The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order [Paperback]

Marcelle Karp (Author), Debbie Stoller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

Both a literary magazine and a chronicle of girl culture, BUST was born in 1993. With contributors who are funny, fierce, and too smart to be anything but feminist, BUST is the original grrrl zine, with a base of loyal female fans--all those women who know that Glamour is garbage, Vogue is vapid, and Cosmo is clueless.

The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order contains brand new, funny, sharp, trenchant essays along with some of the best writings from the magazine: Courtney Love's (unsolicited) piece on Bad Girls; the already immortal "Don'ts For Boys"; an interview with girl-hero Judy Blume; and lots of other shocking, titillating, truthful articles. A kind of Our Bodies, Ourselves for Generation XX, The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order is destined to become required reading for today's hip urban girl and her admirers.

Praise for BUST magazine:

"Thoughtful articles sit happily alongside wicked parodies. . . . Well-crafted and insightful, it combines the literacy of traditional writing with the uniquely personal prose of zines." --Wired

"You must, you must, you must submit to BUST. This happening girl zine updates old-guard feminism with witty new-chick pulp fiction." --Entertainment Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"In BUST we've captured the voice of a brave new girl: one that is raw and real, straightforward and sarcastic, smart and silly, and liberally sprinkled with references to our own Girl Culture." So say Marcelle Karp and Debbie Stoller, smart, sassy founders of BUST ("the magazine for women with something to get off their chests"), and editors of this funky, fabulous, neofeminist manifesto. The Guide to the New Girl Order collects the best of BUST, including thoughtful articles, personal essays, and racy rants about anything from abortion to the lameness of the Lifetime television network. In their own words, they address "that shared set of female experiences that includes Barbies and blowjobs, sexism and shoplifting, Vogue and vaginas."

Having started out as a hand-stapled zine, BUST swims with an in-your-face, grrrl power attitude that alternately taunts, encourages, and calls readers to battle. Contributors range from mysterious authors with names like Betty Boob and Scarlett Fever to such famous femmes as Courtney Love. Karp and Stoller organize the pieces into sections labeled "Sex and the Thinking Girl, "Men Are from Uranus," etc., offering introductions for each that provide humor, insight, and cultural context. And with selections like "Sex, Lies, and Tampax," "How to Be as Horny as a Guy," and "Bitch on Heels," this is not your mother's ladies' journal. Also included are such hilarious explorations of pop culture as "The Mysterious Eroticism of Mini-Backpacks," "My Keanu, A Fantasy," and "Bring Me the Head of Melanie Banderas." Whether you're intimidated or intrigued by such an irreverent approach to redefining the feminine, there's only more to come--and there's no place to hide. As the editors warn, "Wake up and smell the lipgloss, ladies: the New Girl Order has arrived." --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

In 1993, self-described "cubicle slaves" Karp and Stoller, along with their friend Laurie Henzel, produced the first issue of Bust, a smart, slick and often hilarious 'zine by and for women in their 20s and 30s who, after growing up with second-wave feminist mothers and Madonna, feel let down by traditional women's magazines. This anthology provides a healthy sample of offerings from the magazine, which is still being published.. Written under pen names ("Tabitha Rasa," "Simone de Boudoir"), the essays often start with the body and boy talk that is the clich?d subject matter of women's magazines, but they subvert the dominant media viewpoint with searing, deeply personal writing. Demonstrating that the personal really is political, the collection reflects a refreshingly egalitarian outlook, featuring the voices of young women of different races and classes, some more educated than others, but none too self-conscious. Arranging their material by topic (sex, men, becoming a mother, beauty, etc.), the editors introduce each section with simultaneously pithy and funny feminist analysis. Often controversial, the collection includes interviews with porn stars, happily adopts the term "do-me feminist" and uses the word "girl" to describe grownups. Ultimately, Bust supports women's right to pursue whatever they find fulfilling. Adeptly capturing its cultural moment, this vibrant anthology is a must-read for those who consider themselves versed in all things pop. Agent, Lydia Wills. 8-city author tour. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); First edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140277749
• ISBN-13: 978-0140277746
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of Bust, February 8, 2000

By 

K. McGaughey (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order (Paperback)

You must buy this book! This book is a "Best Of" compilation of articles that appeared over time in BUST magazine. I almost didn't purchase it because I thought it was a book strictly for teenagers. I'm glad I gave it a second look. This is a book for women of all ages and the guys that want to know what makes them tick. Subjects discussed include a woman's body, growing up, women in music, women in the media, sex, and more. This book does NOT talk about how to trap yourself a man by foregoing your own opinions and pleasure, how to diet until you look like Kate Moss, or anything else that masquerades in most women's magazines as empowering when all the time it is actually chipping away at your self-worth. This book will make you enjoy possession of those XX chromosomes!

44 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars for the shallow, straight, white, urban elitist in all of us, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order (Paperback)

Reading this book is a waste of energy. I was going to give it to my sister for her birthday, but after reading it I've changed my mind. There is almost no intelligent content. Oh! how naughty, they swear and they're in your face, but the content is the same tired catty, image-focused drivel. If you want to read yet another "I'm such a feminist because I wear dresses with Doc Martens and I know how to masterbate and drink til I puke and I live in New York or San Francisco and have no hobbies except shopping and painting my nails and gossiping about pop culture" book, then pick this one up. The pages are full of references to the most obvious icons of popular music, tv, and publishing, with nary a mention of female athletes, scientists, tradeswomen, etc (please! I might break a nail and I have a hot date with a totally f***able boy tonight). The book even insinuates that athletic women are anti-feminists who are thin "under the guise of good health"; only Roseanne is a "Real Live Girl." The BUST Guide is as vapid as Vogue, as clueless as Cosmo and more insidious than either because it thinks it's not. The only reason it got a star at all is for a few decent essays and short stories buried in the mess. Had I read those in a different context I would have enjoyed them more.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars flawed but feisty, January 13, 2000

By 

yam child - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order (Paperback)

This book, like the magazine that spawned it, is a very nice book that makes feminism very fun and acessible for girls. But I wonder if too many things have been sacrificed to make this book acessible. This book was written primarily by white middle-class women who stay away from controversial topics like the prevalence of Asian and Latina fetishism in American culture today. The book tries to appeal to more girls by promoting a feel-good version of feminism. The book encourages girls to have self-esteem, but often fails to attack the societal institutions that cause these girls to have low self-esteem to start with. This book is very good next to drivel such as Cosmos and Glamour, but there's certainly room for improvement.