather sad, and kudos to them for exposing some of the myths of the "sainted" Mother Theresa. These things need to be said and recorded.

But in the book they also make the statement that about 8 million women were put to death from the Europe witch hunts. HUH??? Who is their fact checker? Check population statistics of Europe from that time and you'll see that with 8 million gone in 200 years would have led to a PRECIPITOUS decline in population - a decline that did not happen.

From on source on witchcraft comes this:

"Church persecution of witches occurred in England,
France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain. In
1431, Joan of Arc, the French national heroine, was
condemned to death as a witch by the English and
was burned at the stake. From 1484 to 1782,
according to some historians, the Christian church
put to death about 300,000 women for practicing
witchcraft. Many of these women suffered such
terrible torture that they confessed to being
witches simply to avoid further torment. "

300,000 is a huge amount but not nearly as large as 8 million. Guerilla Girls are about truth, and I'd hate to have their credibility questioned by those willing to poke holes in any argument you make. The book has another error in that it says the Stonewall Riots were in 1968. Actually, they were in 1969.

This said, the book is well-designed, but just be wary about accepting everything at face value as two errors already jump out. I hope that the Guerilla Girls will continue to spread truth and education but I also hope they do their research first.

Whether you are male or female, pro-feminist or not you will enjoy this book.

Most of the observations are right on the money, and the use of images mixed with text to illustrate their case makes for engaging reading.

Consequently, this book says more and says it better in its 96 pages than many other "scholarly" works have tried to do in ten times that many pages.

You don't have to agree with everything the authors say to enjoy this book (My personal thoughts are that men can be just as negatively harmed by stereotypes as women can be, and that not all of the stereotypes they describe are as negative as they make them out to be), but most will find this engaging and enlightening reading.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the Guerrilla Girls a few years back when I lived in LA. These chicks ROCK! Performance artists/feminists who push the envelope in the best way possible...with lots & lots of humor! This book is a fun & informing collection of female stereotypes from Aunt Jemima to the Flapper, the Vamp to the Diva, Suzie Wong to the Soccer Mom. It's all covered, and quite hilariously I might add. In addition to the Guerrilla Girls, I also suggest you elighten yourselves with other great artists such as Dara Birnbaum, Joan Jonas and Leslie Singer.

The perfect cocktail table book for the feminist household. The perfect funky gift for your socially conscious best friend. A great analysis of female stereotypes, decorated with a collage of pictures to keep you entertained!

This is an excellent and easy to read primer for anyone wanting to look into the stereotyping of women. A variety of categories women are lumped into are examined, illustrated, and explained in all their sexist histories.

Using biting sarcasm touched with humor, the Guerrilla Girls explain how stereotypes have affected women though time. Tips for how to overcome or remove stereotypes are also scattered throughout the book. For a light yet revealing introduction to feminism and the stereotyping of woman, you can't find a better and more entertaining book.

The last few pages also feature tools to create your own feminist subversions and a thorough bibliography for further research.

Oh, I wish, I wish this book was longer. I almost hesitated to buy it..but I'm glad I did. It's like a funky history of all the female stereotypes that have been pinned on all of us since birth.Colorful and funny and very informative!

I picked up this book because of a review in Bust magazine. I was disappointed -- the book offered no insights, just tired old rehash of things we've all heard before.

It seems like the writers forgot about stereotypes and just wrote essays about women who have been treated like crap. It reads like "News of the Weird" instead of thoughtful commentary on our society.

This book's intentions were good, but the whole thing is pretty brainless. I wish that weren't so.

This book details some of the stereotypes faced by women. I use it in my college classes. The most interesting part is in the back on the book where they describe stereotypes like Barbie Dolls. This book really makes you think about what it means to be a woman and how men try to put us into these catagories. So read the book, shake things up, and confuse the guys by not giving them what they're looking for!

Gone are the days when the womenfolk were happy with a nice frock and a husband with a steady income. These days the ladies all seem to want to be one of these new-fangled fancy "stereotypes" that are all the rage. It may come as a surprise to the author that there are some women who cannot be fitted into any one of these fashionable "stereotypes", and instead prefer a combination of several of them. I give this book 3 stars, as it seems well put together, but I wouldn't advise any of the ladyfolk to be reading this kind of thing, since it could give them ideas.