Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
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.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Some misinformation, but overall very good
Customer Rating:
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.
Good book for smart women!
Customer Rating:
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!
Go read it in the bookstore!
Customer Rating:
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.
Not very indepth.
Customer Rating:
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.
Great book! Don't be put off by the topic or by its brevity
Customer Rating:
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.
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