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

The Guerrilla Girls, a group of anonymous feminists with a Web site and a taste for taking on gender discrimination, have merciless fun with the idea of female stereotypes in this campy illustrated book. From Ballbreakers and Vamps to Hags and Dumb Blondes, they outline all the archetypes that have managed to find their way into popular culture, thereby""saving the world from sexists and misogynists everywhere, and having fun along the way."" By reclaiming these negative terms, and even celebrating them, the words lose their pejorative power, the authors' argue. At times, their material seems too unwieldy to be compressed into such a thin tome. The history of womankind in pop culture, from the iconic Aunt Jemima to quintessential tomboy Babe Didrickson, is obviously an encyclopedic undertaking, and the authors struggle to keep up. But readers have to admire the book's spirit and over-caffeinated pace, as well as its aggressively kitschy layout. With their philosophy-lite deconstruction of the worst slurs society has to offer, the Guerrilla Girls have turned discrimination on its head--and fashioned an entertaining read at the same time.