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."

This really opened my eyes to the fact that most of us have watched Disney movies from when we were young and this is the message we are learning. So many children want to be prince or princesses, characters from films or TV shows they watch, and are feeling the pressure to live up to these made up ideas, they will also treat the other sex the way they see it on the screen. The issue doesn't stop as grow up and don't watch these sort of films anymore, as everywhere we look in advertising and print theres more and more ideas of what we are supposed to look like and act like. 

As I read these pages I thought about the pieces artist Alex Bertulis-Fernandes produced in response to the Nike brief 'gay boot'. There is a great injustice with how athletes would be perceived by the media when the world knows their sexual preference. The unfairness in athletes who are the ideal stereotypes receiving the best sponsorship deals and endorsements needs to stop. Also thinking about how differently men and women dress in the sports, women tend to be sexualised and why is this? Take gymnastics, the women bare legged whilst males wear pants.

For me, this whole stereotype just screams fragile masculinity, men who can't stand women who know what they want, and how they're going to get it without letting anything get in their way, be it other women or men. The current president of America has a tendency for being sexist and not being able to deal with powerful women who do not submit to him.